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Senior officials to front UN committee

By Darrin Barnett

1 March 2005 - Senior government officials due to front the UN in Geneva tomorrow are likely to be quizzed over Sydney's Redfern riots and the death in custody of a Palm Islander.

Cameron (Mulrunji) Doomadgee's death and the subsequent riots on the North Queensland island were covered in a presentation delivered today on behalf of 30 non-government organisations to the UN Elimination of Racial Discrimination Committee.
Australian Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Mike Smith and senior government officials from four departments will appear before the UN over the next two days.

Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) national director David Cooper said today deaths in custody and police harassment had been key points in the presentation.

Indigenous health and disadvantage, allegations of racial discrimination in native title legislation, and moves to end indigenous-elected representation through the abolition of ATSIC were other areas covered, he said.

The accompanying written submission said three-quarters of Australian deaths in custody since 2003 for prisoners detained on public order offences were of indigenous people.

And despite 339 recommendations from the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, the number had continued to increase in tandem with increasing rates of imprisonment of indigenous people, the submission said.

"The Government stopped funding to report on the implementation of these recommendations in 1997, and has failed to adequately address these issues despite the fact that two major race riots have taken place in the space of the last 10 months," it said.

"These race riots were as a result of two tragic incidents in Redfern and Palm Island."

The Redfern riots were sparked by the death of Thomas "TJ" Hickey, 17, who was impaled on a fence while riding his bicycle through the inner-Sydney suburb on February 14 last year.

Some locals said police were chasing him at the time but a coronial inquest found they were not and the police were not responsible for the accident.

Dr Cooper said both events had resulted in a heavy-handed response from the police and authorities.

"We see this as a pattern that seems to be developing and getting worse in this country, rather than better," he said.

"It is quite an alarming situation."

Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action co-ordinator Les Malezer said he expected the UN committee to find Australia was in breach of its international obligations when it came to the treatment of Aborigines.

"It well may be that some action might occur within the UN to get Australia to correct the laws in Australia," Mr Malezer told ABC radio from Geneva.

Meanwhile, the US State Department has released its latest assessment into Australia's human rights performance, mentioning the Palm Island and Redfern riots and the abolition of ATSIC.

"The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens, and the law and judiciary provide effective means of addressing individual instances of abuse," the assessment said.

"However, there were problems in some areas. There were occasional reports that police and prison officials abused persons in custody."

The inquest into the death of Mulrunji is continuing, while Prime Minister John Howard is taking advice on a request from the islanders for a federal royal commission.

Source: AAP www.news.com.au/

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