Songlines

News release

“Cut prison numbers and reinvest money in communities says the Commission on English Prisons Today

A landmark report into the prison system has been published today (Thursday 2 July). The product of a two-year long inquiry commissioned by the Howard League for Penal Reform, the final report of the Commission on English Prisons Today takes a radical look at the purposes and limits of a penal system and how it should sit alongside other social policies.

Do Better Do Less: The report of the Commission on English Prisons Today advocates a new approach of penal moderation and fundamental reform, including:

A significant reduction in the prison population and the closure of establishments
Investment in the localities that currently produce prisoners to reduce crime
The replacement of short prison sentences with community-based responses
The dismantling of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), including the break up of the centrally managed prison service

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Australian Human Rights Commission Thursday, 2 July 2009

Today’s Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Report shows little progress has been made in closing the gap for Indigenous people but provides the strongest argument yet for the need for a new way of working with Indigenous people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma has said.

“Despite the report showing some absolute gains have been made, things have dramatically worsened in some areas,” Commissioner Calma said.

“The failure of the past 10 years to put a dent in the social and economic inequality that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples highlights that while an increase in resourcing is necessary, it is not in itself enough.

“We need fresh approaches which acknowledge and work from the basis that the answers to many of the long-term problems facing Aboriginal and Torres Trait Islander communities will not come from Canberra, but from those communities themselves,” he said. “National planning that involves Indigenous people, their representative bodies and peak organisations is the only way forward in truly overcoming Indigenous disadvantage.”

Commissioner Calma said he was particularly concerned by the increasing incarceration rates for Indigenous adults and called for alternative measures to be a top priority.

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COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS
Forty-second session Geneva, 4 to 22 May 2009

CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLES 16 AND 17 OF THE COVENANT

Concluding Observations of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Australia
1. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights considered the fourth periodic report of Australia on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/C.12/AUS/4) at its 3rd, 4th and 5th meetings, held on 5 and 6 May 2009 (E/C.12/2009/3, 4 and 5), and adopted, at its 26th meeting held on 20 May 2009, the following concluding observations.

….

28 In spite of the State party’s commitment to “close the gap” in key health indicators between indigenous and non-indigenous people, the Committee notes with concern the continuing high levels of ill health among indigenous people, in particular women and children.(art.2.2 and 12)

The Committee calls on the State party to take immediate steps to improve the health situation of indigenous people, in particular women and children, including by implementing a human rights framework that ensures access to the social determinants of health such as housing, safe drinking water, electricity and effective sanitation systems. Further, the Committee invites the State party to identify disaggregated health indicators and appropriate national benchmarks in relation to the right to health, in line with the Committee’s General Comment No.14 (2000), and to include information on the process of identifying such indicators and benchmarks in its next periodic report. (emphasis added - songlines)

Full report
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/AdvanceVersions/E-C12-AUS-CO-4.doc

NZ Herald Thursday Jul 02, 2009
By Claire Trevett

Maori tribes may be given legal title to parts of the foreshore and seabed separately or jointly with the Crown if the Government adopts the suggestions of its ministerial review panel.

The panel’s report, issued yesterday, describes the Foreshore and Seabed Act as severely discriminatory to Maori and “the single biggest land nationalisation statute enacted in New Zealand history”.

It recommends immediate repeal of the act and vesting of foreshore ownership “in trust” with the Crown while questions over the extent of iwi rights and how they can be recognised are resolved.

Possibilities include establishing reserves over which hapu would have full control or co-management roles.

Full story and related links, your views etc:
http://msn.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10581977&ref=rss

Australian Human Rights Commission Wednesday 1 July 2009

The Close the Gap campaign will be watching tomorrow’s Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Darwin to see if governments commit to genuine partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

For the first time, COAG is holding a meeting with a focus on Indigenous issues.

Chair of the Close the Gap Steering Committee and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma, whose 2005 Social Justice Report laid the groundwork for the community-led Close the Gap campaign, praised the Australian government for the COAG initiative.

“This meeting is important because it not only includes a focus on Indigenous health but also addresses the social and cultural determinants that contribute to good health and wellbeing,” Commissioner Calma said.

However, Mr Calma said money alone was not enough and that closing the unacceptable life expectancy gap would not happen unless COAG supports four critical measures:

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“Dear friends,

The crackdown and blackout on Iran’s streets and internet is silencing the voices of protesters. Iranians urgently need internet access to communicate with each other and world - let’s fund simple, cheap tools to help them freely access the internet:

The brutal crackdown on Iran’s streets is succeeding. Lethal shooting, beatings and mass arrests have driven millions off the streets, and a communications blackout is preventing them from communicating with each other and the world.

Ruling clerics are in crisis talks — many are criticising the crackdown and calling for reform.

We urgently need to help Iranians get back on the internet to have their voices heard in Iran and the world. Secure and anonymous “proxy services” are helping people to bypass regime controls and get online — but they’re overloaded and running out of funds.3 A small donation of just $10 can provide bandwidth for hundreds of secure emails - if 10,000 of us donate in the next 72 hours, we can help break the blackout:

Proxy services provide people with a single link at which they can freely access the internet. The link is changed every time the regime blocks access to it. With 10,000 donors, we can scale up the proxy services massively — providing more servers, bandwidth and advanced technical support.

The next two weeks are crucial. As Iran’s secret policemen cast their net far and wide, secure channels of communication are also critical to avoiding the crackdown. Scores have been killed and hundreds of human rights advocates, journalists, bloggers and peaceful protesters imprisoned. Although many more remain free, without safe ways to communicate they will face terrible risks.

After the crackdowns in Tibet and Burma, Avaaz members donated in our thousands to preserve the people’s basic human right to free communication and information. Overcoming censorship to make contact with each other and the world is crucial at these moments. Sharing information about the protests still flaring up around the provinces of Iran from Kurdish areas to the holy city of Qom, or uploading YouTube videos and first-hand reports of bravery and brutality to Iran’s million-plus weblogs and networks like Twitter, could make a huge difference.4 If the regime believe they can silence such reports, the crackdown will only worsen.

Legitimacy matters in Iran. From inspirational videos of million-strong marches to shocking evidence of militia violence, the truth will come out only if Iranians can communicate freely with each other.5 The clerical councils engaged in closed-door crisis talks are paying great attention to the voices being raised in their society. Let’s make sure Iran’s voices are not silenced – help break the blackout before it’s too late:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/iran_break_the_blackout

With hope and determination,

Paul, Ricken, Milena, Graziela, Paula, Luis, Brett, Iain, Rajeev and the whole Avaaz team Sources”

Check out:

http://www.whatsworking.com.au/

Call for Papers: Indigenous young people, crime and justice conference

Abstracts of papers due 10 July 2009.

The Australian Institute of Criminology is Australia’s national research and knowledge centre on crime and justice. The Institute seeks to promote justice and reduce crime by undertaking and communicating evidence-based research to inform policy and practice.

From Monday 31 August - Tuesday 1 September 2009 the AIC in partnership with the NSW Commission for Children and Young People, the NSW Attorney-General’s Department and the Australian Human Rights Commission, will host a national conference on Indigenous young people, crime and justice at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Parramatta.

The conference website is at: http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/2009-indigenousyouth/

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“The proportion of prisoners who are Indigenous varies across States and Territories. The Indigenous prisoner population in the Northern Territory comprises 84 per cent of the total prisoner population, while Victoria had the lowest proportion of Indigenous prisoners (6%). Notably in Western Australia in 2007, Indigenous Australians were 21 times more likely to be in prison than non-Indigenous Australians (see Figure 2) (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2007b).”

One in four prisoners are Indigenous: report
Thursday, 25 June 2009 National Indigenous Times
By Julian Drape

NATIONAL, June 25, 2009: One in four prisoners in Australia is Indigenous and their over-representation in the jail system is only getting worse, a new report states.

Aboriginal people are 13 times more likely to be locked up than other Australians, while the proportion of Indigenous women being incarcerated has tripled in the past 20-odd years.

Half of the 10- to 17-year-olds in corrective institutions are Indigenous.

“The fact is, every year it gets worse,” Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) executive director Gino Vumbaca said.

“The investment in prison cells is clearly flawed. It’s not working.

“If you build more prison cells, invariably you’ll fill them with more Indigenous people.”

…

The statistics are collated in the ANCD’s National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee (NIDAC) report Bridges and Barriers - Addressing Indigenous Incarceration and Health.

full story
http://www.nit.com.au/BreakingNews/story.aspx?id=18053

Story and audio at
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/25/2607792.htm?site=news

Download 420kb report at:
http://www.nidac.org.au/publications/pdf/nidac_bridges_and_barriers.pdf

From WGAR news:

“ATTEMPTS TO PHASE OUT BILINGUAL EDUCATION IN THE NT:

- Media Release

WGAR: Bilingual education under threat
http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/bilingual-education-under-threat-aiatsis-symposium-26-6
22 Jun 09: “The Northern Territory Government has taken steps to limit and phase out bilingual education in their jurisdiction. There is no evidence that this move will help any students to achieve better results at school. Ellie Gilbert, a spokesperson for WGAR said today that these moves are counter to the Australian Government’s decision to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

- Event

Bilingual Education in the Northern Territory:
Principles, policy and practice
AIATSIS Research Symposium 9am - 5pm, 26th June 2009
Venue: Visions Theatre, National Museum of Australia, Canberra
http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research_program/events2/bilingual_education_symposium_2009
“At the start of the 2010 school year, the number of hours of bilingual teaching in Northern Territory Two-Way schools is set to decrease by more than half. The public debate that followed the announcement of this policy change revealed a need for further research on the models, achievements and challenges of bilingual education in Indigenous communities. Acknowledging this research gap and
recognising that the new policy represents a significant shift in educational practice, AIATSIS will hold a one day symposium to debate and discuss the policy change and its implications.”

- Background

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