Assignment on Human Rights in Australia

Human Rights in Australia
Human Rights in Australia
Student Name:
Institute Name:

Human Rights in Australia
Table of Contents
Task 1........................................................................................................................................3
Task 2........................................................................................................................................4
References.................................................................................................................................4

Human Rights in Australia
Task 1
As a part of the requirement for this task, I interviewed a family of my neighbours, who are
aboriginal Australians. They a huge family of 7 people. The family had three generations,
hence, the children of the family were the only ones who could speak and interact in proper
English. The parents (the second generations) were just okay while the grandparents could
not speak English at all. This lack of English speaking was reflected in their body language
and behaviour as they were always a little reserved.
The major barrier these people told they experienced was discrimination based on their
colour and community background. Because of this, it was initially difficult for the children
to find friends or for the grandparents to get something done because nobody took them
seriously.
As a result, the family started to learn English together. This made them feel safe and also
allowed them to live a slightly less discrimination prone life in Australia. They were better
able to communicate with the doctors, the police and to people in general.
These people have settled well in the modern Australian society however, the first
generations, or the grandparents sill find it a little tough to adjust to the new world, even
more at times because they cannot practice their faith and religion and the aboriginal
community in Australia is too scattered at some places. They do show certain emotional ups
and downs, but tend to manage them.
What I understood, they have best tried to accommodate the non-aboriginals by welcoming
them to house and telling them about their culture. This way they are trying to be more
accessible and approachable to people.
Conclusively, if I had to do this interview again, I would chose a set of people which is not
diversified and has only similar experiences. While I am a white Australian, I feel I still do
not know enough about my history and I would love to know more. There are several
changes in Australia in terms of social dynamics, such as education which are impacting
these communities a lot, especially in their growth.

Human Rights in Australia
Task 2
Art 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right says that “Every person, as a member of
society, has the right to social security, and to obtain, through national effort and
international cooperation, in view of the organization and resources of each State, the
satisfaction of economic, social and cultural rights , indispensable to their dignity and the
free development of their personality” (UNHCR, n.d.).
According to the article, if these rights are infringed for a young aboriginal, not only is the
person deprived of social security and allowance to live peacefully, but is also pushed to a
life of despair, even if the resources are available. This not only impacts their lives, but sends
a bad message to the entire community and the nation that the minorities are not taken care
of. This calls for immediate attention by all the spheres of the government and relevant
stakeholders. Apart from the social and cultural impacts, it also impacts the economy since
these people do not contribute and live-off only government allowances.
The protective factors which may help here are: community involvement and formation of
social bodies for protection of the rights of these people.
The barriers to this can be: poor socio-economic policies or bias towards a community.
References
UNHCR. (n.d.). Universal Declaration of Human Rights . Retrieved from https://dudh.es/22/