UN Special Rapporteur van Boven identified a need for guarantees to prevent any repetition of the gross violations of human rights. Appropriate measures must be implemented to ensure that Indigenous families and communities in Australia never again suffer the forcible removal of their children simply because of their race. Governments and responsible agencies are encouraged to consider sympathetically and respond to proposals submitted by Indigenous organisations, communities and individuals with a view to the prevention of repetition.
Teaching the history of the removal policies to all school students was widely supported in submissions to the Inquiry. The importance of a wider public education campaign was emphasised, as was the need for professionals working with Indigenous children and families to develop a complete understanding of the history and effects of forcible removals.
Justice requires that the wider Australia community be informed about these policies and practices, and be informed about the resolute resistance Aboriginal people have continuously maintained. We want the wider community, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike, to be informed about and recognise not only the adversities we have endured as a result of separations, but the courage and strength we have had in surviving as a people and in seeking to reunite with our people despite years of detention in non-Aboriginal environments. It is equally important for it to be recognised that separation policy and practice is not something that happened a long time ago, it is not ancient history. Rather it has continued in various forms and guises up to the present and for the future of many Aboriginals (Link-Up (NSW) submission 186 page 6).
Specific proposals to the Inquiry included,
* rewriting of school textbooks and official histories to include the policies and practices of separation;
* education for those working with Aboriginal people with respect to the issues and effects of separation, including the judiciary, solicitors, social service workers, doctors, psychiatrists, health workers, mental health workers, teachers and other educators, prison workers and archivists;
* general community education (Link-Up (NSW) submission 186 page 6).
That the history of forced family separations of Aboriginal and Islander children be made more widely known through whatever avenues available eg school education curriculums (including arts, drama), media, publication of the history of separations and individual stories (SAACCA Forum Inc submission 347 recommendation 4).
The history of removal of children be incorporated into Aboriginal studies programs and that these be compulsory for all students in all schools (Broome and Derby Working Groups submission 518 recommendation 3.2.7).
Truth and reconciliation processes established in Chile, El Salvador and Honduras to address the impacts of periods of gross and systematic human rights violations have also emphasised the importance of general education to reinforce the values of human rights in the culture of the nation (Correa 1992 page 1478). The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa has expressed a similar view.
School education
| Recommendation 8a: That State and Territory Governments ensure
that primary and secondary school curricula include substantial compulsory
modules on the history and continuing effects of forcible removal.
Recommendation 8b: That the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies be funded by the Commonwealth to develop these modules. |
Professional training
| Recommendation 9a: That all professionals who work with Indigenous
children, families and communities receive in-service training about the
history and effects of forcible removal.
Recommendation 9b: That all under-graduates and trainees in relevant professions receive, as part of their core curriculum, education about the history and effects of forcible removal. |
While Australia ratified the 1948 Genocide Convention, its provisions have not been incorporated into Australian law. The Genocide Act 1949 (Cth) merely approved ratification of the Convention and extended its provisions to external territories. Australian service personnel engaged in conflicts overseas are covered by its provisions but not those working within Australia. In 1992 the Human Rights Sub-Committee of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade recommended that the Australian Government introduce legislation to implement the Genocide Convention fully. The effect of implementation would be to create a criminal offence of genocide, including attempting to commit genocide, complicity in the crime of genocide and inciting others to commit genocide. Effective penalties would have to be provided. Implementation would establish a right to compensation for victims of genocide.
Genocide Convention
| Recommendation 10: That the Commonwealth legislate to implement the Genocide Convention with full domestic effect. |