Joint Media Release

Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Alexander Downer MP and the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon Philip Ruddock MP

Friday 22 March 2002

UN Report Has No Credibility

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Alexander Downer, and the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, Mr Philip Ruddock, today expressed disappointment with the quality of the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism on his visit to Australia in April and May 2001.

The Special Rapporteur visited Australia at the invitation of the Government.  An extensive range of meetings was organised over three weeks to provide him with a broad spectrum of views on multicultural and indigenous issues and to enable him to develop a balanced understanding of Australia's multicultural society.

The Ministers expressed regret at the poor quality of the report.  They noted it contained a number of serious errors of fact that destroyed its overall credibility and authority. 

These included:

• Recommending that the Government accede to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).  In fact, Australia ratified the Convention as long ago as 1983.
• Stating the Government would spend $327 million on indigenous affairs in 2001-02.  In fact, the Government has provided $2.39 billion on indigenous affairs this year.
• Incorrectly citing the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody as having found that indigenous people were more likely to die while in custody than non-indigenous people.  In fact, the Royal Commission found that, as a proportion of the prison population, indigenous people were no more likely to die in custody than non-indigenous people. 
• Describing ATSIC as an "advisory body" responsible to the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs.  In fact, ATSIC reports to its own independent Board. 

Australia's mission to the United Nations in Geneva drew these concerns to the attention of the Special Rapporteur in early January this year, well before the report's release, but he chose not to amend the report. 

The Ministers also expressed regret that the report failed properly to reflect the extent of community debate over many years on complex questions like reconciliation, and did not adequately acknowledge the significant effort and progress that had been made in addressing indigenous disadvantage. 

The Ministers expressed particular surprise at the recommendation to "review" Australia's multicultural policy, which reflected a broader misunderstanding of the sophistication of contemporary Australian society.  They noted that multiculturalism was a fundamental part of our national character, of which Australians were rightly proud, and which was much admired by the rest of the world. 

Mr Downer and Mr Ruddock said they regretted that the report added little to public debate or international understanding of Australia's approach to eradicating racism and xenophobia, to which the Government remained strongly committed.  The poor quality of the report also served again to underline the need for reform to strengthen the effectiveness and credibility of the UN human rights mechanisms. 

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Local Date: Sunday, 07-Sep-2008 16:24:02 EST