Australia’s record on Indigenous children in detention could hurt its bid for a UN Security Council seat, local media reported Monday.
Indigenous young people between 10 and 17 years old made up 60% of the youth detention population, local broadcaster SBS News reported.
Australia has formally launched its campaign for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council for a two-year term, but it has recently been the subject of an urgent UN plea to address the severe overrepresentation of Indigenous children in Australia’s criminal justice system.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese launched his country’s campaign for the Security Council representation overnight in New York with a promotional video that begins with Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy speaking in her traditional Yanyuwa language.
We are home to the oldest continuous culture on the planet,” she said, appealing for support for Australia’s bid.
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued an “early warning and urgent action procedure” earlier this year expressing grave concern over racial discrimination against Indigenous children through education, health care and housing conditions — a “key factor contributing to their heightened vulnerability to arrest, incarceration and re-offending.”
The committee criticized the states and territories where the age of criminal responsibility is 10 years old and where children face adult penalties for their crimes, including life in prison.
The warning followed an investigation by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention into Indigenous youth incarceration in Australia.
Indigenous youths were 21 times more likely than non-Indigenous youth to be in detention and the numbers were increasing.
Albanese said he would discuss the issues with Indigenous leaders when he returns to Australia.
“Indigenous disadvantage is a fact in Australia,” he acknowledged, adding that his government continues to work on “closing the gap” in a range of areas.
Australia and Finland are the only countries that have so far been nominated for the two seats allocated for their geographic area.
