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Landmark ruling in the Northern Territories, Australia, recognising indigenous rights over the sea
July 2008
The High Court has ruled Aborigines control more than 80 per cent of the Northern Territory coast, ending a 30-year battle for indigenous rights to the sea.
 Read the article from brisbanetimes.com.au
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Australia: Government plans to apologize to Aborigines for past policies
January 2008
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When the Australian Parliament gathers in the second week of February in what will be the first session after the Centre-left Labor party won elections last November, the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will put forward a motion apologizing for past policies of removing Aboriginal children from their families and communities in a bid to make them grow up like white Australians. Aboriginal rights activists welcome the apology, but regret that the government does not promise compensation to those who were forcibly removed from their communities, commonly referred to as 'the stolen generation'.
 Read the Associated Press' story online
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Australian Aborigine
Photo: IWGIA archive |
Australia says sorry to Stolen Generations
February 2008
Australia apologized on Wednesday for the historic mistreatment of Aborigines, heralding a new era in race relations as huge crowds cheered across the nation. "It makes the indigenous community feel, for the first time in a real long time, really feel part of Australia, that it's embraced by the whole Australian nation," Stolen Generation elder Mark Bin Bakar told Reuters.
Read more (web link - Reuters)
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology
YouTube videos: The apology by BBC (13 February 2008),
the SKY NEWS (8 January 2008)
DR2 Udland - Interview with Diana Vinding in Danish.
13 February 2008 (09:00-16:35 minutes)
Read Patrick Dodson's address to the National Press Club:
After the Apology! in full length (PDF) |
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United Nations experts welcome Australia’s apology to indigenous peoples
February 2008
18 February 2008 experts from the United Nations issued a statement where they welcome Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's speech and apology to Australia's aboriginal people. They stress the apology offered to the members of the Stolen Generation and welcome the Australian Government’s commitment to build a common future with the indigenous peoples of the country based on mutual respect.
Read the statement here (web link - OHCHR Media Center)
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Papua: Nine in court for waving "Free Papua" flag
March 2008
Nine men arrested at a student protest in Indonesia's province of Papua last week will face trial on charges of plotting against the state, police say. They were jailed after a protest against a 2007 law banning the display of separatist symbols, including flags, in Papua.
Read more on Heraldsun.com.au
Read Human Rights Watch's article (web link)
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Hawaii: Native Sovereignty Bill up for vote in near future
May 2007
According to the Epoch Times, a bill dealing with sovereignty for Native Hawaiians that has lingered in congress since 2000, looks like it is headed for a vote in the near future. The bill promises to give 400,000 Hawaiians similar rights as those of Native Americans and Alaskan native tribes through the creation of a Native Hawaiian government. Some Hawaiaan sovereignty groups, however, oppose the bill and see it as selling out Hawaaian sovereignty in exchange for a lesser autonomy.
Read the article in The Epoch Times online
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Australia: Aboriginal health 100 years behind
April 2007
The health of Aborigines lags one century behind other Australians, according to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report.
Read about the report at news.com.au
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Australia: Aborigines win big land claim
January 2007
An Aboriginal tribe in Australia has won joint control of World Heritage-listed rainforests in a major land rights claim.
Read the article
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Australia: Uranium mine blamed for high Aboriginal cancer rate
December 2006
Cancer cases among Aboriginal people living near Australia's biggest uranium mine appear to be almost double the expected rate, a study by the Federal Government's leading indigenous research body shows.
Read the article
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Australia: Native title claim on Perth granted
September 2006
A federal court judge has ruled that the Noongar indigenous people are the traditional owners of Perth and its surrounds and their native title continues to exist in the area.
Read the article on NEWS.com.au
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Australia: Special rapporteur on housing visits Australia
August 2006
UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing just ended his two week visit to Australia and noted that indigenous Australians face a humanitarian crisis and are living in some of the worst conditions in the world.
Read the news coverage
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Pacific: The people of Tokelau to decide on their future political status
February 2006
In February 2006, the people of Tokelau will decide on their future political status, voting in a referendum on free association with New Zealand. Tokelau is listed as a non-self-governing territory with the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation and is the last of New Zealand's dependent territories to vote on its political status.
Read more about Tokelau and the upcoming election in Nic Maclellan's briefing note
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The Pacific: A new report opens up the debate on French nuclear testing
January 2006
For many outside the Pacific, the era of 30 years of French nuclear testing has become a thing of the past. But not for the declining number of former test site workers of Polynesia, who continue to endure and struggle against the scourge of radiation. An inquiry committee composed of 12 parliamentarians has made a report, which finds that "it is not exaggerated to think that there were fallouts on the island of Tahiti from the atmospheric tests" that France conducted 1,200 kms away.
Read more
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Indigenous protest against nickel mining in New Caledonia/Kanaky
July 2005
Canadian mining giant Inco Ltd is facing growing opposition from all sides in New Caledonia, including from indigenous Kanak representatives and local elected officials. In 1992 Inco Ltd acquired the rights to the Goro nickel deposit and in May 2002 the company was granted yet another huge concession. From the very start, local Kanak communities expressed alarm at the impact this huge mining project will have on their traditional way of life and in 2001 they established the Rhéébù Nùù Committee to monitor and counter the impacts of Inco’s Goro nickel mine. Today, the Committee’s struggle is recognized as being of critical significance to upholding Kanak rights throughout Kanaky.
Civil society groups including indigenous Kanak representatives (Senators and members of the Rhéébù Nùù Committee) are calling upon Inco to halt its campaign to secure exemptions from environmental regulations and existing New Caledonian labour and environmental standards and to address the increasing number of environmental, social and economic problems that have been exposed in the companies planned mining operations.
Read the statement by Rhéébù Nùù Committee
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