UN envoy slams racist policy

       A UN envoy slammed Australia's military-led intervention in remote Aboriginal communities and said racism is "entrenched" in the country,in a damning assessment yesterday.
       UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights James Anaya said the intervention policy, where thousands of troops and police were sent to help curb alcoholfuelled sexual abuse and domestic violence, was clearly discriminatory.
       He urged the government to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory, and called for compensation for the "stolen generations"of Aboriginal children, taken from their parents to promote racial integration.
       "It undermines the right of indigenous peoples to control their own destinies,their right to self-determination," Mr Anaya, referring to the intervention, said."There is entrenched racism in Australia.These measures overtly discriminate against Aboriginal peoples."
       Under the intervention, the conservative government of ex-prime minister John Howard slapped restrictions on welfare payments, alcohol and pornography in 73 desert townships and introduced measures to boost school attendance. The controversial move has met with fierce objections from Aborigines, with one group this week calling on the UN to declare them refugees in their own country, claiming the government action had left them powerless.
       Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has refused to scrap the policy since taking office in late 2007, disappointing many Aboriginal leaders, despite issuing a historic apology for the wrongs suffered since white settlement in 1788. Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said moves to reintroduce the Racial Discrimination Act, suspended in the Northern Territory when the crackdown started in June 2007, would come into parliament later this year.
       "I think what's important is that we recognise we have a huge task in front of us to close the gap, to close the life expectancy gap, the employment gap,the gap in education," Ms Macklin said.
       "We know how big the task is and we intend to keep getting on with it."
       Mr Anaya's two-week visit to Australia is the first by a UN rapporteur on indigenous human rights, or roving representative for the international body.
       He will report back to the UN Human Rights Council. His comments coincided with the outlining of a new representative body for the highly disadvantaged indigenous population, following the disbanding of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission in 2005.
       Ms Macklin welcomed the proposal,which called for an independent body headed by elected representatives, but she promised only "modest and appropriate" funding.
       Meanwhile, universities and other tertiary institutions in Australia yesterday urged the government to do more to protect international students after a spate of attacks against Indian students.
       A coalition of six higher education groups presented a 10-point plan and called for a "student safe" campaign,while urging a crackdown on education agents and other private groups which target foreign students in study scams.
       Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard will next week visit India in a bid to soothe tensions over the attacks and scams, which prompted both the prime minister and foreign minister to offer Delhi their personal assurances.