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Aboriginals of Australia: Amnesty International report 2004

9 June 2004 - Domestic violence against Aboriginal women and children and indefinite detention of child asylum-seekers were prominent themes in the domestic human rights debate.

According to a 20-year study conducted by Australian universities, one in four women aged between 18 and 23 reported some experience of domestic violence. In October, public concern about even higher rates of indigenous victims of domestic violence led the Prime Minister to initiate a consultation process with Aboriginal women's leaders. In February, a Northern Territory coroner's inquest report criticized police for releasing an Aboriginal victim of domestic violence into the care of her de facto husband in October 2001. The woman died from her injuries after the husband beat her again as soon as the officers had left.

Deaths in custody of indigenous and non-indigenous prisoners fell to the lowest level for 10 years, with the exception of Western Australia. In April, the Western Australia government directed the state's independent prison inspector to review its largest prison because of concerns over deaths in custody, including suicides by teenage Aboriginal prisoners awaiting trial.

In February, the family of Stephen Wardle, who died in 1988 aged 18 in a police cell in disputed circumstances, accepted an apology by a police officer during a Royal Commission inquiry into the Western Australia Police Service which investigated Stephen Wardle's death.

Source: Amnesty International

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