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Addressing family violence and child sexual assault in Indigenous communities – A human rights perspective

Mr Tom Calma, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Forum
NSW Parliament House, Tuesday 5 December 2006

 


I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal peoples of the Eora nation, the traditional owners and custodians of the land where we are gathered today, and pay my respects to their elders and to the ancestors.

I would also like to acknowledge:


I thank you for your attendance today. The presence of such a distinguished group of people indicates the seriousness with which we all see the issue of family violence and sexual abuse in Indigenous communities.

Previous speakers have highlighted NSW specific issues and my role today is to provide some suggestions, from my national perspective as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, on the issues that I consider we must face if we are to make progress in addressing family violence and sexual abuse in Indigenous communities.

So to begin, I want to set the scene by discussing a report that was released in October this year by the Secretary-General of the United Nations on violence against children.[1] The key recommendations of that study set the context to this issue.


The report highlights that violence against children is endemic globally, and among all sectors of society. The report contains some overarching recommendations which provide guidance to governments in their local environment and also international actions to combat violence against children. They include the following:


These recommendations provide a useful framework for our activities here in Australia and specifically in New South Wales.

So let me now discuss the issues in Australia. I must begin by stating upfront and unequivocally that family violence and child abuse in Indigenous communities is abhorrent and has no place in Aboriginal society.

Family violence and abuse is a scourge that is causing untold damage and trauma among Indigenous communities. Indigenous men, women and children are entitled to live their lives in safety and full human dignity. This means without fear of family violence or abuse. This is their cultural, and their human right.

Let me also state upfront that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customary law does not condone family violence.

Family violence and abuse of women and children has no place in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Customary law cannot be relied upon to excuse such behaviour.

That is the customary law that I know. Perpetrators of violence and abuse do not respect customary law and are not behaving in accordance with it.

HREOC has stated clearly in submissions to sentencing courts and to inquiries that customary law must be applied consistently with human rights standards. In other words, at no stage does customary law override the rights of women and children to be safe and to live free from violence.

Violence and abuse is also in breach of criminal laws across the country. I am on record several times stating that if an Indigenous person commits these types of offences they should be dealt with by the criminal justice system just as any other person would be. There should also be swift intervention from care and protection systems to ensure that the best interests of the child and victim are the primary consideration.

Government officials and community members should be fearless and bold in reporting suspected incidents of violence and abuse. This means addressing the code of silence that exists in many Indigenous communities about these issues. And it means government officers meeting their statutory obligations, meeting their duty of care and taking moral responsibility in the performance of their duties as public officials. Many do already. Regrettably, some do not.


This Forum is taking place because we are committed to seeing an end to family violence and sexual abuse in Indigenous communities.

We acknowledge that excellent work has already been done in New South Wales to identify the pathways forward, in particular through the Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce, and also the work of the Aboriginal Justice Advisory Council.

By convening and participating in this Forum the participants send a clear message to the New South Wales government that we want to work with you to ensure that there are deliberate and determined steps taken to address this issue. We also indicate that we intend to hold you accountable for how you respond to this issue.

This Forum follows a number of significant meetings relating to family violence over the past year, including an inter-governmental summit on the issue in June. I attended that Summit as an observer.

One of the things that I noted at the Summit was the very useful role that was played by the NSW government in seeking to ensure that the response to the crisis of violence and abuse in Aboriginal communities is a measured one, that balances the need for law and order in communities with broader strategies to address the underlying causes of dysfunction and violence, and which also focuses on building the capacity of Indigenous communities to confront this issue.

Let me remind you of the Communiqué of the Intergovernmental Summit on Violence and Child Abuse in Indigenous Communities, titled Safer Kids, Safer Communities.[2]


It states:

This Intergovernmental Summit... agrees that the levels of violence and child abuse in Indigenous communities warrant a comprehensive national response.

We have reconfirmed... that:

While all jurisdictions over recent years have taken significant steps to address the problem, the Summit acknowledged that better resources, improved methods and a concerted, long-term joint effort were essential if the necessary breakthroughs were to be achieved.

Indigenous children continue to be overrepresented in substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect. Indigenous people also continue to experience increasing levels of violence and abuse. A series of reports – the latest conducted in New South Wales – point to endemic problems, particularly in remoter areas but also evident in some regional and urban areas.

Action therefore needs to be accelerated – in particular the imperative of giving Indigenous Australians confidence that the justice system will work for them...

We will work with Indigenous people to implement flexible local solutions, acknowledging that all parents have a responsibility to ensure their kids are safe and need to access services provided to ensure their well-being...

Now while I consider that the outcomes of the Summit were too narrowly focused on law and order initiatives, and that some of these initiatives such as proposed changes to sentencing laws are inappropriate and potentially discriminatory, the Summit Communiqué clearly provides a serious level of commitment from all governments to address family violence and child abuse.

This includes the NSW government. So it is timely to ask what has become of the final report of the Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce?

The Taskforce report is comprehensive in its scope and contains many recommendations. It is complex and it proposes some substantial re-engineering of how the government goes about its role in relation to Indigenous communities.

So a response will no doubt take time.

But there are two things that should underpin that response and the timeliness of it.

First, as the Summit communiqué states: Action needs to be accelerated. Accordingly, developing a response to a report such as this one needs to be treated as a matter of high priority.

Second, fundamental to such a response must be engagement with Indigenous communities, individuals and service providers. This is a fundamental component of the Two Ways Together strategy, and also the Justice Agreement – so it needs to be put into action.

I am not so convinced that to date, the Taskforce’s report has been treated with the urgency and priority that it deserves, or that it has been progressed in a manner consistent with the commitments made by the NSW government. And that is also why I am here today – to lend my voice and support to the report and to the directions that it sets forth for government and community partnerships and action.

It is a report based on extensive consultation and Indigenous engagement and so its recommendations and ways forward should not be dismissed or put into the too hard basket.

I want to end by reiterating some core principles that I have identified about addressing family violence in recent months.

I have published a book titled Ending family violence in Indigenous communities – Key issues, that provides an overview of research by HREOC on this issue. It shows the inter-relationship between different issues and the complex policy responses necessary to address family violence and sexual abuse in communities.


It also identifies ten challenges for addressing family violence and sexual abuse in Indigenous communities. To me, these are some of the key factors that we need to address to achieve lasting change. And while the challenges are directed to Indigenous people in this instance, the principles are equally applicable to the broader Australian community.

  1. We must turn government commitments into action. Governments have been making commitments to address family violence for some time already. What we need is concerted, long term action which meets these commitments.

  1. Indigenous participation – This action must be based on genuine partnership with Indigenous peoples and with our full participation; including the participation of women, children and young people.

  1. Support Indigenous community initiatives and networks. There are significant processes and networks already in place in Indigenous communities to progress these issues. We need to support them to lead efforts to stamp out violence, including developing the educational tools to assist them to identify and respond to family violence.

  1. Human rights education in Indigenous communities. There is a need for broad based education and awareness-raising among Indigenous communities to progress these issues. Working with communities to send strong messages that violence won’t be tolerated, that there are legal obligations and protections, and that individuals have rights, are critical if we are to stamp out family violence.

  1. Don’t forget our men and don’t stereotype them as abusers. Family violence is fundamentally an issue of gender equality. We need strong leadership from women, but we also need the support of Indigenous men if we are to make progress in stamping out violence. Indigenous men need to model appropriate behaviour, challenging violence and stand up against it, and support our women and nurture our children.

  1. Look for the positives and celebrate the victories. There are good things happening in Indigenous communities, even if the national media is not interested in reporting them. We need to confront family violence, but also do so by reinforcing the inherent worth and dignity of Indigenous peoples, not by vilifying and demonising all Indigenous peoples.

  1. Re-assert our cultural norms and regain the respect in our communities. Family violence and abuse is about lack of respect for Indigenous culture. We need to fight it as Indigenous peoples, and rebuild our proud traditions and community structures so that there is no place for fear and intimidation.

  1. Ensure robust accountability and monitoring mechanisms. There must be accountability measurements put into place to hold governments to their commitments. This requires the development of robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. These will also allow us to identify and celebrate successes.

  1. Changing the mindset. We require a change in the mindset of government from an approach which manages dysfunction to one that supports functional communities. Current approaches pay for the consequences of disadvantage and discrimination. It is a passive reactive system of feeding dysfunction, rather than taking positive steps to overcome it. We need a proactive system of service delivery to Indigenous communities focused on building functional, healthy communities.

  1. Targeting of need. Let us be bold in ensuring that program interventions are targeted to address need and overcome disadvantage. As it stands, government programs and services are not targeted to a level that will overcome Indigenous disadvantage. Hence, they are not targeted in a way that will meet the solemn commitments that have been made. They are targeted to maintain the status quo.


I acknowledge the update by Dr Burgmann and I am encouraged that a decision on the report is pending. Nevertheless, I urge the New South Wales government to not waiver in their resolve and to take the lead in responding to issues of family violence in Indigenous communities. The Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce Report provides a basis for you to do this.

The value of the commitments that you have made as a government will be measured not by your talk, but by your actions. There remains a lot to be done and it is critical that this Report does not gather dust on the bookshelves of politicians and bureaucrats as so many past reports on family violence and child abuse have nationally.

Thank you

[1] http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/study/SGSVAC.pdf.

[2] http://www.atsia.gov.au/Media/media06/4606.aspx

Last updated February 5, 2009 HREOC Website: Speeches