|
 |
Chair of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Bev Manton at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. |
Group takes the fight to UN
Issue 153 - 15 May 2008
By Claire Scobie
NEW YORK
ISSUE 153, May 15, 2008: An Australian Indigenous delegation at the UN called on the Labor government to adopt the Declaration of Rights for Indigenous Peoples last week in New York.
“It’s a blemish on Australia’s character to not endorse and fully support the declaration,” says Bev Manton, Chair of the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC).
“You can’t criticise countries like China on human rights when you don’t put things right at home.”
Last September the UN adopted the Declaration after a 24-year struggle by Indigenous peoples.
But Australia, along with America, Canada and New Zealand, has still not ratified.
While the Labor government announced it supports the Declaration globally, it has failed to endorse it domestically.
“It’s a disgrace,” says Manton. “If the Rudd government wants to make a break from the previous government and is truly sorry for past mistakes, they should move as swiftly as they did on the Kyoto protocol. To do otherwise is hypocrisy.”
Bev Manton was the first of the 40-strong Aboriginal delegation to deliver a statement at the UN’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
In keeping with the 2008 theme on climate change, Manton appealed to the Rudd government to view Indigenous Australians as part of the solution.
“We have a unique role in caring for country. With our traditional knowledge bank built up over thousands of generations, Indigenous Australians can provide answers to the environmental problems we face,” says Manton, a member of the Worimi people.
As the only international forum for Indigenous peoples, delegates travel from all corners of the planet to attend the annual event.
Few suits are to be seen. Many attend the two-week forum dressed in traditional clothes.
First Nation Canadians with feather headdresses sit next to Masai warriors from Kenya. Saami women from the Arctic Circle tap away on laptops alongside Bolivians from the Amazon rainforest.
In the words of one delegate, “This is a room of very proud people.”
All are united in their battle to achieve greater equality and to fight injustice. All are threatened by the current global environmental crisis.
Indigenous peoples have the smallest carbon footprint, yet are often the most vulnerable.
“If we do not address climate change we’re going to destroy our Mother Earth,” says Manton.
“Australia is particularly at risk. We are one big island surrounded by smaller islands. When our sea waters rise we’re going to have environmental refugees, where people will be forced to leave their home because of climate change.”
Pacific islanders are already losing their traditional coastal lands to rising sea levels.
Salt inundation of freshwater supplies also threatens the Torres Strait Islands and as local culture is intimately connected to sea country, climate change could affect traditional cultural practices, food supplies and the intergenerational transfer of knowledge.
Manton also raised the severe ecological stress of the Murray-Darling Basin which is facing drought due to climate and human factors.
A vital part of any response to climate change must include justice around water, to ensure Indigenous people have adequate water for cultural and economic purposes.
“It is our responsibility to protect the land. Land is of such spiritual importance to our family and culture,” says Manton.
“Australian Indigenous people are a huge landowner in Australia. We own or manage 16 percent of the landmass. So it’s critical that the government involves Indigenous people to tackle these problems.”
This is already happening in the NT with the West Arnhem fire abatement program, where the Jawoyn traditional owners are working in partnership with the Territory government to mitigate uncontrolled wildfires, which are the biggest contributor to carbon emissions in the NT.
For the past three years, the NSWALC has participated in the UN’s Permanent Forum.
This year it joined the largest Aboriginal Australian delegation to date, including Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma, former Senator Aden Ridgeway and Les Malezer, from the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA), who led a youth delegation.
For Bev Manton, addressing the UN forum, “was a proud moment. It made me realise we’ve not been fighting the battle alone. Indigenous peoples of the world are fighting these issues together.
“At a local level we still have a lot of work to do, but we need to continue to be represented at an international level,” says Manton, who is committed to returning to future UN forums.
“There’s a lot of unfinished business and Australia needs to remain involved.”
 
|
|