A/HRC/36/46/Add.2
(c)
Conduct a comprehensive review of the mainstream education curricula
to ensure the inclusion of components on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
history and the impact of colonization.
111. Concerning employment, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the
Government reform the Community Development Programme in consultation with
indigenous communities, remove discriminatory and punitive measures and
reconstruct the unemployment scheme in remote areas around positive incentives and
long-term opportunities.
112. With respect to housing, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the
Government:
(a)
Take measures, in consultation with indigenous organizations and
communities, to develop housing strategies and increase and improve the availability
of remote, regional and urban housing. Provide specific housing support to enable
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to remain on their lands rather than
migrate to urban areas;
(b)
Identify and address barriers to housing for families with children and
provide urgent responses to families at risk of having a child taken into care when
inadequate housing forms part of the risk.
113. Concerning incarceration and the administration of justice, the Special
Rapporteur recommends that the Government:
(a)
Ratify as a matter of urgency the Optional Protocol of the Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
and establish an independent national preventive mechanism for regular detention
monitoring visits;
(b)
Adopt, through the Council of Australian Governments, solid
commitments and a national plan of action to address the incarceration crisis of
Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander peoples as a matter of national priority;
(c)
Implement the recommendations by the Australian Law Reform
Commission Inquiry into the Incarceration of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander
peoples and the Royal Commission into Youth Detention in the Northern Territory;
(d)
Abolish paperless arrest and mandatory sentencing laws and review fine
default legislation, as their application is discriminatory in practice;
(e)
Ensure that there are investigations and accountability, both for civil
and criminal liability, for abuses and deaths in detention of Aboriginals and Torres
Strait Islanders and that the responsibility to provide reparation is assumed by the
State;
(f)
Provide adequate and long-term funding for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander legal services based on a national mapping of unmet needs;
(g)
Introduce custody notification services in all States and Territories;
(h)
Ensure that culturally appropriate medical care, including mental health
services, are available in all detention facilities;
(i)
Increase the age of criminal responsibility from 10 years to at least 12
years, in accordance with international standards. Detention of children should be a
measure of last resort;
(j)
Withdraw its reservation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child
and ensure that no children are held together with adults;
(k)
Provide all personnel in detention facilities with training on culturally
sensitive child care;
(l)
Conduct a comprehensive assessment of existing diversion and justice
reinvestment programmes and replicate, in consultation with local communities, such
measures in targeted areas across the country;
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