Ferguson, Juanita --- "Conference Report: Aboriginal Peoples and Treaties" [1989] AboriginalLawB 20; (1989) 1(37) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 15

• Conference Report: Aboriginal Peoples And Treaties

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Conference Report: Aboriginal Peoples and Treaties

by Juanita Ferguson

The Aboriginal Peoples and Treaties Seminar was held Saturday 11 February 1989. It attracted one hundred people representing the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal sectors. The issues, with no oversimplification intended, may be synthesised in terms of two entwined strands, namely international and local indigenous rights and concerns; and the terms of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal future co-existence in Australia.

A Seminar Report has been compiled which includes all the speeches, discussions, briefing handouts, other materials about the issues covered, and summary profiles of the speakers.

On a day in the middle of June 1988, people everywhere in Australia were alerted via their TVs, newspapers, and transistors that Bob Hawke said the Government was committed to enter into a negotiated treaty with Aborigines (See AboriginalLB 33/16). There appears to have been little if any speculaton in Australia about a treaty in the months since Barunga. This is not to say that Aborigines have not been discussing it. For the most part, their debate has been argued in all their isolated rural communities around the continent.

Many concerned non-Aboriginal individuals and groups have, in a sense, delayed forming opinions because of a need for information about treaty options and conditions and a desire to know what Aborigines think.

Many Aboriginal groups, likewise, want more information so they can extend their local debates. They want to know how the treaty issue is being argued in other Aboriginal communities and what the national Aboriginal organisations have to say. In particular, they want to hear from those with international connections who have first-hand experience of the effects of treaties on the lives of other indigenous peoples.

The Seminar program was designed to cover what at first appeared to be three distinct topics and two distinct locations: international - (1) the International Labour Organisation's work on its 1957 Convention No. 107 about indigneous peoples' rights; (2) the United Nations work towards an international declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples; local - (3) the Australian treaty proposal.

Aboriginal delegations attend international forums because they perceive:

• Aboriginal people and nations as vital participants in the international indigenous community;
• a need to be involved in the protection and promotion of indigenous rights;
• themselves to be specific peoples and subjects of international law. The international arena is where they can most effectively draw influential attention to human rights violations against Aborigines in Australia;
• achieve support to counter Australian political, economic, and social obstructions to the recognition and acceptance of Aboriginal sovereignty in their own land.

Given an appreciation of these factors, it becomes apparent that the Seminar, "Aboriginal Peoples and Treaties", was appropriately named since the international focus and the treaty proposal are - and were - intricately spun.

Aboriginal Peoples and Treaties - The Seminar Report is available for $23 (includes postage) from:
Conventions Coverage International, 60 Alexander Street, Hunters Hill NSW 2110