“Given Australia's human rights history, they do not deserve this right,” said Michael Anderson, facilitator of the Gumilaroi/Euahlayi Aboriginal Nations. They’re one of the largest Australian Aboriginal groups, numbering 15,000 people.

“Australia is yet to admit to its racist past and accept responsibility. Their constant denial of what they did to us, the Indigenous people, is in fact a crime against humanity that also disqualifies them from sitting in judgment on any other regimes of the world.”

Anderson said in a statement issued here that “the childish outburst of the Australians” over the conclusions of the UN’s Committee for Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), ECOSOC and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) when it was found that the 1998 Native Title amendment were racist, clearly demonstrated that Australia were out of touch with reality.

“Australia’s stand against these decisions and the government’s publicly stated threat not to grant entry visas to any UN human rights bodies that sought to come down under to investigate violations was in fact a smack in the face of the validity of UN human rights activities,” Anderson said.

“Furthermore, the Australian campaign to have the UN restrict which bodies and people can access the Human Rights Commission
is in itself racist, if not dictatorial.”

More recently, Australia's treatment of refugee boat people, the
continued imprisonment of illegal immigrants and the constant debate about the separation of children from their parents in these institutions did nothing to promote Australia as a deserving member of the UN Human Rights Committee, said Anderson.

Anderson’s international campaign is an appeal to all member states of the UN to review Australia's record on human rights.

“If the truth be known,” he says, “Australia is the only country in the world with a national constitution that permits the Parliament to make racist laws against foreign people whom they call citizens. It enables the government to distinguish nationalities and make laws accordingly. I should know - my people have lived with it all our lives and continue to do so.”

“Moreover - and that’s so frightening - Australia's parliamentary-defined 'national interest' regime states the importance and priority of Australia as a nation is to ensure that the refined cultures, arts and the Christian faith of the Aryan races are protected.”

Australia’s remoteness – “the tyranny of distance” – makes its transparency to the world at large difficult, argues Anderson. “Being an island nation we are protected from the world.”

“The only way Australia can be made transparent is to ensure that UN human rights organs have the right to come and investigate without the threat of refusal and restrictions as to who they can talk to and where they can go.”

Anderson, a claimant to land in northwest NSW and southern Queensland, was one of the handful of activists who set up the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972.

Apart from his political activities he and his German wife now run a sheep farm near Hebel in southern Queensland that has started giving employment to young Aborigines and modestly putting money into projects in nearby communities.

Anderson, a trained jurist, is about to end a visit to Europe which included talks with lawyers in London about the possibility of suing the British Crown for allowing Australian governments to make laws that harmed the Aborigines.

Anderson can be phoned until 22 January at #49-228-1519.
From 24 January he will be back on the farm at 0061-74 62 50 808.
His email address is  ngurampaa@bigpond.com


The statement in full

“I have launched a campaign seeking to prevent the Australian Government from getting their representatives nominated to sit on the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations. Given Australia's human rights history, they do not deserve this right. Australia is yet to admit to its racist past and accept responsibility. Their constant and continuing denial of what they did to us, the Indigenous people, is in fact a crime against humanity that also disqualifies them from any right to sit in judgment on any other regimes of the world.

“The childish outburst of the Australians over the conclusions of the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), ECOSOC and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) when it was found that the 1998 Native Title amendment [on Aboriginal land ownership] were indeed racist clearly demonstrated that Australia were in fact out of touch with reality.

“Australia’s stand against these decisions and the threat publicly stated by the Government that they would not grant entry visas to any UN human rights bodies that sought to come down under to investigate violations was in fact a smack in the face of the validity of UN
human rights activities. Furthermore, the Australian campaign to have the UN restrict which bodies and people can have access to the Human Rights Commission is in itself racist, if not dictatorial.

“More recently, Australia's treatment of the illegal boat people and the
continued imprisonment of illegal migrants and the constant debate about the separation of children from their parents in these institutions does nothing to promote Australia as a deserving member of the UN Human Rights Committee.

“My international campaign is an appeal to all member states of the
UN to review Australia's human rights record. If the truth be known,
Australia is the only country in the world with a National Constitution that
permits the Parliament to make racist laws against foreign people whom they call citizens. It enables the Government to distinguish nationalities and make laws accordingly. I should know, my people have lived with it
all our lives and continue to do so.

“Moreover, and what’s so frightening, is Australia's parliamentary-defined 'national interest' regime stating the importance and priority of Australia as a nation is to ensure that the refined cultures, arts and the Christian faith of the Aryan races are protected.

“Because of the tyranny of distance Australian transparency is so difficult. Being an island nation, we are protected from the world. The
only way Australia can be transparent is to ensure that UN human rights
organs have the right to come and investigate without the threat of refusal and restrictions as to whom they can talk to and where they can go.”