For ten years the Australian Government has been actively participating at the international level in the development of a standard on Indigenous Rights.

A draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been prepared by the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations. This draft is now being examined by the UN Human Rights Commission.

We recognise the draft Declaration as an adequate statement able to be adopted within Australia immediately as a domestic human rights standard. We will seek that the governments of Australia give attention to the declaration as a complete document, and to each of the individual rights that are expressed in the draft Declaration.

This will be the first and significant step towards the recognition of specific rights of Indigenous Peoples within the Human Rights standards of Australia.

Although it is feasible to achieve some recognition in Australia on he contents of the draft Declaration, it is not realistic to expect that our indigenous rights will be completely protected by a standard-setting document.

The opening of negotiations in Australia on the rights of Indigenous Peoples provides the momentum for changes to Australia's handling of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs.

Our rights can only be properly recognised and protected when there is a legal instrument which guarantees and protects those rights. While this can be achieved through legislation, particularly by amendment to the Racial Discrimination Act, or the ATSIC Act, the rights might only become entrenched through more substantial measures.

The alternatives to legislation include a Bill of Indigenous Rights, amendment to the Constitution, or the signing of a formal agreement between the government and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

In accordance with our policy on self determination, we will advocate for a treaty on Indigenous Rights, negotiated between the government and our people. Providing ATSIC acts as an organisation representative of the people, ATSIC may ultimately be in the position to be a signature to the treaty.

However ATSIC, or any other indigenous parties to a treaty, must only sign with a specific mandate from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

We recognise that the negotiation of any treaty will be linked to extensive and controversial debate within our communities, not only on the specific contents of indigenous rights, but also on the broader impact of a treaty to our sovereign rights.

To implement our policy we will advocate immediate community information and consultations on the draft Declaration on Indigenous Rights, and seek wide endorsement of its relevance as a domestic standard for human rights.

Depending upon positive responses we will the pursue official government recognition of the standards.

FAIRA Aboriginal Corporation Phone +61 7 3391 4677 • Fax +61 7 3391 4551 • email letterbox@faira.org.au Post Office Box 8402 Woolloongabba Q 4102 Australia 37 Balaclava Street Woolloongabba