Latest United Nations human index ranks Australians 2nd, Aborigines last, worldwide

AUSTRALIA No 2 ranked on UN Human Development index however Aboriginal peoples languish.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has compiled rankings of 187 countries according to their wealth, education levels and life expectancy.

Australia is ranked second in terms of the human development index and social wealth however Australia's Aboriginal peoples continue with some of the world's worst life expectancies, and the disparity between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians beggars questions of federal and state government policies which according to some United Nations committees and experts smack of overt neglect, discrimination and racism.

Earlier this year United Nations High Commissioner, Navi Pillay slammed Australia's racism towards its Aboriginal peoples, the policies that have led to overt government authority into the lives of the Northern Territory's Aboriginal peoples, and the maltreatment and indefinite detention of Asylum Seekers. Mrs Pillay, a South African, commented that Australia's racism smacked similar to that of Apartheid South Africa.

This year, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the United Nations Periodic Review have both forewarned Australia of the need to improve relations with Aboriginal peoples, to allow for self-determination and to remove discriminatory policies from practice. They argue that not enough is being done to reduce the disparity between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. Subsequent Amnesty and internal government agency reports have produced distinctively similar lament.

According to the United Nations Development Program human development index,* released in Copenhagen, November 2, Australia is the second best country in our world, after Norway, for getting rich, for learning and for health. Australians were rated first in non-income related measures such as life expectancy even though Aboriginal Australians live much less than the rest. Australians rated highest in terms of mortality rate of women giving birth and in terms of Australian's general satisfaction with life however for non-Aboriginal Australians this is not the case. When it comes to statistics and medians, Australia's Aboriginal population, less than 3% of the total Australian population is subsumed by the 97% and clearly indicts a negligence of Aboriginal peoples that for Australian governments are now hard to explain away.

The international index rated Norway at the top, followed by Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States, and then New Zealand at fifth. 187th was the Congo. Many of the nations ranked between 80th to 120th have better life expectancies for their peoples than do Australia's Aboriginal peoples.

*Takes a while to download because it's 5.6 MB

Gerry Georgatos - Human Rights Alliance - 0430 657 309 - gerry_georgatos@yahoo.com.au