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Australian Aboriginal Tent Embassy

29 August 2001 - The Aboriginal Tent Embassy from Canberra Australia.

Isabell Coe and supporters displaying the Aboriginal flag outside Westminster parliament, before their meeting with Jeremy Corbyn MP

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy from Canberra Australia has established an office in the Hague, The Nederlands, to start their case in the world court over the historical facts that surround the stealing of sovereign Aboriginal lands in Australia, genocide and crimes against humanity in Australia, that were carried out by the British Crown and government , when the British founded Australia and established a penal colony, in Sydney, in 1788.

A delegation led by internationally renowned Aboriginal land rights activist, and Wiradjuri custodian, Isabell Coe, will be visiting the British and Australian consulates in the Hague on Thursday, 30th August 2001, to deliver the first documents to formalise the protocol required to start this unique and historical world court action, and to initiate the dialogue that is required to deliver a message to the Queen of England, on the facts that Aboriginal Sovereignty was never ceded by the Aboriginal Nations of Australia.

They will also request that the Australian Ambasodor to raise the Aboriginal flag at the Australian Embassy while the delegation is in the Hague.

''We have been to the highest courts in Australia over geneocide and our Sovereign land rights and there has been no justice. The courts of Australia have said that our Sovereignty can only be determined by the British Courts or the World Court." Isabell Coe said.

''We need to establish our office of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy here in the Hague, so we are on neutral diplomatic ground and we will be able to bring our elders and people over to europe to tell their stories to the World Court''.

'' The war against Australian Aboriginal people has been going on since the day the British arrived and it is still going on today, and we need to stop this war. Genocide and the decimation of Aboriginal people and Aboriginal sacred lands in Australia has been practiced for over 200 years ...........it has to stop.''

'We are here to deliver a Declaration of Aboriginal Sovereignty over the land known as Australia, and to deliver a Declaration of Peace, to end the war that has been waged against Australian Aboriginal people since Australia was invaded, and we would like both the British and Australian High Commissioners to notify the British Crown and the Australian Governer General that this process has begun' Isabell Coe said.

''The pen is more mightier than the sword and we have been fighting long enough''.

''We have asked the Australian courts to produce a document that declared that the British act of sovereignty, that was proclaimed in 1788, in Sydney by Captain Auther Philip, and they cannot find this document, they could not submit this evidence to the courts, it does not exist''

''The Aboriginal Tent Embassy will also be preparing a draft document to produce to the world courts that will be signed by every Aboriginal Sovereign Nation in Australia, which will state that they did not sign or cede their sovereign rights over to the British when they invaded over 2 hundred years ago.'

''We need to start the dialogue between the Aboriginal People of Australia and The Queen of England or Her Representives so we can resolve these issues, without going to the long and complex legal ramifications that will lie ahead for all of us in the World Court''.

''We also have a Sacred Fire For Peace and Justice burning in Australia and we will be giving The Ambassodors some ashes from this fire as a symbolic jesture to signify that the peace process has begun''.'

End

Contact Isabell Coe at: TentEmbassy@Hotmail.com

Media release from: Aboriginal Tent Embassy

relative links:

• Aboriginals visit Westminster
  19 November 2001 - The Aboriginal Tent Embassy from Canberra Australia today met with members of Westminster Parliament to discuss the fact that the Aboriginals of Australia never ceded their sovereignty to the British when Australia.
• Aboriginal fire ceremony on Dover's beach
  3 September 2001 - An Aboriginal fire ceremony , was performed yesterday on Dover's beach by a delegation from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Canberra. Isabell Coe, Leader of the delegation explained that the traditional fire ceremony was to "let the land know we are here.''

• delegation performing fire ceremony

  collecting ashes from the ceremonial fire

  The Aboriginal Tent Embassy has established an office in the Hague.
  29 August 2001 - The Aboriginal Tent Embassy from Canberra Australia has established an office in the Hague. The Nederlands, to start their case in the world court over the historical facts that surround the stealing of sovereign Aboriginal lands in Australia, genocide and crimes against humanity in Australia, that were carried out by the British Crown and government , when the British founded Australia and established a penal colony, in Sydney, in 1788.
• No trespass, Cockatoo is ours, declare Aborigines
  23 December 2000 - Aborigines who set up a tent embassy on an island in Sydney Harbour have been ordered to leave after a Supreme Court judge found they were trespassing on Commonwealth property.
• Flame of reconciliation ends its trek to Sydney
  4 September 2000 - The Olympic torch is not the only flame that has traversed New South Wales. The alternative flame is a humble glow - it was not accompanied by a convoy of shiny vehicles, you can't buy it, and famous people are not queueing to run with it.It's a small flame, flickering on a piece of old wood cradled to the chest of Kevin "Uncle Kev" Buzzacott, a South Australian Arabunna elder.
• Aboriginal cry for freedom echoes cries for Freeman
  26 August 2000 - The Guardian (UK) - David Hopps watches the race in a makeshift inner-city 'tented embassy'. At the Aboriginal tented embassy in Sydney's Victoria Park, safeguards were being taken to ensure Cathy Freeman's victory.
• Flame of Freedom burns in Victoria Park
  23 August 2000 - The last time an Aboriginal campfire burned in Victoria Park could well have been more than 200 years ago. The Gadigal tribe of the Eora people, traditional Aboriginal inhabitants of the area now known as Sydney's inner west, are known to have used the park as a meeting place long before European settlement. The fire then would have been for utility and warmth as well as a place to gather in tribal community.
• Divided we fall
  13 August 2000 - The Guardian (UK) - The Olympics give Australia's aborigines the chance to bring their plight to the world's attention - but internal wrangling has already ruined one major protest. Patrick Barkham reports Special report: the Sydney Olympics.

Further information: British responsibility issues page - includes news index and external links

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