3rd September 2000

Not the way to play the game

NEW YORK— Australia, which was quick to criticise human rights abuses in Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar, is now resenting criticism of its own repressive policies against aboriginal minorities.

Like most Western nations, Australia lives by its own double standards: one political yardstick to measure human rights abuses by its Asian neighbours and another to measure abuses in its own backyard.

But the tragedy of Australia is that it does not want even the United Nations to pronounce judgments on the shabby treatment it metes out to minorities and asylum seekers.

Last year, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination warned that Australia's policies risked violating the rights of indigenous communities.

In July, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed serious concern about Australia's mandatory sentencing laws, the margin-alisation of aboriginal people and the mandatory detention of asylum seekers.

And last week, in response to UN criticism, the Australian government threatened to bar UN human rights committees from Australia unless there is "compelling reasons" for their visits.

Prime Minister John Howard, a right wing conservative, told parliament the decision to bar UN monitors did not amount to "a turning away by Australia from the principles of the United Nations."

"But it does represent a determination by this government to ensure that matters affecting Australia are resolved by Australians within Australia," he added.

The argument adduced by Howard could well be used by every single country - be it Iran, Myanmar, China, Iraq, Cuba or Libya - castigated by the General Assembly every year in a ritual that takes place at the end of November.

"In placing the state above the individual, the government is tacitly encouraging other countries like Burma (Myanmar) and China to act by any standards they choose," said Kate Gilmore, National Director of Amnesty International Australia.

Australia has been very critical of Malaysia's laws permitting the death penalty, and was particularly vociferous, when two drug smugglers were executed in the 1990s.

More recently, Australia has been critical of Indonesia's human rights abuses in East Timor.

The Howard government, which came to power in 1996, has been less strident on international human rights issues than its Labour predecessor. Still, it has responded selectively, as do most Western states, to domestic demands and domestic political pressures.

Gilmore said that Australia's decision "is an irresponsible over-reaction to recent poor report cards (from the UN)."

The Australian government has also warned that it will reject "unwarranted requests" from UN treaty committees to delay the deportation by Australia of "unsuccessful asylum seekers."

The cabinet also decided that it will not sign or ratify the optional protocol to the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

The protocol makes it possible for women, either as individuals or in-groups, to submit complaints about alleged violations of the Convention.

These complaints could deal with a wide range of discrimina-tory practices that women are subjected to the world over, including sexual harassment in the workplace; denial of health care facilities and gender violence

Additionally, the Australian government said it would undertake a "comprehensive review" of the interpretation and implemen-tation of the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees

Australia's recent decisions to deport "unsuccessful asylum seekers," most of whom had been refused refugee status, have been interpreted as being in violation of the UN Convention on Refugees which has been signed and ratified by Australia.

Palitha Kohona, head of the UN Treaty Section and a former Australian diplomat, says that traditionally Australia has had a "very good record" on human rights issues. But that moral authority, which Australia enjoyed, will soon be dissipated, he warned.

Australia, he said, ''should be mature enough that when someone else criticises its record, it doesn't just go off and sulk, but takes that criticism on board and does something to improve its standing.''

Kohona, an old Thomian and a native of Matale, said Australia's decision not to ratify the optional protocol on women's rights would effectively bar Australian women from lodging complaints with the UN against policies they believe are discriminatory. Senator Aden Ridgeway, of the opposition Australian Democ-rat's Reconciliation Party, said "the timing of the government's announcement is clearly linked to the fact that another UN Human Rights Com-mittee is expected to criticise Australia about our treatment of indigenous peoples."

"We find it extraordinary that Australia is prepared to sin-gle itself out from all other developed nations and say that we are beyond repute when it comes to our human rights record," he added

Using a cricketing metaphor, an Asian diplomat said last week: "What Australia really did was totally un-cricketing: Once they lost the game, they just picked up the bat and the ball, and headed home."