Tuesday, 21st March 2000

How is Australia celebrating the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination?

Today, the 21st March, Australia should be joining the world in reaffirming its commitment to the elimination of racial discrimination.

Instead our Government sits on its hands at home while shaming our national reputation abroad.

At home it gags debate on the most pressing human rights issue of the day: the mandatory sentencing of juveniles in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Abroad it continues to defy the judgment of the UN's human rights monitor, the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), on its 1998 native title amendments.

And latest reports suggest that it pressured the UN into gutting the findings of a recent human rights report on mandatory sentencing.

All these actions represent a repudiation of its international treaty commitment to the elimination of racial discrimination.

ANTaR sponsors the Sea of Hands which has travelled around Australia and represents the commitment of hundreds of thousands of Australians to the principles of non-discrimination. ANTaR believes that the damage to Australia's reputation has got to stop:

"Today is a symbolic opportunity for the Commonwealth Government to stop the rot. Australia should be taking the lead in the international fight against racial discrimination. Instead it is busy justifying its discriminatory native title legislation in front of CERD in Geneva, and failing to act on the scandal of mandatory sentencing at home", said ANTaR National Coordinator, David Cooper.

ANTaR calls on the Commonwealth to take urgent action to restore its battered reputation for protecting human rights. It must take decisive action and pass Commonwealth legislation to end mandatory sentencing, which many people believe is deliberately targeted at Indigenous people. On native title, it must begin comprehensive negotiations with Indigenous Australians to achieve and maintain fair and just laws, based on the principles of non-discrimination and informed consent.

Further information: David Cooper 02 9555 6138 or 0418 486 310