Launch of Amnesty International –
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Tom
Calma
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Commissioner
Australian Human Rights Commission
Yabun – Survival Day 2010
Victoria Park,
Sydney
Tuesday 26 January, 2010
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunties.
Firstly, let me begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. You always have been and always will be the traditional owners of this land where we meet today.
I thank Amnesty International Australia, for the invitation to launch their booklet on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Since colonisation we have been met with unprecedented challenges and have been denied our most basic of human rights. It is appropriate that here today, Survival Day, we launch Amnesty’s booklet on the Declaration. It is appropriate because as Article 43 of the Declaration states:
The rights recognised [in the Declaration] constitute the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world.
The adoption of the Declaration by the UN in 2007 marked the end of a 30 year struggle by Indigenous peoples in seeking recognition for our fundamental human rights through the treaty body system. Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were deeply involved in drafting and campaigning for the Declaration. Without the tenacity and belief of those people, including Mick Dodson, Les Malezer, Megan Davis, Lowitja O'Donoghue and many others, we would not have this Declaration. They were also supported in these aims by many non-Indigenous Australians including Darren Dick and Sarah Pritchard. This is a perfect example of Indigenous peoples taking control of our own destiny.
The Declaration includes all of the rights already contained in international human rights law. It also recognises our unique and collective rights as Indigenous peoples. As an international instrument, the Declaration provides a blueprint for Indigenous peoples and Governments around the world, based on the principles of self-determination, and participation, to respect the rights and roles of Indigenous peoples within society.
Our next challenge is to ensure that our people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and our Governments at all levels, fully understand, utilise and implement the declaration. The Amnesty Booklet provides us with guidance on how we turn this international human rights instrument into a mechanism that we can use in our communities to ensure our full participation in Australian society and increase our ability to determine our own futures – achieving self determination.
The Declaration, through the key principle of self-determination, affirms that Indigenous peoples, have the freedom to live in accordance with our values and beliefs.[1] It is about placing control in the hands of the very people that know best how to address the problems in our communities, our mob. However, self-determination is also about increased partnership with Government and wider society based on mutual respect.
Australian governments should use the Declaration to frame its engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. And this has been tried and tested with the creation of the new National Indigenous Representative Body. The proposed model applies Article 18 of the Declaration as its guiding principle.[2] Article 18 provides that:
Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as maintain and develop their own indigenous decision making institutions.
The model for the new representative body is designed to give effect to these standards. The decision to create such a representative body is not a mere policy objective for government; rather it gives effect to the rights set out in the Declaration.
The rights contained in this Declaration are yours, you can use them. Encourage your Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s organisations to adopt the Declaration as their guiding framework. Frame the injustices and challenges you face in the language of human rights, and use the Declaration as the standard by which you measure your enjoyment and fulfillment of human rights. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides the only acceptable benchmark for our peoples.
The Declaration provides a light at the end of the tunnel however it won’t work for us if we don’t actively use it. This is our Declaration, we must use it.
Thank you to Amnesty International Australia for your continued support in our struggle to fight for our rights. Thank you for this booklet that provides us with a starting point to fully implement the rights included in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Because from self respect comes dignity, and from dignity comes hope. Thank you.
[1] E Daes, ‘Striving for
self-determination for Indigenous peoples’ in Y Kly and D Kly, (Eds) In pursuit of the right to self-determination, Clarity Press, Geneva,
2000, p 58; see also Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Commissioner, Social Justice Report 2002, pp
7-53.
[2] Steering Committee for
the creation of a new National Representative Body, Our future in our hands
– Creating a sustainable National Representative Body for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Peoples, 2009, p 1.
