A/HRC/48/74 issues, such as vision and skin problems, and have been born with deformed limbs, reportedly due to contamination from the mine, including of water sources.22 35. Ipili indigenous communities in Papua New Guinea have reported similar violations related to the establishment of the Porgera gold mine in their traditional territories: environmental degradation and exposure to chemicals that led to birth defects in children and violence. Indigenous girls and women are particularly impacted. In Porgera, many were raped, often when searching for gold in dump areas after losing their ability to subsist on agriculture, traditionally the role of girls and women in their communities.23 F. Alternative care and forced removals 36. While the forcible removal of children from indigenous groups is prohibited under article 7 (2) of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and article 8 prohibits forced assimilation or destruction of their culture, assimilationist and discriminatory policies have often led to the removal of indigenous children from their communities and subsequent institutionalization. Such removals impact many of their rights, including their collective rights to their traditional lands, to belong to an indigenous community, to practise their spiritual and religious traditions, and to their languages and culture. 1. Current alternative care 37. Indigenous children are more likely to find themselves in alternative care and in more frequent contact with criminal justice systems than non-indigenous children. Alternative care and the criminal justice system are linked, with many children going from the former to the latter, or back and forth between the two, owing to cycles of trauma and loss. 38. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are reportedly 9.7 times more likely to be removed from their parents than non-indigenous children in Australia.24 That includes babies removed for reasons such as the young age or mental health of the mother.25 39. Representing only 7.7 per cent of children under 14 years of age in Canada, indigenous children make up 52.2 per cent of children in alternative care.26 Involvement and decisionmaking by indigenous peoples in child welfare is critical to improving this disparity. There have been efforts by First Nations to regain authority for child services since the passing of the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families on 1 January 2019. 40. Amendments were made to the Oranga Tamariki Act, the New Zealand child welfare act, aimed at improving the situation of children, including Maori children. It includes incorporation of international children’s rights instruments and establishes basic minimum standards for every child aimed at reducing disparity in care and increasing a child’s connection to his or her cultural identity. 2. Residential schools, adoption and redress 41. Various countries, including Australia, Canada, the Russian Federation and the United States of America have historically sent indigenous children to boarding schools far from their families and communities, where they were usually unable to use their languages and were exclusively taught the dominant religion and culture. Many experienced physical, 22 23 24 25 26 8 Submission by Ethiopian non-governmental organizations Girja Integrated Rural Development Association and Development by Unity and Brotherly Action for the Future and Northwestern University Center for International Human Rights. Submission by the Porgera Red Wara Women’s Association. National Voice for our Children, the Family Matters Campaign, University of Melbourne, Griffith University and Monash University, The Family Matters Report 2020. Measuring Trends to Turn the Tide on the Over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children in Out-of-home Care in Australia. Hannah McGlade, “My journey into ‘child protection’ and Aboriginal family led decision making”, p. 5. Census 2016 data on reducing the number of indigenous children in care.