Australia silent on UN racism committee condemnation

March 28, 2005

The Australian government has been keeping quiet about a UN committee's repeated criticism of its record on race issues. A report issued over two weeks ago by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has not received comment from the government in the media, and domestic media coverage has been scant, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, and confirmed by a search of news search engine news.google.com.

According to Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) National Director David Cooper before the case was heard by the UN committee, "We fully expect the government is going to deflect it by criticising the UN process."

In fact, this criticism was given in the session, and nothing has been heard from the Australian Federal Government since, on the committee hearing and report.

After reciting a list of Australian anti-racism initiatives, ambassador to the UN Mike Smith, described the 18 committee members' work in the previous session five years ago as "cursory" and "unreasonable". He said they had largely ignored progress being made in Australia, yet displayed "an unquestioning acceptance" of critics of the Government.

Regis de Gouttes of France called Mr Smith "exceptionally rude".

Jose Lindgren Alves of Brazil told him, "As a veteran diplomat, this statement, with its language describing programs and attacks on NGOs, reminds me of the sort of statement from communist bloc countries and Latin American dictatorships that Australia used to condemn."

The committee was positive about a number of improvements in race-related issues in Australia over the five years since its last report. These were,

However the report contained a large number of serious criticisms, and a reminder that the Convention prohibits direct as well as indirect discrimination. Australia was asked to report back on progress on a number of items within one year.

The criticisms were,