Amnesty Int'l: Australia Violating Rights of Aboriginals
2009-11-18 8:47
This is the scene that has caused Amnesty's top official to describe Australia's treatment of its indigenous population as "a base violation of human rights."
Amnesty Secretary-General Irene Khan has been in the Northern Territory, home to around 50-thousand Aboriginals, to visit several remote communities.
She said she was shocked by the conditions she saw there, and has called on the Australian government to do more.
[Irene Khan, Amnesty International Secretary General]:
"It is pretty clear that what they are suffering from is a base violation of human rights and these violations occur on a continent of such privilege that is not merely disheartening, it is deeply disturbing. And the long-standing failure of the Australian governments to turn this tide of human tragedy, much more than condemnation, it demands much more than commitment. It demands an engagement and I would even say a new approach to this issue."
Khan also said the Australian government has made choices which have perpetuated poverty.
[Irene Khan, Amnesty International Secretary General]:
"The moral imperative to end poverty is as convincing as the moral imperative to stop torture. Just as government policy, choices the governments make perpetuate torture, choices the governments make also perpetuate poverty and in Australia sure that is the case."
Communities living in town camps like this suffer from chronic violence, housing problems and health issues.
Indigenous Australians have an average life expectancy 17 years less than non-Indigenous Australians.
