Quaker Peace and Legislation Committee
The Quaker Peace and Legislation Committee (QPLC) is based in Canberra. Its role is to lobby government and to encourage debate towards a more peaceful future for Australia and the world.
QPLC releases regular Action Alerts to encourage others to lobby for a more peaceful world
ACTION ALERT: HUMAN RIGHTS
1. Background.
The Australian Government decided to establish a National Consultation on Human Rights, and appointed a committee consisting of Frank Brennan (chair), Mary Kostakidis, Tammy Williams and Mick Palmer. The Committee was set the task of seeking responses around Australia on the following questions:
(a) Which human rights should be protected and promoted?
(b) Are these rights currently sufficiently protected and promoted?
(c) How could Australia better protect and promote human rights?
The Committee received around 35,000 written submissions, visited many centres in a four-month tour around Australia to listen to oral evidence, and held three days of public hearings in Canberra. QPLC made a submission on behalf of Australian Quakers, and was represented at several of the public events.
2. Report.
The Committee’s report was submitted to the Government on 30 September 2009. In the Foreword to the Report, Frank Brennan commented that:
- Thousands of concerned citizens came and spent time with the Committee during its visits to urban and rural and remote areas.
- The consultation process was very peaceful and demonstrated the respect and tolerance shown by Australians towards each other.
- Apart from hearings and submissions, the Committee received material from on-line sources, commissioned detailed research with focus groups, held a national telephone survey, and met with some of Australia’s most vulnerable people.
- The clearest finding from the consultation process was that Australians know little about their human rights, they need education, and they want to create a better culture of human rights in organisations that deliver public services.
- Our elected leaders could choose to adopt measures that engage the courts as a guarantee that politicians and public servants are kept accountable, and to give a lead to the states and territories in their policies on human rights.
- Even if all the proposed changes are made, there will still be vulnerable people missing out on health, housing and education, and we all have a responsibility for each other.
The full report is available on-line at www.humanrightsconsultation.gov.au
1. Comments.
The report of the Committee is consistent with the overall approach taken by QPLC in its submission. We affirmed the priority of building a culture of human rights and giving statutory recognition to basic human rights. We supported the idea of a Parliamentary committee to monitor legislation, and the strengthening of the Human Rights Commission. We also argued for greater resources to be given to human rights education.
Frank Brennan’s concluding remarks when presenting the report are worth quoting here:
“The Australian community’s fabulous response to this Consultation suggests that the time is right for our elected leaders to take new steps to protect and promote human rights. Each step for human rights can take us further on the path to dignity and fairness”.
ACTION: It would be desirable for Friends to be alert to the responses by the Federal Government to the recommendations, and to support them where possible in any contacts with MPs and Senators in their States and Territories. QPLC will endeavour to keep Friends informed of decisions by the Government in relation to the report.
ACTION ALERT: SRI LANKA
1.Background.
In May 2009 the Sri Lankan Government announced its military victory over the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who were fighting for an independent Tamil State in Sri Lanka. Around 300,000 people displaced by the fighting ended up in government-run internment camps in Northern Sri Lanka. UNHCR reckons more than 260,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) still remain in these camps (http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4ac482e8c.html). The Nonviolent Peaceforce representative in Sri Lanka, Rita Webb, says that the camp conditions have improved somewhat, but that there remains limited media and humanitarian agency access. Amnesty International notes (http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/21822/) that the IDPs held in the camps are facing a humanitarian disaster as monsoon rains threaten to flood camps.
The Government’s stated aim is to resettle 80% of the displaced people by the end of the year. It has defended the slow resettlement pace, saying it must screen the IDPs to identify those closely linked with the LTTE and to prepare an amnesty process for lower-ranking cadres. There are cases before the Sri Lankan Supreme Court challenging restrictions on freedom of movement. In late September there was a disturbance in the Menik Farm Camp when displaced people were prevented from moving from one area to another, and this led the UN Secretary-General and UNHCR to express concern and to call for the resettlement process to be accelerated, especially given the approaching monsoon season. In its media release of 10 October, Human Rights Watch notes, “deteriorating conditions, including a shortage of water since October 5, 2009, combined with the prospect of flooding during the imminent monsoon season, have led to rising tensions among camp residents and clashes with the military” (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/10/09/sri-lanka-tensions-mount-camp-conditions-deteriorate).
2.Australian Responses.
The Australian Government encourages the resettlement of displaced people, and in September Stephen Smith MP as Foreign Minister announced a $5m contribution via UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration to support that process (http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/releases/2009/fa-s090914b.html). The funds should help with documentation, food and water for travel, and assistance to families hosting displaced people. This follows earlier funds of $5.25m through UNICEF for emergency water and sanitation services in the camps.
The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) has welcomed the Government’s assistance and has reaffirmed the NGO commitment to helping with a variety of forms of assistance. ACFID has also called for international monitoring of evacuations by the Red Cross and UN. In a media release on 19 October, director Marc Purcell said that the Australian Government should engage more actively with the Sri Lanka Government to close the internment camps and assist people rebuild their lives after years of conflict.
Bruce Haigh, former Australian diplomat who served in Colombo, wrote recently in The Canberra Times that the conditions in which the people are held in the camps are in violation of UN human rights conventions and give the appearance of retribution. He argues that Australia has been biased in its approach, for example by sending a military official to Colombo to try and prevent Tamils coming to Australia, and by supporting the prosecution of three Tamils in Victoria for sending funds to the LTTE.
Bruce is one of a group of prominent citizens from different countries (including former UN official Dr Brahimi) who have launched a Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, to get a petition signed by thousands of people to appeal to the UN for action to assist the displaced people in the camps. Such action would including appointing a special envoy, allowing the Red Cross unhindered access, ensuring all alleged combatants are treated according to international law, and working with the Sri Lankan Government to achieve conflict resolution and rebuild communities in the country. Details of the campaign are available at www.srilankacampaign.org
3.Recent Developments.
As widely reported in the Australian media, a boat carrying around 260 Tamils asylum seekers to Australia was intercepted by the Indonesian Navy at the request of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. These people currently held in Merak Harbour in Western Java are refusing to leave the boat and have declared a hunger strike. They have expressed the fear that they would be killed if they were returned to Sri Lanka and want to be immediately accepted as refugees into a third country. A further group of around 70 was rescued by Australian authorities after a request from Indonesian officials, and have now been taken to Merak also. This is a reminder that the situation in Sri Lanka remains unresolved and that many people have suffered from the long period of war.
The immediate need in Sri Lanka is for the people in the camps to be allowed to return to their home areas in order to have the opportunity to create their own future. In the medium term, redevelopment of the northern part of the island is essential to support the livelihoods of people returning. Looking further ahead, there must be more active steps to promote reconciliation and healing throughout Sri Lanka, after the prolonged war.
4.What Friends Could Do.
Given the suffering experienced over so many years, it seems best for Friends to focus on supporting a focus on the way forward. This involves accepting that there remain many grievances that need to be heard, and at the same time encouraging positive action to rebuild the lives of all Sri Lankans. This may include some kind of formal peace and reconciliation process in Sri Lanka, assisted by the international community. There are many people in Sri Lanka with the skills and motivation to work in this direction.
At local level, Friends can contact Sri Lankans (both ethnic Sinhalese and Tamils) to learn more about how the situation has affected them and their friends and families here and in Sri Lanka. Friends can also assist specific redevelopment projects. Australian Friends could also support the campaign of the Sri Lanka Peace and Justice group.
QPLC will see what can be done to work with concerned people to set up dialogue about future possibilities for Sri Lanka, and take up with the Australian Government and the Sri Lankan Government ideas that will promote reconstruction and reconciliation. Initially this will include a request that the people being held in the internment camps be released as soon as possible.
On the subject of asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, QPLC will consider making representations to the Australian Government to accept within its migration intake applicants from Sri Lanka who qualify as refugees, and to work to ensure that an orderly process is in place in Malaysia, Indonesia or here to assess their claims for refugee status.
Canberra
October 2009
Watching brief on restorative justice
1. Restorative Justice
Background.
Friends will be aware of the moves around the world to promote restorative justice approaches to conflictual and violent situations, to help build and maintain community and to allow for restoration of positive relationships after some rupture has occurred. The Australian Institute of Criminology has reported that restorative justice uses a variety of methods, including conferencing, sentencing circles, and victim-offender mediation schemes. These focus on repairing the harm caused by crime, by holding meetings of crime victims, offenders, and others affected. These processes are common in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, all States and Territories have some form of restorative justice programs, in many cases backed by legislation. In addition, many schools are now using these approaches in responding to bullying, fighting and disruptive behaviour on their campuses.
The principles of restorative justice can be summarised as:
- Respect
- Reparation
- Reconciliation
- Voluntariness
- Empowerment
- Inclusion
- Renewal
- Reintegration
- Solidarity
Recent Development.
The ACT Legislative Assembly’s Committee on Education, Training and Young People has tabled a report on Restorative Justice in Youth Settings. This report follows several years of enquiry into the way restorative practices are being included in school programs and other government policies.
Paragraph 2.15 of the Report says:
An important message heard during the Inquiry has been the potential for restorative justice practices to provide children and young people with effective relationships skills and the courage to make efforts to repair rather than abandon relationships that have been harmed by the hurtful, or more grievous, behaviours of others.
The Report has many recommendations, including proposals that the ACT Government:
- Support the development and implementation of behaviour management programs for all ACT schools that are consistent with restorative practice principles.
- Make explicit the restorative justice principles and values in legislation and service provision across the whole of government.
- Assist schools to implement restorative justice practices through effective data collection and external support to teaching and other staff, and hold an annual forum to encourage collaboration and sharing of knowledge.
- Use government websites to promote wider awareness of policies on restorative practice, bullying, and safe school environments.
- Fund a classroom-based skills development program for teachers, and a mentoring scheme.
- Ensure that sufficient resources are available to enable the Restorative Justice Unit within the Government to (a) monitor and support these developments and extend restorative justice services to other sectors of the community, and (b) offer post-sentencing restorative justice conferencing for those held in the new correctional centre (gaol).
- Reinforce by legislation the use of circle sentencing within the Indigenous community.
The full report can be accessed on http://www.parliament.act.gov.au/committees/index1.asp?committee=53&inquiry=155
Possible Responses
Friends around Australia may wish to enquire of their own MPs and government agencies about the development of restorative justice practices in their State or Territory. QPLC would be pleased to receive information and act as a clearing house for ideas on how restorative justice practices can be extended.
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