Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Finally, Australia Says 'Sorry' to Aborigines for Mistreatment

By Tim Johnston of the New York Times: SYDNEY, Australia — Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opened a new chapter in Australia’s tortured relations with its indigenous peoples on Wednesday with a comprehensive and moving apology for past wrongs and a call for bipartisan action to improve the lives of Australia’s Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. “The Parliament is today here assembled to deal with this unfinished business of the nation, to remove a great stain from the nation’s soul, and in a true spirit of reconciliation to open a new chapter in the history of this great land, Australia,” Mr. Rudd told Parliament. This was “Government business, motion No. 1,” the first act of Mr. Rudd’s Labor government, which was sworn in Tuesday after a convincing electoral win over the 11-year administration of John Howard, who had for years refused to apologize for the misdeeds of past governments. Mr. Rudd’s apology was particularly addressed to the so-called Stolen Generations, the tens of thousands of indigenous children who were removed, sometimes forcibly, from their families in a policy of assimilation that only ended in the 1970s. In some states it was part of a policy to “breed out the color,” in the words of Cecil Cook, who held the title of chief protector of Aborigines in the Northern Territory in the 1930s. “We apologize especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country,” Mr. Rudd said as hundreds of members of the Stolen Generations listened in the gallery, some with tears in their eyes. “For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry. “To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.” The 4-minute apology, and the 20-minute speech that followed, received a standing ovation both inside the chamber and from the hundreds gathered on the grounds of Parliament House in the capital, Canberra. “I thought it was fantastic,” said Kirstie Parker, the managing editor of the influential Aboriginal newspaper The Koori Mail. She said that it was not just the apology that was important: Mr. Rudd recounted stories of the victims, Ms. Parker noted, bringing the reality of the misdeeds to light and publicly confronting those who deny what happened. For more on this article, please visit http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/world/asia/13aborigine.html?scp=2&sq=february+13%2C+2008+australia&st=nyt

Monday, February 18, 2008

New York City's Mayor Bloomberg Adresses UN General Assembly on the Importance of Climate Change

The UN General Assembly held a high-level discussion on climate change at United Nations headquarters last week. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the 3-day meeting on Monday, February 11 saying that if 2007 was the year when climate change rose to the top of the global agenda - with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change making it clear that climate change was already happening and accelerating - then 2008 was the time for concerted action to follow up on the powerful declarations of political will voiced at the Bali Climate Change Conference last December. In Bali, countries agreed to launch negotiations on a new international climate change agreement by the end of 2009. “The challenge is huge. We have less than two years to craft an agreement on action that measures up to what the science tells us. It will have to map out emission limitation commitments; agree on essential action to adapt to the impacts of climate change; and mobilize the necessary financing and technological innovations.” New York's Mayor Bloomberg also addressed the UN General Assembly, expressing his pleasure at having participated in the Climate Change Convention in Bali and saying that, between now and the planned Copenhagen meeting at the end of 2009, both developed and developing nations must resolve to change their policies - and that the world’s cities must be an important part of those changes. For effective results, he said targets for reducing carbon emissions must be imposed and the United States must take a leadership role in that area by imposing a carbon tax. “Serious carbon targets will not hamper growth and would make us all better off.” He said the targets must be ambitious, but also achievable, adding that New York City had shown the way through its “Plan NYC”, which envisions reducing carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2030. The United States could do the same with zero cost, because of the efficiencies and opportunities involved. More than 700 cities in the United States are currently trying to meet the challenges of reducing urban pollution and challenging climate change, and enlisting private-sector companies in the cause as well. www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2008/ga10687.doc.htm http://www.un.org/ga/president/62/ThematicDebates/statements/bloombergspeech.shtml

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Report for International Expert Group Meeting on Indigenous Languages Available

Dear Friends-- The "advance unedited version" of the report of the EGM on Indigenous languages is ready. It is available on the UNPFII website here... http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/EGM_IL.html ... Please read and enjoy.