Sociology Essay: Protecting & Promoting Human Rights Of Aboriginals And Islanders
Question
Task:
Prepare a detailed sociology essay discussing about the protection and promotion of human rights of the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander people.
Answer
Introduction
The primary focus of this sociology essay is to discuss the human rights of the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander people. The essay aims to recognise the obligations of the government to protect and promote human rights. The obligation met by the government and the obligations that have not been met by the government will be discussed.
Obligations for Protecting and Promoting Human Rights
Human rights and freedoms are inbuilt in every individual, despite culture, background, age, gender, and belief. The government of Australia has played a dynamic partfor developing the human rights declaration and many treaties based on the international context, which followed many of these basic human rights. All these rights have been mentioned in the Australian government policies, laws, and programs to protect and promote Aboriginal and Islanders. Aboriginal and Islanders are among the most defenseless and marginalized individuals across the globe (Humanrights.gov.au, 2021). However, the Australian government in recent years took significant steps considering the assertion of UN regarding the rights of Aboriginals and Islanders population in the year 2007. The government pledged its support to the said declaration in 2009. Equality the healthcare of indigenous people and life expectations within 25 years wherein the targets are to make improvement in the equality of healthcare within 25 years and equal opportunity in 10 years on crucial health services, infrastructure for healthcare, and health of indigenous employee. Additionally, the Australian government is obligated to provide education equally and support the overall community for a better lifestyle. On the other hand, the government also promotes and supports safeguarding the community from being wiped out and maintains their peaceful existence.
However, the Australian government also promotes and supports the right of Self Determination that safeguards the interest and existence of the Aboriginals and Islanders. Hence, Self Determination is a current procedure of preference to make sure that these communities can get their cultural, social, and financial needs. Hence, Right to self-determination has been introduced to state that the aboriginals were the very first resident of Australia. For Aboriginal and Islanders, the right of self-determination is the freedom from discrimination under ICCPR articles 2.6-26 wherein every member of all religious, ethnic as well as the minorities need promote their language in the school curriculum, culture and religion also needs to be protected and promoted (Ohchr.org, 2021).
Obligations Not Met by the Government
Lack of resources and respect because of a critical gap in education, because the Australian education systems do not deference the diversity in culture of indigenous people. As per the study, it has been found that there is a fewer number of teachers who can communicate in their communal languages, and their educational institutes even lack basic materials. However, the resources for education that deliver precise and equal facts on Aboriginals and their lifestyle are mainly different and rare (Curtis, 2010). Though, several international tools publicly state the rights to education is universalbut theAboriginals and Islanders do not completely get the said rights fully. A gap in education between the general Australian people and Aboriginal people is still critical internationally.
On the other hand, there are many barriers to learningbecause indigenous students are more potential to come to School with an empty stomach, tired and ill, commonly abused physical and mentally, even though the practice of punishment is widespread. Discrimiation based in cultural and ethnicity at schools is the main barrier to equal admission to education that has caused rates of higher dropouts and poor performance (United Nations, 2018).
The government of Australia is obligated to provide quality health care services to all its citizens. Still, the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in many places are deprived of the right to get quality healthcare services. There is widespread discrimination towards the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia due to which they do not get quality healthcare, and they have poor health(Davy et al., 2016). This happens because healthcare institutions do not go to the remote locations where they are residing, and the government has also not been able to provide quality healthcare service.
Obligations Met by the Government
The government of Australia has successfully met the obligations towards the promoting and protecting the human rights of Aboriginals and Islanders with the help of the right to self-determination. This right gives the Aboriginals and Islander people the freedom to determine their political and economic status, and they can openly develop their socio-economy and culture(Shrinkhal, 2021). Article 3 of the right states that the Aboriginals and Islanders are safeguarded by the government to access better housing, community, and their indigenous affairs. This right is governed by the Australian Ministry for Families and Communities so the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders can focus on their development.
The government of Australia has also been able to meet the obligation of protecting these people from mental and physical harm through this right. The government protects the human rights of the Aboriginals and Islanders by giving them facilities so that they can overcome their health and economic disadvantages(Mazel, 2018). They are given the right to pursue any job or education as per their choice because they have the freedom to do so, and they shall not be subject to any discrimination. This was necessary to be done because the Aboriginals and Islanders have been discriminated against for a long time now. Example, Indigenous Skills and Employment Program (ISEP) has been developed to ensure employment to the indigenous people in Australia this is the recent legislation that has been developed for their employment.
Another obligation that has been met by the government is providing freedom and peace so that they are not subjected to genocide. This obligation was necessary to be met because there are several cases of genocide throughout history due to which many communities have gone extinct. These actions have fatal consequences and such as what Germans did to the Jew in the 1930s during WW3(Rotberg, 2017). To avoid such terrible situations, the government of Australia has met the obligation of protecting the freedom of the Aboriginals and Islanders so that their community can exist safely and freely.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that there were several obligations of the government towards the protecting the human rights of the Aboriginals and Islanders. The human rights of these people were crucial to be protected because they were subject to severe discrimination and inequality. There are certain obligations that have not been met by the government for which their need to take necessary measures so that the Aboriginals and Islanders are fully protected.
References
Curtis, M. (2010). A world of discrimination: minorities, indigenous peoples and education. https://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/old-site-downloads/download-655-A-world-of-discrimination.pdf
Davy, C., Harfield, S., McArthur, A., Munn, Z., & Brown, A. (2016). Access to primary health care services for Indigenous peoples: A framework synthesis. International Journal for Equity in Health, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0450-5
Humanrights.gov.au. (2021). Human rights and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/letstalkaboutrights/downloads/HRA_ATSI.pdf
Mazel, O. (2018). Indigenous Health and Human Rights: A Reflection on Law and Culture. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(4), 789. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15040789
Ohchr.org. (2021). A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. https://www.ohchr.org/documents/issues/ipeoples/undripmanualfornhris.pdf
Rotberg, R. I. (2017). Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing: Our Global Past. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 48(1), 71–78. https://doi.org/10.1162/jinh_a_01090
Shrinkhal, R. (2021). “Indigenous sovereignty” and right to self-determination in international law: a critical appraisal. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 17(1), 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/1177180121994681
United Nations. (2018). Education | United Nations For Indigenous Peoples. Un.org. https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/mandated-areas1/education.html
