Press briefing note on Australia Indigenous Peoples

Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Ravina Shamdasani
Location: Geneva
Date: 26 June 2015
Subject:  Australia indigenous peoples

We warmly welcome the recommendation by a parliamentary committee in Australia for a constitutional amendment that would for the first time include an explicit reference to indigenous peoples in the country’s Constitution. The Committee has rightly stated that constitutional recognition would be "a vital step towards reconciliation and give a voice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in a Constitution better aligned with a modern Australia". The Committee called for a referendum on such a constitutional amendment.

This and other valuable proposals by the Committee would help strengthen the protection of human rights of Australia's indigenous peoples. In particular, we very much welcome the proposal to remove section 25 of the Constitution, which contemplates the disqualification of all persons "of any race" from voting in State elections. Such provisions, even if not invoked, have no place in a modern-day Constitution. Also very important are the proposals to include new anti-discrimination guarantees in the Constitution and to introduce a reference to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act of 2011.

We hope these recommendations will be put to the Australian people and receive the fullest support. Constitutional recognition and the legal reforms proposed would advance inclusion and help to address human rights issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, including those highlighted by the UN Human Rights Office. They would also be important further steps towards longer term reconciliation. 

ENDS

For more information and media requests, please contact Ravina Shamdasani (+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org ) or Cécile Pouilly (+41 22 917 9310 / cpouilly@ohchr.org).

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