E/CN.4/2002/24/Add.1 page 39 80. Just as he was completing the drafting of his report, the Special Rapporteur was informed that, following the taking-over of government by the Labour Party in the Northern Territory and on the initiative of four Aboriginal deputies belonging to that party, the mandatory sentencing law was abolished in the territory. Stress is increasingly laid on “diversionary programmes” aimed at preventing crime and implementing alternative penalties for persons committing minor offences. The Race Discrimination Commissioner for the Northern Territory and several other social protagonists (churches, Aboriginal community associations, lawyers, human rights organizations) have made efforts to explain these programmes to the Aboriginal communities and find with them alternative solutions to imprisonment. These programmes cover the prevention of drug use, prevention of violence, measures aimed at the rehabilitation of young offenders, and conferencing (mediation between the victim and perpetrator of a crime). It is therefore to be hoped that the State of Western Australia will follow the example of the Northern Territory. 4. The blocking of the “stolen generation” 81. From the late 1800s until 1969 Australia had a policy of removing Indigenous children from the families, allegedly out of concern for their well-being. As many as 100,000 children are estimated to have been separated from their families. These are known as the “stolen generations”. Indigenous children were put into institutions run by government and churches, adopted by white families and fostered into white families as part of a policy of assimilation. Far from being saved from neglect or destitution, many were imprisoned in institutions without enough food, without enough clothes, without love. Many were regularly victims of physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Today Indigenous children and young people continue to be removed from their families at a higher rate than the general population.13 82. The devastating impact of forcible removal policies was finally given proper public recognition during the Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. It documented the grief, trauma and loss of culture resulting from the policies. The report of the inquiry, Bringing Them Home, issued in 1997, concluded that the forcible removal policies were a denial of common-law rights and a serious breach of human rights. The report recommended reparations for these violations. It said they were a breach of human rights amounting to genocide.14 The report estimates that between 1910 and 1970, 10-30 per cent of Indigenous children were taken from their families to be raised in institutions or fostered out to white families. Bringing Them Home made a total of 83 recommendations in four major categories: (a) Reparation or compensation to individuals, families, communities and descendants; (b) Acknowledgement and apology as essential components of reparation and reconciliation; (c) Provision of family reunion health, counselling and other services; and (d) Legislative change to introduce uniform policies and practices governing child removal in contemporary Australia.