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[eniar] update | June 2002 ·Jabiluka victory ·ATSIC abolition + more

Welcome to the European Network for Indigenous Australian Rights (ENIAR)
Newsletter with the latest updates, events coming up and what's new on eniar.org

Firstly, one piece of good news - The remains of Tasmanian Aborigine Truganini have been returned to her community by The Royal College of Surgeons, almost 130 years after her death. more»»

Australia's treatment of asylum seekers and indigenous people will be the main obstacle to it winning a UN Security Council seat, according to former Human Rights Commissioner, Chris Sidoti. more › Aboriginal leaders have said about the asylum seekers: “we know what it is to be oppressed - we have experienced much of the past 200 years as oppression. We know what it is to be alienated and estranged in our own country." more »

Speaking of the UN, it facilitated the first official forum for the world's indigenous peoples in May — eight decades after they were spurned by the League of Nations. Through the UN Economic and Social Council, they are demanding the right to collective ownership of land and payment for their medicinal knowledge. more › And in March the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Racism again expressed his concerns more›

Amnesty International's 2002 annual report has found that indigenous Australians remain disproportionately represented within Australia's criminal justice system. more ›

There have been more leaks from the Ranger uranium ore stockpile into Kakadu National Park. more ›

ENIAR's Lyndon Ormond Parker recently contributed to a debate on cultural restitution — the repatriation of cultural property — for BBC Radio 3's 'Undercurrents' program. You can listen to what he had to say online and check our new, extensivemultimedia clipping archive. So if you enjoy sights and sounds alongside your text more »

The Pope has apologised for "the shameful injustices done to indigenous peoples in Oceania … especially where children were forcibly separated from their families". more » and the son of Martin Luther King also sent a clear message to John Howard in May:Say sorry. King compared the state of race relations in Australia to that of the American south 40 years ago. more »

The Queen was asked to apologise for the "[hunting] down by the British for their body parts" of Aboriginal people in the 19th century prior to the 2002 Royal Tour of Australia— body parts now held in the Natural History Museum in London. (Aboriginal leaders didn't get their apology). more » But the tour will most likely be remembered for Prince Phillip's gaffe: "Do you still throw spears at each other?" more »

If Her Majesty did anything it would be better than the British Government. Back at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban in September, Britain blocked an attempt by the world's 300 million indigenous to have their rights protected under international law. more »

And Indigenous groups from Commonwealth countries claim the Australian Government conspired to keep their issues from being discussed at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). more › ENIAR co-hosted a 'Dialogue on Indigenous Peoples in the Commonwealth', June 7 more ›

You can read more about the UK's role and responsibilities in our section 'British responsibility?', for which we are encouraging your contributions whether through our bulletin board or by sending in contributions of articles or useful documents.

EVENTS

Events are updated regularly via our bulletin board

Coming to London August 20, starring Kenneth Branagh and directed by big shot Hollywood Director Philip Noyce; Rabbit-Proof Fence brings the Stolen Generations to the big screen. It is a true story of three Aboriginal girls forcibly taken from their family during a government programme in the first half of the twentieth century to be trained as domestic workers and integrated into white society. more »

• Third International Workshop on Indigenous Children and Youth, Geneva, July 17-19
• UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations, Geneva, 22-26 July 2002
• August 9 is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People
• Wayne Quilliam, Australia's leading Indigenous Photographer, recently exhibited at the Ethnographic Museum in Stockholm, Sweden. 'Shades of Black' opened in London 17th of May 2002 and then traveled to Paris.
• Francis Firebrace's art will be exhibited at Australia House, London; mid July to mid August 2002.
• 15 - 27 July 2002, Rripangu Yirdaki Festival with Djalu' Gurruwiwi in Eisenbach, Germay.
• 15 June & 26 July 2002 - Cultureshock 2002 - Ancestral Voices including Aboriginal Didjeridu in Liverpool & Manchester.
• And don't miss works by the Warlukurlangu Artists from Yuendumu, in central Australia, which have just gone on show in London. Read more »

WANT TO HELP?

Support the Stolen Wages Campaign :

• From 1904 to 1987, the Queensland Government withheld or underpaid wages earned by Aboriginal workers;
• The State Government has offered a settlement totalling $55million but this is only a fraction of the stolen wages;
• We are supporting ANTaR's campaign in support of Indigenous Queensland workers who have not received wages for which they are entitled. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated;
• You can get addresses and more information here

If you have skills or access to resources here are some ways in which you may be able to help::

• sending this email on to friends and encouraging them to sign up to receive this newsletter (by sending a blank email to eniar-subscribe@green.net.au);
• the section info for aborigines on European campaigning now has lots of information and links, drawn up from experience. We aim to improve this section with more information . Want to help? Contact the webmaster webmaster@eniar.org
• If you have information about events, new sites or anything else of interest to ENIAR supporters then don't forget to post it to our bulletin board. (Note that youdo not have to register to post comments, this is not quite clear on everyone.net's service, and yes we plan to change this part of our service!)
• we are always on the look out for ideas. Email us!
• if it's action you are after then visit the ENIAR action page where you can take various actions in support of Indigenous Australians.

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