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Aeotearoa Declaration puts Australia under international microscope

18 October 2007 - Australia's poor record in overcoming Indigenous disadvantage has again come under the microscope overseas, with an international health meeting making a formal declaration to urge the Australian government to act.

The Aeotearoa declaration resulted from an International Network of Indigenous Health Knowledge Development (INIHKD) meeting in Rotorua, Aotearoa (New Zealand).

It comes only a month after Australia came under international scrutiny for failing to sign the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

"As an international community of health leaders, we bear witness to the human rights violations against our Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander relatives in Australia," the declaration said.

"Such violations occur in all corners of the world. We affirm our collective resolve to right injustice against our Peoples."

The declaration urges the government that is elected next month to "deeply consider the position of Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islanders within Australia” and calls for a concerted effort to close the 17-year life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians by half within 10 years, and completely within 25 years.

The declaration also called on all Australian political parties to:

o Make constitutional change the highest priority. It stated that any amendment to the Constitutional preamble must be accompanied by substantial recognition of Indigenous rights;

o Establish dedicated seats for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in both houses of the Australian parliament;

o Establish a legislated and democratically-elected national peak body to negotiate with government and monitor policies and reviews;

o Appropriately and accurately count Indigenous people;

o Provide resources that match true need.

The declaration stresses that the incoming prime minister should deliver a formal apology when elected and calls for a repeal of "all discriminatory aspects of the Northern Territory Emergency Response legislation".

The declaration also commented on the four countries (Canada, the US, New Zealand and Australia) that recently voted against the ratification of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, saying the international community was diminished as a result.

"The citizens of these recalcitrant countries must demand more of their political leaders,” the declaration says.

CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), Dea Delaney Thiele, welcomed the Aotearoa Declaration.

"I hope both parties will react positively to its call for change," she said.

She called on all sides of politics in the lead up to the federal election to clarify for the Australian public exactly what they planned to do for Indigenous Australians should they win the election.

Source: National Indigenous Times

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