The Committee to Defend Black Rights has launched a letter-
writing campaign to press the federal and state governments to
change conditions and practices leading to deaths of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people in police custody.
The committee suggests letters to the prime minister should
include the following information and proposals:
* Establishment of an independent national body with the status
of a royal commission to monitor and investigate future
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deaths in custody.
* A government-funded national meeting to examine recommendations
from the final report of the royal commission into black deaths
in custody. CDBR, an organisation of families of people who have
died in custody, has been the major source of primary information
for the royal commission. CDBR's suggestions from its 1987
National Family Conference form the bulk of the recommendations
in the commission's earlier interim report. It is essential that
family members have an opportunity to assess the recommendations
in the final report, both to gauge their effectiveness and to
prepare communities to monitor their implementation.
* Establishment of an independent body to monitor and advise on
implementation of the interim report recommendations and any
progressive recommendations of the final report. As a national,
incorporated body of families of those most directly concerned,
CDBR believes it should be funded and recognised as the national
body to monitor implementation.
Letters should be sent to: The Hon. R.J. Hawke, Prime Minister,
with copies to The Hon. J. Hewson, leader of the opposition, and
The Hon. J. Powell, parliamentary leader Australian Democrats.
Address: Parliament House, Canberra, 2600.
The committee also suggests writing to state parliamentary
leaders.
The national Committee to Defend Black Rights may be contacted at
PO Box 498, Broadway NSW 2007. Phone: (02) 698 9166, fax: (02)
698 9826.
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Reprinted from Green Left, weekly progressive newspaper. May
be reproduced with acknowledgment but without charge by
movement publications and organisations.