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The life expectancy gap between Aboriginal Australians and their non-Indigenous counterparts is one of the highest in the world, according to the UN. |
Aboriginal life expectancy gap highest in world: UN
Thursday, 10 December 2009
By Larine Statham
INTERNATIONAL, January 15, 2010: Indigenous Australians have the worst life expectancy gap of any Indigenous population in the world, a United Nations report has revealed.
Of the 90 countries examined by the report, Indigenous people in Australia and Nepal fared the worst, dying 20 years earlier than their non-Indigenous counterparts.
In Guatemala the life expectancy gap is 13 years and in New Zealand it is 11.
The UN report, State of the World's Indigenous Peoples, which was released late on Thursday, showed how Indigenous populations across the world face violence, continuing assimilation policies, marginalisation, forced removal, relocation and are denied land rights on a daily basis.
Indigenous people experience disproportionately high levels of maternal and infant mortality, malnutrition, cardiovascular illnesses, and HIV and other infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma said the report also revealed alarming statistics relating to poverty, education, employment, human rights and the environment.
He said Australia was not immune from the challenges and issues raised in the report.
"In recent years, as a nation, we have taken some giant steps forward in relation to our Indigenous peoples," Mr Calma said in a statement.
"However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples remain marginalised in Australia and face entrenched poverty and ongoing discrimination on a daily basis.
"We will not have provided solutions to all the challenges we face until Indigenous people have true participation and are real partners in efforts to close the gap in health, education, housing and have access to the same human rights protections as other Australians."
The UN report stated that 370 million people, or about five per cent of the world's inhabitants, are Indigenous.
Indigenous people constitute about one-third of the world's 900 million extremely poor rural people.
Suicide rates of Indigenous people are considerably higher in many countries, particularly in Canada where suicide among Inuits is up to 11 times higher than the national average. - AAP
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