UN Torture Committee Blasts Australia

HRMU at Goulburn, inmates can be kept in inhumane conditions for an indefinite period. Last year, the NSW Coroner was also highly critical that mentally-ill people are placed in isolation in the supermax prison,” Mr Murphy said. (Get Image)

Last night in Geneva, the United Nations Committee against Torture called for a review of Australia's supermax prisons, the abolition of mandatory immigration detention and for a referendum on a federal Bill of Rights. The NSW Council for Civil Liberties (CCL) endorses all of these calls.

In its report on Australia, the Torture Committee was critical of Australia's prisons, counter-terrorism laws, mandatory immigration detention and of the way Australian officials have ignored torture and mistreatment overseas in places like Abu Ghraib.

The Torture Committee expressed concern about conditions in Australian prisons, especially the so-called supermaximum prisons like the notorious HRMU 'Supermax' at Goulburn gaol.

“The UN is right to be concerned about the state of Australia's prisons. You are 11-times more likely to be in prison if you are indigenous. The incarceration of the mentally-ill continues to increase. Juveniles and adults are not necessarily being kept apart in NSW prisons. Our remand facilities are overcrowded,” Mr Murphy said.

“CCL joins the Torture Committee in calling for a complete review of the regime imposed on detainees in supermax prisons. In the HRMU at Goulburn, inmates can be kept in inhumane conditions for an indefinite period. Last year, the NSW Coroner was also highly critical that mentally-ill people are placed in isolation in the supermax prison,” Mr Murphy said.

"The Torture Committee wants an update in 12 months on the conclusions of the review into the supermax prisons. CCL calls on the NSW and Victorian governments to cooperate with the federal government when it conducts an open and independent inquiry into conditions in Australia's Supermax prisons at Goulburn and Barwon," Mr Murphy said.

"If there's nothing wrong with these prisons, then the States have nothing to fear from any federal inquiry," Mr Murphy said.

The Torture Committee also called for the abolition of mandatory immigration detention.

"CCL supports the call for the abolition of mandatory immigration detention. It is okay to hold people for a short time to determine their identity and health status, however it is completely unacceptable to lock people up for extended periods of time when they have committed no crime", Mr Murphy said.

"Australia should implement the recommendations of the Torture Committee and end the inhumane policy of mandatory immigration detention," Mr Murphy said.

The Committee against Torture expressed concern about Australia's counter-terrorism laws. The Committee was also concerned that Australians knew about what was happening in Abu Ghraib, but did not act to stop the mistreatment. In a thinly disguised reference to the cases of Mamdouh Habib and David Hicks, the Committee expressed concern that Australia has failed to investigate claims of torture.

"Australia needs to overhaul all the draconian terrorism legislation introduced since September 2001," Mr Murphy said.

"Australia also needs to investigate the very serious claims of torture made by Mamdouh Habib and David Hicks," Mr Murphy said.

"It is unacceptable that Australia keeps asking the torturers to investigate complaints of torture. That's like asking the wolves to investigate why the sheep went missing," Mr Murphy said.

"Australia should not have asked the US or Egypt to investigate whether they had tortured Mr Habib. Only a full Royal Commission can get to the bottom of all this," Mr Murphy said.

"The Australian government should be compensating victims of torture. Not fighting them every step in the courts. The Australian government should read the UN Torture Committee's report very carefully," Mr Murphy said.

The Torture Committee also called on the federal government to adopt a constitutional Bill of Rights protecting human rights in Australia.

"CCL has long advocated for a constitutional Bill of Rights to protect the most vulnerable in our society. This is the upteenth time the UN has called for Australia to enshrine a Bill of Rights", Mr Murphy said.

"We welcome federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland's announcement that he will consult on how best to protect rights in Australia. We hope that the Rudd government will be true to its promise to listen to the UN and will hold a referendum to enshrine a Bill of Rights in Australia. Australians deserve that opportunity to vote for a Bill of Rights to protect us all," Mr Murphy said.

The Torture Committee welcomed Australia's announcement that it will ratify the Optional Protocol to the Torture Convention. The Optional Protocol will allow the UN and independent Australian bodies to do spot checks of places of detention like prisons and immigration detention centres.

“CCL welcomes the Rudd government's announcement that it will ratify the Optional Protocol to the Torture Convention. Federal parliament needs to move quickly to adopt the Optional Protocol into Australian law and implement the Torture Committee's recommendations”, Mr Murphy said.

For more information contact: Cameron Murphy, NSWCCL President, 0411-769-769

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Food crisis to cause malnutrition: UN

Global food shortages and higher prices are more likely to cause malnutrition than outright famine, at least in the near term, the coordinator of a new United Nations task force said.

John Holmes, who also serves as the UN's top humanitarian aid official, said it was too early to estimate how much extra money will be needed to confront crises stemming from increasingly unaffordable food staples in poor countries.

"People, particularly those on the lowest incomes, will be eating less and less well," he told a news conference in Geneva, where much of the UN's emergency aid operations are managed.

"I don't think that in the very short term we are talking about starvation and famine," Holmes said.

Protests, strikes and riots have erupted in developing countries around the world in the wake of dramatic rises in the prices of wheat, rice, corn, oils and other essential foods that have made it difficult for poor people to make ends meet.

"It is not possible as yet to put a figure on what the immediate humanitarian needs may be for the forthcoming year," Holmes said. "We need to put those funding needs together."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Tuesday that he was launching a task force to ensure a solid, coordinated international response to the food crisis.

Holmes said that group was likely to include the heads of key agencies.

The task force will work to draft a strategy on both short- and long-term responses to food supply strains, which economists have linked to factors including high fuel and fertiliser costs, the use of crops for biofuels, and commodity market speculation.

Holmes called on donor governments to provide extra money in response to the crisis that has touched countries from Peru to Indonesia, Afghanistan and Senegal, and squeezed the World Food Program's efforts to feed millions of people.

Young children, who can face life-long health problems from malnourishment, as well as pregnant and nursing mothers, are among the most vulnerable groups in developing countries, where food crises also stand to trigger political unrest.

"The challenges here are likely to be of sufficient dimension that we will be asking for additional contributions," Holmes said, noting that the UN's pot of rainy-day cash - known as the Central Emergency Response Fund, or CERF - had already disbursed money for various food-related crises.

"CERF is available for precisely these types of situations," he said. "Will CERF be big enough to respond to those needs? That is a question I cannot answer yet."

Report: Freedom, Respect, Equality, Dignity: Action

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The Report, entitled Freedom, Respect, Equality, Dignity: Action is available at the Human Rights Law Resource Centre’s website and, was jointly prepared by the National Association of Community Legal Centres, the Human Rights Law Resource Centre and Kingsford Legal Centre. A further 30 NGOs with specific human rights and subject matter expertise made substantial contributions to the Report. The Report is supported, in whole or in part, by over 100 NGOs.

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Taser trial extended in Qld

The Queensland Government is widening its trial of Tasers or stun guns in the state.

Dutton Park officers in Brisbane's inner-city will be armed with Tasers for three months as part of an ongoing assessment of the weapons suitability for general use in the Queensland Police Service.

Police Minister Judy Spence says until now the trial has been in three regions and Tasers have only been issued to officers with higher ranks such as senior sergeants and inspectors.

"So by giving them to first response officers of all ranks we will get a lot more information the circumstances of them being used," she said.

"[The trial will show] whether the training has been adequate and whether the reporting arrangements are satisfactory."

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Stunning haste on equipment

March 14, 2008

CRIMINAL defence lawyers hold growing fears about the indecent haste in the Queensland Government's decision to issue Taser stun guns to all front-line police.

Police use of Tasers has become an almost daily news event in Queensland since a trial of the weapon began in July last year.

Barely six months into the trial, after police and youths clashed at boozy Australia Day events on the Gold and Sunshine coasts, Police Minister Judy Spence suddenly announced that the trial was a success and Tasers would be issued to all front-line police in July.

The apparent impulse decision to satisfy demands for the weapon by the Queensland Police Union was just the start of fears about the use of Electro Muscular Disruption Devices, better known as Tasers, which deliver a paralysing 50,000-volt punch.

The electrical jolt from the barbed electrodes causes involuntary muscle contractions and immobilises the targeted person..

Queensland's rushed decision seemed to ignore growing international evidence that Tasers are dangerous, are regarded by the United Nations as a torture weapon and have caused deaths overseas. Amnesty International says 300 people have died around the world after being zapped with a Taser and wants the weapon's use to be suspended pending an investigation.

Last month Queensland's police watchdog, the Crime and Misconduct Commission, warned that the stun guns cause "considerable" and "acute" pain. It also acknowledged overseas research indicating an over-reliance on the use of Tasers by police as well as its links to more than 150 deaths in the US.

Our State Government has effectively ignored calls for reassurances that proper training and safeguards on Taser use would be imposed. This comes after a police admission that they were investigating a complaint alleging a police officer had repeatedly used a Taser on a handcuffed man in the Cleveland watchhouse to stop him from swearing.

The Queensland Government and police have ignored criticism of the weapon and instead push the image that the Taser is totally safe.

Worrying questions linger. We still don't know how thoroughly the police will be trained in the use of Tasers. Nor do we know what are the restrictions on use, if any, and who is monitoring their use to make sure the use of Tasers is not abused.

There is a real risk Queensland police will become "Taser-happy".

The Cleveland complaint, if it is proved, raises serious questions about police attitudes towards the use of Tasers. Even one instance of a police officer unnecessarily using a Taser should be enough warning to the police and State Government that they should pause and rethink the decision to issue them to all front-line staff

Also worrying about the Cleveland incident is that it suggests use of a Taser for all the wrong reasons. Unless there are strong controls, there is a risk some police might regard their use at the same level as using handcuffs.

The United Nations Convention Against Torture committee recently linked the use of Tasers to torture. The UN committee was reported as saying the use of the weapons causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture, and studies showed the Taser was dangerous and can cause death.

We don't need them here and the State Government should review its decision to issue them.

At the very least it should halt their issue until all complaints are thoroughly investigated and police are thoroughly trained in the use of the weapon.

Tim Meehan is a criminal defence lawyer and chief executive officer of Brisbane-based law firm Ryan and Bosscher Lawyers.