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Australia is ‘failing’ its indigenous women
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AUSTRALIA is failing to protect its female indigenous people from violence, which is aggravated by high levels of inequity, the United Nations said.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians rank near the bottom of every social and economic indicator, which exacerbates tension in communities of the world’s longest continuous civilization.
“They are 34 times more likely to be hospitalized as a result of domestic/family violence and up to 3.7 times more likely than other women to be victims of sexual violence,” Dubravka Simonovic, UN special rapporteur on violence against women, told a news conference in Canberra.
Simonovic, who said the figures were likely to underestimate the extent of the problem, said aboriginal women were often caught in a cycle of violence, beginning in childhood.
Indigenous children are about seven times more likely than non-indigenous children to be subjected to abuse or neglect and about 10 times more likely to be in out-of-home care, the UN said. With a troubled upbringing, a disproportionately high number of indigenous woman end up in prison, a figure exacerbated by government policies, most notably incarceration for unpaid fines.
The issue of the incarnation of indigenous women hit the headlines after the 2014 death of a women known only by her surname of Dhu after she was arrested for unpaid fines shortly after a domestic violence incident.
Despite complaining of pain, Dhu was denied adequate medical attention, a coroner in Western Australia state ruled late last year.
Critics of government policy say there is not enough funding to eradicate inequity.
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