Search results

This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Requests and inquiries concerning the reproduction of materials should be directed to the Executive Director, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, GPO Box 5218, Sydney, NSW, 2001.

This report provides an investigation of early intervention and diversionary practices aimed at preventing offending behaviour in Indigenous young people with a cognitive disability[1] and/ or a mental health problem. It builds on our previous report, Indigenous young people with cognitive disabilities and the Australian juvenile justice system.[2] Specifically, it examines what is available for these young people, identifies systemic service delivery gaps and points to promising interventions that have the capacity to prevent offending behaviour.

This section outlines current knowledge around Indigenous young people with cognitive disabilities and/ or mental health issues. It introduces concepts and best practice models from Australia and internationally.

The literature review pulls together some of the main concepts and findings about Indigenous young people with cognitive disabilities and/ or mental health issues from involvement with the juvenile justice system. However, we are also interested in finding out what is actually happening on the ground for these young people.

Indigenous young people with cognitive disabilities and/ or mental health issues in contact with the juvenile justice system get very little attention in literature, in policy and arguably in practice as well. We have seen that this is a forgotten group of young people who are frequently labelled as ‘complex’ (code for too hard to work with) and often receive inadequate or inappropriate service.

Preventing Crime and Promoting Rights for Indigenous Young People with Cognitive Disabilities and Mental Health Issues Appendix 1: List of Consultations Back to Contents Download Complete report PDF [4.22 MB] Complete report Word [805 KB] Dr Eileen Baldry School of Social Work, University of NSW Linda Bamblett Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association Les Bamblett Victorian Aboriginal ...

In order to establish what is provided for Indigenous young people with cognitive disabilities and/ or mental health problems, information was requested from all relevant government departments across Australia.[213]A letter was sent to departments requesting:

Preventing Crime and Promoting Rights for Indigenous Young People with Cognitive Disabilities and Mental Health Issues Appendix 3: Government Responses Back to Contents Download Complete report PDF [4.22 MB] Complete report Word [805 KB] Ms Robyn McKerihan General Manager Access and Equity Department of Education and Training- NSW Ms Margaret Banks Chief Executive Department of Employment ...

Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), southeastern part of Bangladesh from time immemorial have been home to eleven indigenous ethnic peoples. They collectively identify themselves as the Jumma people (High Landers), the first people of the CHT. They are the Bawm, Chak, Chakma, Khumi, Khyang, Lushai, Marma, Mro, Pangkhua, Tanchangya and Tripura. The Jumma people are distinct and different from the majority Bengali people of Bangladesh in respect of race, language, culture and religion.

This background paper is a compilation of work conducted by the Office of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, within the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission1 (HREOC), which examines engagement between Indigenous peoples and governments in the areas of social policy development and native title.

Prior should imply consent has been sought sufficiently in advance of any authorization or commencement of activities and respect time requirements of indigenous consultation/consensus processes;

It is a pleasure to welcome all of you on behalf of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and its Secretariat to this workshop on "Engaging the Marginalized: Partnerships between Indigenous Peoples, Governments, and Civil Society". I would also like to express my appreciation to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission of Australia and the Commissioner, Mr.Tom Calma, whose office has been an important partner in organizing this workshop.

I would like first of all to follow UN custom and protocol and pay tribute to the Aboriginal Peoples of this land, the original occupants and owners of this territory, and thank them for hosting our meeting today. On behalf of the Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Coordinator of the Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, Mr. Jose Antonio Ocampo, I would also like to extend a warm welcome to all of you and a special thanks to our partner, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (Australia).

This week's conference could not happen at a more opportune time. While we discuss ways to engage Indigenous communities, as we listen to that ways government can engage with its citizens, a radical change is occurring in the way the Australian government and Indigenous Australians engage.

Mr Pearce shared the experiences of Indigenous people in Western Australia to highlight the continuing disadvantage and ultimately prompt participants to think about how far we still have to go before Indigenous Australians can fully exercise their human rights. Examples of the inequality experienced include the high rates of imprisonment in the adult and juvenile justice systems, low levels of literacy, high population growth, high suicide rates, and high unemployment rates.

The issue of Indigenous people and racism is among the most complex and divisive in Australia today. The source of this complexity and division is to be found in the history of race relations in Australia, which commenced with the illegitimate acquisition of sovereignty in 1788 under the auspices of the doctrine of terra nullius. Over successive generations policies and practices have aimed to eliminate Indigenous people, to 'smooth the pillow' of what was seen as a dying race, and later to assimilate Indigenous people within the white culture.

The international human rights norms against which practices of racism and discrimination against Indigenous people must be judged are the guarantees of equality before the law and racial non-discrimination. These norms are recognised in every major international human rights treaty, convention and declaration. They are recognised and protected in the following instruments to which Australia is a party.

Australia is a federation comprised of a Federal (or Commonwealth) Government, six state and two territory governments. For convenience, in this chapter references to states include references to territories.

On 3 June 1992 the High Court of Australia handed down its decision in Mabo v Queensland (No.2) (1992) 175 CLR 1. This decision constitutes the first recognition of indigenous property rights at common law in Australia. The Court rejected the previously existing view that Australia was terra nullius (or land belonging to no-one) upon settlement by Europeans in 1788.