UN human rights body claims racial discrimination “embedded” in Australia

CANBERRA - The United Nations human rights panel has rebuked the Australian government over its treatment of Aboriginals, saying discrimination has become “embedded” in the Australian way of life.

At the release of a report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva, one of the authors said, “discrimination has become embedded in the Australian way of life.”

Xinhua quoted a committee member, Patrick Thornberry, as saying, “Australian constitution lacks any entrenched protection against racial discrimination, which had led to a kind of structurally embedded discrimination in the way the Aboriginal intervention was being handled in the Northern Territory.”

The 18-member committee of independent experts on racism asked Australia to focus on integrating recent immigrants from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and other Muslim countries and tackle racism against Indigenous people in Australia.

Suggestions included negotiating a treaty with Indigenous Australians, giving them better access to legal aid and tackling laws in the Northern Territory that discriminate on the basis of race. (ANI)