Houston, Shane --- "Capturing the Clouds" [1989] AboriginalLawB 47; (1989) 1(40) Aboriginal Law Bulletin 6

• Capturing The Clouds

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Capturing the Clouds

by Shane Houston

for National Aboriginal and Islander Health Organisation

Presentation by the National Aboriginal and Islander Health Organisation (NAIHO) to the 7th Session of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (WGIP).

Earlier comments under Item 4 of our agenda attempted to draw to the attention of the Working Group the fundamental difficulties that Aboriginal people face in their efforts to achieve meaningful change, not only in the areas of economic, social and political life, but in the processes which underpin changes in these areas. It is one thing to have a set of international standards on the rights of Aboriginal people, but it's something else to ensure that these standards are able to be used by both Aboriginal people and others, including governments, in their efforts to address the economic, social and political conundrum confronting Aboriginal people, a conundrum so ably exampled through the interventions of Aboriginal People at this Working Group.

When our organisation debated our attendance at this session of the Working Group there were some who saw discussions about international standards as clouds simply floating by what was happening on the ground in Aboriginal communities. They wanted to know how the debate in Geneva was going to help them in their efforts to keep their communities alive, together and Aboriginal. Some saw this process as like some governmental health programs at home; doctors come into the community, spend a couple of days, tell the people they are sick and then leave, leaving the people wondering how all that will help them fix the water, fix the sewerage and make other health improvements.

Unless we can find ways of capturing those clouds and make them tools that we can use to address issues on the ground, the Declaration will run the risk of being nothing more than a grand statement that does little more than make you feel nice and warm all over for a short while.

You may recall that the particular issues which we raised related to long standing practice whereby the division of constitutional responsibilities between the national and constituent state governments is used as a reason for one or both to confront a particular issue. You will recall that I outlined this problem by referring to the process leading to the development of a national Aboriginal health strategy. Others from Australia have pointed to further demonstrations of how the Commonwealth v States issue has caused fundamental difficulties not only for the resolution of particular problems but also for the general move towards recognition of Aboriginal rights. Rights are meant by definition to exist and be applicable regardless of administrative, geographic or other constraints. The rights of Aboriginal people should not be diminished simply because they move from one area of the country to another, or because traditional business takes them across state or national boundaries or because non-Aboriginal governments have decided to enter into an arrangement that divides responsibilities in respect of the provision of services or administration of programs.

When the British invaded our country, they established regions of administration and service provision or political control based on what served their interests or needs at the time. In Australia they formed in 1901 a Commonwealth because they saw that their needs required such. It is totally unacceptable that the states should now be able to hide behind what has been a contrivance of their own making in order to thwart the recognition of Aboriginal rights and their exercise by indigenous people or the provision of services or facilities required for their fulfilment.

The draft would be strengthened, we believe, if specific mention of the problem we have mentioned is considered by inserting into the draft some group of words that call on governments at all political levels to respect the terms of the declaration. In this way the declaration would become a truly universal one.

We would suggest that in order to incorporate the view that we have expressed and which has been reaffirmed by other speakers the following insertion may suffice:

At paragraph 13 of the preamble (the last para) following the words and calls upon all states insert the words and the constituent governments within states.

The draft declaration is a useful and committed attempt to enshrine the rights of Aboriginal People and, as with any draft, it will be made more relevant, more useable and more universal with further conscientious revision.

We look forward to the second revision of the draft declaration and to your efforts to address the matters we have raised.

On p 9 of this issue is a short statement on the policy of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs (Cth) in respect of the Draft Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. [1989] AboriginalLB 49; 2(40)pg9.

For Previous coverage on WGIP, see AboriginalLB 4, p15; AboriginalLB 13, p12; AboriginalLB 14, p10; AboriginalLB 16, p10; AboriginalLB 19 pp2, 8; AboriginalLB 24, pp2, 7; AboriginalLB 28, p9; AboriginalLB 34, p10.