Australia to Apologize to Aborigines

As posted in the New York Times: SYDNEY, Australia — The new Australian government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will apologize for past mistreatment of the country’s Aboriginal minority when Parliament convenes next month, addressing an issue that has blighted race relations in Australia for years. In a measure of the importance Mr. Rudd attaches to the issue, the apology will be the first item of business for the new government when Parliament convenes Feb. 13, Jenny Macklin, the federal minister for indigenous affairs, said Wednesday. Ms. Macklin said she had consulted widely with Aboriginal leaders, but it was still not clear what form the apology would take. However, she said the government would not bow to longstanding demands for a fund to compensate those damaged by the policies of past governments. The history of relations between Australia’s Aboriginal population and the broader population is one of brutality and neglect. Tens of thousands of Aborigines died from disease, war and dispossession in the years after European settlement. Aboriginal people were not permitted to vote in national elections until 1962. But the most lasting damage was done by the policy of placing Aboriginal children with white families or in state institutions as part of a drive to assimilate them. A comprehensive 1997 report estimates that 1 in 10 to 1 in 3 Aboriginal children, the so-called stolen generations, were taken from their homes and families in the century before the policy was formally abandoned in 1969. “A national apology to the stolen generations and their families is a first, necessary step to move forward from the past,” Ms. Macklin said. “The apology will be made on behalf of the Australian government and does not attribute guilt to the current generation of Australian people.” Marcia Langton, a professor of Australian indigenous studies at the University of Melbourne, said the apology was a good first step, but she added that it was hard to see where the government’s program would go from there. “There can’t be any next step without a compensation fund,” Ms. Langton, one of Australia’s most prominent Aboriginal advocates, said Wednesday. She said she suspected that the apology was aimed more at pleasing the core voter base of Mr. Rudd’s Labor Party than Aboriginal people. “It’s difficult not to be cynical,” she said. The previous government of Prime Minister John Howard, which was convincingly beaten in elections last November, had refused to apologize to the Aboriginal population for past wrongs. “There are millions of Australians who will never entertain an apology because they don’t believe that there is anything to apologize for,” Mr. Howard told a local radio station last year. “They are sorry for past mistreatment but that is different from assuming responsibility for it.” Many of Mr. Howard’s critics said that he was unwilling to apologize because it would open the flood gates to potentially huge claims for compensation. Ms. Langton estimates that 13,000 members of the stolen generations survive. Aborigines constitute about 2.7 percent of Australia’s 20.4 million people. Life expectancy for Aboriginal people is 17 years lower than for other Australians; they are 13 times more likely to be incarcerated; three times more likely to be unemployed; and twice as likely to be victims of violence or threats of violence. Successive governments have been wary of intervening in Aboriginal affairs, and many blame policies carried out in the 1970s as part of a drive to empower indigenous Australians for further marginalizing them.

International Waters: Special Programs in Conjunction with Museum's Water Exhibit

Saturday, January 26- Kaufmann and Linder Theaters, first floor, These programs focus on the traditional water stories of China and India to the current global impacts of China's water policies. Dances of India* First Performance • 12:30 p.m., Kaufmann Theater, first floor Second Performance • 4:00 p.m., Kaufmann Theater, first floor The Nartanrang Dance Academy, led by choreographer/director Swati Vaishnav, performs pieces exploring the integral nature of water in the daily lives of India's ethnic groups. A question-and-answer session follows. The Legend of the White Snake photo: Corky Lee The Legend of the White Snake * First Performance • 1:30 p.m., Kaufmann Theater, first floor Second Performance • 4:30 p.m., Kaufmann Theater, first floor Chinese Theatre Works performs the ever-popular Peking Opera work of West Lake, The Legend of the White Snake, a story of romance, water creatures, and an example of nature's overwhelming power that is water. A question-and-answer session follows.

Museum Focuses on Water as a Precious Resource

New York - In conjunction with its dazzling exhibition Water: H2O = Life, the American Museum of Natural History’s annual public program series, “Living in America” will focus on the symbolic and community values of this precious resource. The programs will be held on January 12, 19, and 26 and will feature dynamic performances, discussions, films, and workshops for adults and families; highlighting local, national, and international stories. This Saturday, January 12, the program is entitled “New York Water Stories”, and highlights the historical relationships that indigenous peoples had with rivers and estuaries to current water-related issues. The events begin at 12noon with an opening water blessing ceremony with Zen Buddhist priest, Sensei Bonnie Myotai Treace followed by a special presentation with the Mohawk Singers and Dancers at 1pm and 4pm. The Mohawk group will present traditional songs and social dances honoring water, such as the fish and thunder dances. Excerpts from the Iroquois Thanksgiving Address will be presented by Mohawk elder Tom Porter. At 1:30pm, author Evan Pritchard will present “Native New Yorkers: These Ancient Waters” and discuss the importance of rivers and estuaries to the Algonquin speaking peoples of Manhattan Island. Pritchard is the author of Native New Yorkers and No Word for Time and a book signing will follow his presentation. Additional presentations and demonstrations will be given by Dale Estus, a New York City tunnel builder (2:30pm), and Long island bayman, John Buczak, fisherman Bill Hamilton, and clammer Flo Sharkey. Completing this unique set of programming on the 12th is an AMNH Water Fair that will be held from 1pm – 5pm in the Museum’s Grand Gallery at 77th Street. The AMNH Water Fair will feature water-related demonstrations, information tables, and art displays with Long Island fisherman; Mohawk Craftsmen; Friends of Brook Park (a local environmental advocacy group); Origami U.S.A; The Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy; and Taino Spirit with Reina Miranda and Aguilar Marrero. The American Museum of Natural History’s Living in America programs are free with suggested Museum admission.

Bali Plan of Action will lead governments towards new treaty provisions to cover the period 2012 to 2016

(Bali, 15 December 2007) – 187 countries meeting in Bali on Saturday agreed to launch negotiations towards a crucial and strengthened international climate change deal. The decision includes a clear agenda for the key issues to be negotiated up to 2009. These are: action for adapting to the negative consequences of climate change, such as droughts and floods; ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; ways to widely deploy climate-friendly technologies and financing both adaptation and mitigation measures.Concluding negotiations in 2009 will ensure that the new deal can enter into force by 2013, following the expiry of the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol. Indonesian Environment Minister and President of the conference, Rachmat Witoelar said: “We now have a Bali roadmap, we have an agenda and we have a deadline.” “But we also have a huge task ahead of us and time to reach agreement is extremely short, so we need to move quickly,” he added.

United Nations Climate Change Conference - Bali, 3 - 14 December 2007

The Conference, hosted by the Government of Indonesia, brings together representatives of over 180 countries together with observers from intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, and the media. The two week period includes the sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, its subsidiary bodies as well as the Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol. A ministerial segment in the second week will conclude the Conference. “We need to set the stage for a comprehensive agreement that tackles climate change on all fronts – including adaptation, mitigation, deforestation, clean technologies and resource mobilization. And we have to do what we can to reach this agreement as soon as possible to ensure a global policy is in place by 2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends. Our goal must be nothing short of a real breakthrough in Bali.” --Ban Ki-moon United Nations Secretary-General For more information on the conference, please visit http://unfccc.int/2860.php

Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be the Focus 2007 UN Student Conference on Human Rights

The 10th Annual United Nations Student Conference on Human Rights (UNSCHR) will take place 5-7 December 2007. The theme this year is “Recognising the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”. This conference supports the goals of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People, which aims to strengthen cooperation for finding solutions to problems faced by indigenous peoples. During the 2007 UN Students Human Rights Conference, the students will be working to raise awareness about indigenous people and their important contributions to society globally, highlighting the significance of this action towards achieving a just and non-discriminatory international human rights policy, and encouraging Member States to implement the Declaration at the national level. The 2007 UNSCHR conference will unite approximately 60 youth from around the world at the UN Headquarters in New York for discussion, collaboration, and action related to the rights of indigenous peoples. Each co-sponsor will bring up to 12 student representatives to New York to participate. Many others will join through videoconferencing and web-casting. Prior to the conference, participants will conduct their own research on universal human rights and those specific to indigenous peoples, and share their ideas across cultures through a web-based forum on the UN Cyberschoolbus website. In addition, participants were able to interact, for the first time, with indigenous representatives and with each other through the use of live video chats during the months leading up to the conference. These video chats will be posted on the UN Cyberschoolbus website throughout the conference. During the conference, student representatives in New York will work with students from other countries participating by videoconferencing and web-casting to develop a consensus on these issues and draft a Plan of Action. The President of the UN General Assembly will be asked to be present at the end of the final day of the conference to accept the Plan of Action from the chairperson of the conference and, as in past years, request its dissemination to UN Member States. For more information on the background of the annual Student Conference on Human Rights, please visit http://www.cyberschoolbus.un.org/student/2007/about.asp To learn more about the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples please follow the

Indigenous Permanent Forum 7th Session Pre-Registration Begins

Pre-registration for the Seventh Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is now open. The Seventh Session will take place at United Nations Heqdquarteds, in New York, from 21 April to 2 May 2008. The special theme will be "Climate change, bio-cultural diversity and livelihoods: the stewardship role of indigenous peoples and new challenges." Pre-registration is open to indigenous peoples' organizations, academic institutions and NGOs with ECOSOC consultative status. Please visit the Seventh Session webpage, where you will find all online registration forms: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/en/session_seventh.html For those who are not elligible for participation in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, there will be public access to webcasts on the United Nations website during the Forum.