'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
