Aboriginal Social Protection and Human Rights Issues in Australia - Essay Example

? Issues Affecting Human Rights of a Group of Indigenous People Issues Affecting Human Rights of a Group of Indigenous People Introduction When we talk about human rights, it is a subject of entire human presence. From a historical point of view, it can be said that human rights are those associated with entire human population, which could include people from groups, casts, communities or districts respectively. The differences in customs, traditions or ideologies categorize human rights within the context of such human distinctions. The position, land and demographics of any particular state decide the spectrum of rights for the people of that particular region (Council of Europe, 2011). From past studies, it can be said that human rights are those associated with people living in a cross-cultural or multi-cultural spectrum. A cross cultural spectrum is the one which could comprise people of different identities like indigenous people. Category of indigenous people is one major category within a multi-cultural system, in which human rights fall at the highest human distinction (An-Na'im, 1995). Talking about Australia, a country of 22 million human population holds a diversified multi cultural system. People who belong to different cultures, casts or identities reside in such cross-cultural country. There are partially several indigenous groups that dwell in different districts of the country. Human rights of indigenous people in Australia are always under the question. This is because of avoidance and negligence given by the government officials in the indigenous section. Concerning Australia, there are mainly two indigenous communities (aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) which are always on the discussion (Kinley, 1998). This is because of their consistent proclaims that government ignores their fundamental native rights in the region (Eniar, 1999). From historical evidences, it can be said that indigenous Australians are truly identical to the continent, as they fall in the geography since 40,000 years ago. Due to a couple of reasons the native Australians often fall behind the human rights appearance, as majority claims them to be a minority within the region. There are couples of issues that relate to native Australians, which would be part of the discussion of this study. Here is a brief introduction of two major communities who became the victims of human right violence in the country: Aboriginals Aboriginal is a name used for native Australians. The word became popular for indigenous Australians who migrated from Southern routes of India to nearby islands of the country. Aboriginals migrated to Australia 50,000 years ago, a time when their forefathers adjusted them to different regions of the continent. For such reason, aboriginals are truly to be called Australians holding original identification and by birth distinction of the place. Their presence can also be found on parallel geographies of the country like in Tasmania or in other adjacent islands (Aboriginal affairs, 2003). Aboriginals face a lot of problems in the continent in which the major problems are about the deprivation of land, social injustice, minority treatment or cultural discrimination. Since the last couple of decades their problems have been increased instead of decreasing which is because of big racist presence within the country region (Aboriginal affairs, 2003). Torres Strait Islanders Torres Strait Islander is another big indigenous community which resides in the northern side of the state of Queensland. Natively they belong to Torres Strait Islands which are places of their ancestors’ origination. It was 40,000 years ago when Torres Strait Indigenous arrived at the continent. It was their expected best place of reside, holding a natural identify of their forefathers’ attribution (Heritage Division, 2010). Torres Strait Islanders are natively true Australians, which according to racist’s communities is not a sufficient factor that can give them their protected rights of living. Like Aboriginals, Torres Strait Islands are also on the poor side of dwelling, having less sufficient resources to earn their basic living. Apart from all they had been the victims of human rights violence, suffering from ignorance, poverty and racism all over, due which their problems are relatively increasing time after time (Heritage Division, 2010). Social Justice Commission By the will of Australian social activists’ and journalist groups, there had been actions taken in the government level to preserve the rights of indigenous people. In such an effort, a social justice commission got into place in December 1992, which operated under the authority of Social Justice Commissioner (Heritage Division, 2010). Social justice commission worked on the human rights section in which the rights of indigenous groups were kept on the highest node of consideration. On account of wide spread Racist’s violence and deaths of indigenous Australians, Social Justice Commission took actions to investigate all of the issues under one inquiry commission (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2009). The Commissioner responded to social and economic problems faced by indigenous people. Most precisely a response came for indigenous aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders (Heritage Division, 2010). Social Justice Commission operates under standardized proceeding. To keep an eye on the legislative conduct of indigenous people and maintaining the record of implementations of the laws is the duty of the Commission assigned under the Native Title Act, 1993 and AHRC Act. The commission develops annual reports and record all the injustice brought in the indigenous section. This is to apply the laws of human rights following indigenous section, at the highest level of State’s constituency and its districts (Heritage Division, 2010). Australian Human Rights Commission Another authority which deals with human rights subject in the country is the Australian human rights commission. The commission was brought into place to protect and preserve the rights of human population of the country (Cooray, 1985). Here are the key features which are kept under the coverage of Australian Human Rights Commission (Cooray, 1985): According to the Racial Discrimination Act, 1975 all race, groups, classes and distinctions of indigenous sections or general public of the continent, will have equal opportunities to progress in social, cultural or economic activities of the State. This is the responsibility of Australian human rights commission to monitor and implement the conduct at all levels of the State (Cooray, 1985). According to Sex Discrimination Act, 1984, the State will eliminate all the sexual discriminations following in any part of the country. Message of equality is to be wide spread in all the sections of the State, whether it is an indigenous group or any other native Australian community (Cooray, 1985). Providing rights of equal opportunities in health, education and employment will be one major responsibility of Australian human rights commission. Discriminations with respect to age, marital status or gender will have to be eliminated in order to set an exemplary societal system, out of all human rights violence and abuse (Cooray, 1985). Real Situation of Indigenous Australians Apart from documents and regulations present in legislation of Australia, the current situation in human right affairs is to a great extent different from what is present in the jurisdiction of the continent. There are many problems which indigenous people face on a day to day basis in the subcontinent. In which problems of social affairs, moral injustice, health problems, economic problems, degradation of value system or deprivation of land are major issues of indigenous communities. From past researches conducted in the human right affairs of Australia, it was expressed that the continent is having unjustified level of difference between indigenous and non-indigenous population. Whether it is health section, education, employment or criminal justice, all areas are giving a picture of total injustice (World Council of Churches, 2011). According to a research conducted in 2006 in the employment section, it was found that there is no comparison between employment situations of non-indigenous people with indigenous groups. The research projected that out of total population, unemployment rate is 16% in the indigenous society which equals 5% of total non-indigenous population. The employment situation is full of racist presence due which indigenous people face problems in presenting their rights. Biasness in companies and employers restrict the indigenous groups to come up or attain any position in the job section, which is comparatively not the same for people out of indigenous identity (World Council of Churches, 2011). In the year 2004, the basic living situation of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders came out to be on the worst scenario in which 27 % of total indigenous population was living in the overcrowded situation. Indigenous people are living in low living standards, showing a strange picture of poverty and ignorance in such rich continent. Being native Australians, it is their natural right that they should be given equal opportunities but in the real situation, things are a lot different asking a lot of questions from State Officials and constituency of the region (World Council of Churches, 2011). Another area of influence is the criminal section where majority of indigenous are found with extreme criminal convictions. In an assessment made in the year 2007, indigenous prisoners constituted the largest proportion of the toal prison population i.e. 24 % were indigenous. Criminal records are more on the indigenous numbers than on non-indigenous population, which is because the biasness prevailing in the human rights protection system (Howard & O’Brien, 2009). According to indigenous claims, indigenous families face severe problems in land or property protection. Indigenous families often get deprived of their homes and face such problem time after time in the continent. Application of human rights for indigenous peoples’ land protection seems to be extremely low as compare to the non-indigenous population. Due to this problem, the indigenous families often have to migrate from one place to another, which becomes the routine of indigenous people. In present times, the houses which natural belonged to indigenous people have become abandoned. Those families who try to dwell in such homes face problems in basic living like problem of food, medication or shelter, which is because the homes are kept so far wary from the basic population that such living liabilities become hard to avail (Howard & O’Brien, 2009). Apart from all issues native Australians also suffer in the area of social recognition and adjustment. Still today, there cultural values, languages and traditions are not accepted to a State level. They are treated as minority, and their respective customs are presented under negligence and obscurity. Their right of cultural promotion is found to be nowhere accepted in the entire continent (World Council of Churches, 2011). What Is a Sound Human Right Management System? In the legislative fundamentals, human rights are rights associated to human population whether it is divided in groups, casts, communities or indigenous people, every human falls under the basic laws of equality, morality and impartiality so every human has to be given equal rights of living. In this sense, it becomes the responsibility of a democratic State to develop a sound human right management system, which can secure, monitor and protect the abstract of human right conduct (Synergy Global, 2012). In a democratic State like Australia, it is also the responsibility of the Government to establish a system which signifies the subject of human consideration, where every human is treated in high level of equality. Here are the following few strategies that comprise a sound human rights management system containing skill, ability and authority of the people (Synergy Global, 2012): Design of the Human Right Conduct The initial phase is to design the law and conduct which can cover the entire subject of human right consideration. The first is to generalize the population for which the law has to be formulated like including people from all casts, groups or indigenous communities to stipulate the legislation. The design should be covering all the areas where human right violence can prevail. Apart from all the central section to be covered is the value system of the people which includes cultures, traditions, believes, ideologies and living methods (Synergy Global, 2012). Enlistment of Considerable Areas Under the law and legislation of human right affairs, all important areas should be accessed for human right violence or abuse. Areas like education sector, medical or health sector, employment division and division of cultural recognition should be checked for any racist presence. All the areas should provide equal opportunities to all the people of the State. A commission should be ready to report in quarterly basis to see which section or area requires more attention to implement the laws (Synergy Global, 2012). Design of a Human Right Education System In a democratic system, it is also essential that the State have a potential education system which is substantial enough to provide basic knowledge of human rights and educate public in the right real extent. This would be significant for promoting the culture of human rights acceptance, and will give a reason to implement the code of conduct on the grass root level (Synergy Global, 2012). Implementation of the Law The last and significant phase is to implement the regulation in entire human population of the State. Strictness to follow and application of the law are essential parts of this phase which can be done by the human rights commission authorities. A monitoring system should be present, in which commissions can pass suggestions between each other and make important decisions for the proper implementation of the conduct (Synergy Global, 2012). List of References Aboriginal affairs, 2003. Introducing Indigenous Australia. Research report. New South Wales: NSW Reconciliation Council Inc. Ahmed An-Na'im, A., 1995. Human Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: A Quest for Consensus. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. Australian Human Rights Commission, 2009. Australian Human Rights Commission Submission. Code Submission. Sydney: Australian Human Rights Commission. Australian Human Rights Commission, 2009. Human rights and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. Research report. Sydney: Australian Human Rights Commission. Cooray, M., 1985. Our Civilisation. [Online] Viewed at: [Accessed 13 September 2012]. Council of Europe, 2011. Definition and Development of Human Rights and Popular Sovereignty in Europe. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Eniar, 1999. www.eniar.org. [Online] Viewed at: [Accessed 12 September 2012]. Heritage Division, 2010. Introduction to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Act. Research report. Canberra: Heritage Division. Howard, M. & O’Brien, J., 2009. Criminal injustice for vulnerable people. Research report. Brisbane: Office of the Public Advocate. Kinley, D., 1998. Human Rights in Australian Law: Principles, Practice and Potential. Sydney: Federation Press. Synergy Global, 2012. Specialist technical stream Human rights. [Online] Viewed at: [Accessed 13 September 2012]. World Council of Churches, 2011. Statement on the Situation of Indigenous Peoples of Australia. [Online] Viewed at: [Accessed 13 September 2012]. Read More