Human rights assignment on anti-racism and considerations in Australia
Question
Task: Write a human rights assignmentto the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination regarding Australia’sperformance in relation to either theRise of racism in the State partyorIndigenous land rights.
Answer
Introduction
This is the high time to establish anti-discrimination, anti- racism in Australia. The human rights assignmentis thereby going to discuss and propose some important consideration for State Govt. regarding the same.Presenting the current scenario in the human rights assignmentis important to evaluate the strategic direction to adopt. The international community has adopted the convention in 1965 to eliminate all types of racial discrimination from state party. The convention at present is approaching universal ratification. Still, there are stigmas and injustices in Australia to bring racism into the scenario. People of African descentare still suffering through the slave trade (United Nations, 2022). As per the findings in the human rights assignmentrecent immigrants even face racial discrimination and prejudice. Discriminatory institutions and the structured legacy of industry of enslavement, as well as colonialism, directly gets followed by descent Africans to make them marginalized and below the poverty line in society to face alarmingly high rates of racial profiling and police violence. Racism even affects the people of other communities like indigenous people South Asian,Refugees, asylum seekers,Muslims, migrants, etc. People who belong to national or ethnic linguistic or religious minorities as well as women and the LGBTQ+ community even come under racism in Australia (United Nations, 2022).
Human rights assignmentexplaining the Positives though bi-folded
At present Australia does not have racism in direct form though racial discrimination is there in different forms to impact all aspects of life. The referred people in the human rights assignmenteven fail to have proper employment, education, equal access to health care, water,fair treatment by the policies, food, water, and housing. They are even deprived of the most important necessities. They even face hatred, intolerance, distrust, division, and discrimination which are the result of racism. Racism does not only hurt the lives of vulnerable people but the society as well as State govt.even as it extracts the picture of distress in society. Australia however has adopted the Durban declaration with plan of action by the 2001 consensus World conference for racism in Durban,South Africa (United Nations, 2022). As per the human rights assignmentfindings, it becomes an important milestone that offers enough opportunities for making progress to eliminate racism, related intolerance, and xenophobia. It even accelerates good practices removing the challenges to implement the plan of action successfully. It has confirmed investment for equal opportunities in employment, health system, education, electricity, drinking water, housing,etc with assured access to education and technology for women and other vulnerable communities. It has even confirmed inclusive education for African descent.
Legislation to address violation discussed in the human rights assignment
Through legislation or policies,Australia has even confirmed progress in the context of anti-racism for State Govt. it is found in this human rights assignmentthat Australia has ensured that any sort of discrimination is unlawful on the basis of gender,sexual orientation, identity, disability, and age, or race for aspects like employment, education, and public life. It has come with several anti-discrimination laws like Disability Discrimination Act 1992,Age Discrimination Act 2004,Racial Discrimination Act 1975, And the SexDiscrimination Act 1984 (Australian Government, 2022). Among all these actsRacial Discrimination Act of 1975 shares its focus on anti-racism in Australia. The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 has come to the scenario by the AustralianParliament through the Whitlam government. It confirms racial discrimination in Australiaas unlawful specifically for some significant aspects.It is found in the human rights assignmentthat it promotes equality for all people irrespective of their ethnic origin, national origin,color, or race. It even confirms that any sort of discrimination among people through the aspects like race,color, or origin is strictly prohibited and a punishable offense.
The act gets controlled and monitored by Australian Human Rights Commission. Investigating complaints is the liability of President of Commission. For validated the commission takes all the initiatives to conciliate the matter as soon as possible. If it fails to negotiate the agreement for the complainant, then it comes under the Federal Court Of Australia. It is even the responsibility of the commission to generate awareness regarding obligations that organizations or individuals can face through the act.As per the human rights assignmentit has distinctly confirmed certain aspects where discrimination is not allowed. Employment by section 15 cannot entertain any discrimination. Accommodation or housing and land by section 12 even confirms anti-racism. Section 13 takes care of goods and services, access to facilities along with places for public offering by section 11, section 16 for advertising, section 14 joining trade union clearly reject any racism (Krayem et al. 2020). The law has even confirmed its success in the cases like Bligh and Ors v State of Queensland [1996] HREOCA 28, Wotton v Queensland (No 5) when aboriginal applicants were awarded with 7000 Australian dollars to compensate and 220000 is been awarded to control the damage due to breaching of racial discrimination act. For both, the cases mentioned in the human rights assignmentbreaches were there though the legal steps have confirmed equality in all terms.
Strategies for development
The scenario mentioned in the human rights assignmentclearly conveys the fact that there is legislation for anti-discrimination or anti-racism steel there are cases or chances of racism at present. Thereby, it is even important for the commission to consider some important factors to make the legislation or the policies stronger and more effective in the aspects like anti-racism or anti-discrimination.
A Law reform proposal can be a better solution to this problem. The referred cases are the burning example of racism which even conveys or highlights the issues in the act or the gaps in the act which need to be closed immediately. It is advised in the human rights assignment that the act needs to be reformed in a way that people would be aware of the consequences of racism or discrimination and by the fear of punishment or financial pressure that such type of discrimination could not even take a place in society. More importantly, as the Human Rights Commission is responsible for monitoring as well as generating awareness. Thereby, it is even more important that the human rights commission would spread more and more awareness regarding anti-discrimination taking care of all societal issues which can trigger or accelerate any sort of racism or discrimination in society.
It is further important to note from the human rights assignmentfor the commission to sustain equal protection for all persons by the law. Such type of initiative can even stop police brutality as these are even there in the state govt. through the referred cases as well. Zero tolerance for negligence is a must.
It is further important to create an environment of acceptance as well as celebration.The topic of anti-racism or anti-discrimination along with cultural diversity needs to be discussed in the open classroom as well as in seminars to make people more informed and aware.
Conclusion
The discussion in the human rights assignmenthas clearly confirmed that the state govt. has taken several initiatives to establish anti-discrimination though has accommodated some issues. Considering scenario, it is important for the state party to take care of strategies for development.
References
Australian Government, 2022.Federal Register of Legislation. https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C2004A00274
Krayem, M., Norman, H., Bain, C. and Apolonio, T., 2020. Are Aboriginal people a threat to the modern nation?: A study of newsprint coverage of a racial discrimination complaint. Australian Aboriginal Studies (Canberra), (1), pp.18-35.
United Nations, 2022. Fight Racism. https://www.un.org/en/fight-racismgclid=Cj0KCQjwnbmaBhD-ARIsAGTPcfVccI5Hi_BfE9P_HCOe2b3z9EBvGliStq9zhnHeOp2aLsJnJ16DsGUaAvSjEALw_wcB
United Nations, 2022. Fight Racism. https://www.un.org/en/fight-racism/vulnerable-groups
United Nations, 2022. Fight Racism. https://www.un.org/en/fight-racism/background/the-road-to-fight-racism
United Nations, 2022. Fight Racism. https://www.un.org/en/fight-racism/get-involved/teach
