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Incarceration

Time to fully import law against genocide - Stolen Children crisis

The Family Matters Report 2017

Need to delete sections 268.121 – 268.122 of the law against genocide in International Criminal Court Consequential Amendments Act 2002. The release on 29 November of The Family Matters Report 2017 details the 'escalating national crisis’ of the rate of removal of First Nations children from families. From our perspective the core issue is being left out of the debate. Removal of children from the group is one of the five definitions of genocide. The alarming rate of the removal of First Nations children 'from the group’ is only possible because the Commonwealth of Australia has not imported the full force of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. etc ... [node:read-more:link]

Hepatitis C rising for First Nations people, prompting calls for improved services

Hep C

Hepatitis C is three times higher and rising in Indigenous populations. The worsening problem is mainly due to higher rates of unsafe drug injecting and possibly higher rates of incarceration, where the prevalence of intravenous drug use is much higher among Indigenous prisoners, according to multiple studies. First Nations people need accessible and affordable health care and Community Controlled Health Services have proven time and time again to be the best model for treatment, Lisa Briggs, CEO of Naccho said. [node:read-more:link]

Jump in prison population highlights the need for better solutions

Figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last month show a 10 percent jump in the number of people in Australian prisons, bringing the prison population to a 10 year high.

The Human Rights Law Centre’s Senior Lawyer, Ruth Barson, said the trend of locking up more and more people is alarming, particularly given there are cheaper and more effective ways to keep the community safe. [node:read-more:link]

First Nations woman in prison 'made to go without medication for days'

Meretta Kickett

A Perth Aboriginal woman sent to prison for unpaid fines says she was treated like a dangerous criminal and became very sick when forced to go without her blood pressure medication for three days.
At the watch house, she said she was asked for her signature for authorisation to obtain her medical records from her doctor. She was then sent to Bandyup Women's Prison where she asked if she could have her daily blood pressure medication, but was told it would take time to obtain authorisation from her doctor. [node:read-more:link]

Doctors: First Nation peoples experience widespread racism, even when seeking health care

First Nations people are experiencing racism while seeking health care, say Victorian researchers. The authors found those who had experienced racism in a health setting were more likely to experience increased psychological distress than those who experienced racism in a different setting or had experienced no racism at all. Almost every Aboriginal Victorian who participated in this survey had experienced at least one racist incident in the previous 12 months.
- Includes a summary of Coroners Report into the Death of Ms DHU, WA, 2016. [node:read-more:link]

Why I won't celebrate the William Bugmy decision in 2013

Why I won't celebrate the William Bugmy decision in 2013

William Bugmy's win in the High Court in 2013 is significant, but it also highlights everything that's wrong with the way Aboriginal people are treated under the law, writes Sol Bellear.

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