When the United Nations General Assembly voted on the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, only four countries voted against it: the United States, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia. Today, the Rudd government in Australia announced that it would endorse the declaration. The original vote on the declaration was largely the result of the tireless efforts of Cultural Survival board member Les Melezer, and Melezer played a key role in today's announcement by the Rudd government: he has been in New York for two weeks putting pressure on the Australian ambassador.
On March 15, the United Nations General Assembly voted 170–4 to create a new Human Rights Council, effectively dissolving the oft-criticized Commission on Human Rights. Candidates for the Council will need to be elected by an absolute majority of 96 votes in order to secure a position, and once elected members can serve a maximum of two consecutive terms.
The State Government of Victoria recently allocated $1.3 million to build new facilities for three Melbourne Koori media outlets, according to the ABC Message Stick. Funds will be used to renovate a former factory building to include new recording and production studios, a television studio, training facilities, and meeting rooms.
Released on July 12, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Council of Australian Government (COAG) issued two reports showing that the poor living conditions and lack of proper health care of indigenous peoples in Australia are major factors in disparities of health, reported the Australian Associated Press (AAP).
Canadian health officials announced a Can$5.5 million grant to support three global indigenous health research projects that focus on researching HIV/AIDS, mental health, and indigenous health workforce networks on July 5. "There is much we need to learn about indigenous peoples' health issues," said Uijal Dosanjh, Minister of Health, to the Canada Newswire.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.