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Challenges for Australia: human rights and reconciliation
Topic : Challenges for Australia: human rights and reconciliation
In this topic you will learn...
Chapter 1 :
Human rights issues and agreements
Violations of the rights and freedoms that Australians take for granted are occuring across the globe, including genocide, torture, rape and imprisonment without trial
The Australian Government has been criticised for failing to address, where able, some of these human rights violations
There remain groups of people within Australia whose rights have not been respected or whose rights call for special protection or preservation
The many types of human rights as defined by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) include civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, humanitarian rights and other minority rights
In addition to efforts by NGOs and by individuals to address Australia`s human rights issues, there have been efforts to address these at a government level, through constitutional means and through common law and legislation
Chapter 2 :
Human rights and refugees
The consideration of human rights underlies much of the international response to the need for managing and protecting refugees, with particular concern over human rights abuses linked to current refugee flows, and the obstacles these abuses pose to obtaining voluntary repatriation for refugees to their countries of origin
The Refugees Convention is based on the view that refugees should not be expelled or returned to the country of persecution where their life or freedom would be threatened
The Refugees Convention has also sought to reconcile the issue of protecting refugees with that of the right of States to determine who may enter and remain in their territories
Australia has signed the UNHCR Agenda for Protection (2002) which aims to assist international partner governments and non-government organisations to improve the level of protection offered to asylum seekers and refugees
Australia has sought to combine an appropriate humanitarian approach to refugees and asylum seekers with an attempt to maintain the integrity of its borders
Chapter 3 :
Border control
It has been estimated that four million people are smuggled across international borders each year-Australia has thus sought the enhancement of its border controls and the increased cooperation of international law enforcement
Methods for improving border control have included increased maritime patrol of borders by the Australian Defence Force (ADF), technological innovations made by the Australian Customs Service, offshore processing (the 'Pacific Solution') and mandatory immigration detention for illegal migrants and asylum seekers
Australia has addressed people smuggling by disrupting such operations overseas and by supporting efforts by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to reduce the flow of people seeking to leave their countries of origin
Defence personnel have been involved in measures taken by the Australian Government to detect and deter people smugglers, with the establishment of coastal surveillance
Australia has engaged in regional cooperation arrangements with other nations as a means of combating transnational criminal activiies such as drug trafficking and people smuggling
Chapter 4 :
Indigenous people: the road to reconciliation and future issues
Reconciliation is a process that promotes the awareness of the rights of Indigenous Australians, while attempting to improve relations in the wider community
Efforts to address reconciliation have been made by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, which seeks to educate non-Indigenous Australians of the past wrongs committed against Indigenous Australians and address the widespread social and economic disadvantages affecting many of them
The Council has also sought recognition of Indigenous Australian culture and identity
The need for a sense of political control or 'self-determination' by Indigenous Australians has been argued to be needed
Suggestions for future approaches to reconciliation have included negotiating treaties and agreements at a national level to protect future rights and address past wrongs
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