Call for independent monitor on custody

Issue 

Call for independent monitor on custody

The National Committee to Defend Black Rights has called for two strategies dealing with black deaths in custody to be immediately implemented by the government.

NCDBR wants full and immediate funding for a national counselling conference of families of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody victims. It also wants an independent national monitoring and advisory body on prevention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody.

NCDBR spokesperson Desmond Walsh said that more than 70 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had died in custody since 1989. Despite the royal commission recommendation that imprisonment be a last resort, imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has increased in NSW by 80%.

No counselling services for grieving relatives have been established despite a government allocation of $1.98 million for this purpose.

"The 399 recommendations of the royal commission have been largely accepted by state and federal governments, but the problems have become worse. We see no alternative to the establishment of a properly funded, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-controlled body, which is independent of governments, to monitor and advise on the implementation of the recommendations. No such body exists at present", said Walsh.

Amnesty International's report Australia — a criminal justice system weighted against Aboriginal people notes that Australia's "criminal justice system functions in such a way as to make Australia's Aboriginal people a group that is distinctly vulnerable to highly disproportionate levels of incarceration and to the violation of their right 'to be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person'".

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