'Hear us, see us': a plea to the UN for Indigenous women - by Lorena Allam

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner has used a speech to the UN in Geneva to demand the federal government take action on the rising rates of Aboriginal women in jail.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women represent 2% of Australia’s female population but make up 34% of all women in prison, June Oscar told the Human Rights Council on Friday.

“The root cause is that Indigenous women continue to experience disproportionate levels of trauma and intersecting forms of discrimination which cut across lines of race, gender and socioeconomic status,” Oscar said. “There is a direct connection between the fact that 80% of Indigenous women in prison are mothers and the rapidly increasing rates of the removal of Indigenous children from families into out-of-home care,” she said. Oscar called on the government to fully implement the recommendations of the Australian Law Reform Commission report Pathways to Justice.

The report was commissioned in 2016 by the former attorney general George Brandis, who said the prison rates for Aboriginal people were a “national tragedy”. But the government has made no formal response to the report, which was tabled in parliament almost 18 months ago, despite consistent calls for action. A coalition of more than 35 human rights, justice and community organisations wrote to the government in September last year.

“We cannot let another generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lose their futures, their dignity and – for some – their lives because of inaction by Australian governments,” said the letter signed by Amnesty, the Australian Council of Social Service, the Law Council of Australia, Unicef, national Aboriginal legal and social services, legal academics and others... read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/29/hear-us-see-us-a-plea-to-the-un-for-indigenous-women