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Aborigines
present
petition to
UN
UNITED NATIONS,
Friday (AAP-Reuter).
— Four Australian
Aborigines wearing red
headbands presented
petitions today to the
UN's deputy Director
of Human Rights, Mr
Edward Lawson, ac
cusing the Australian
Government of "Geno
cide".
The three men and one
woman spent more than an
hour with Mr Lawson ex
plaining demands in their
petition, including compen
sation for land rights.
The leader ' of the dele
gation, Mr Jack Davis, of
Perth, said the headbands
symbolised the blood of
Aborigines killed in the
colonisation and develop
ment of Australia by
settlers.
The four are members
of the Aborigine Advance
ment League of Australia.
The petitions, including
one written in an Abori
ginal dialect, accused the
Australian Government of
systematically exterminat
ing Aborigines.
They demanded $6,000
million in compensation for
Aboriginal land confiscated
by the Government.
Mr Lawson informed the
group that the documents
would be sent to the UN
Commission on Human
Rights but the United Na
tions could take no action
or investigation at the re
quest of individuals.
The text of the petition
presented in dialect is trans
lated as follows:
"We talk like this for our
people in Australia; we ask
you to think and understand
us; we see our men dying;
we see our women dying;
we see our babies and our
children dying; we talk to
you in God's name.
"The white man has raped
our land; the white man has
given us so little In return;
the white man has darkened
our sun, our moon and
stars; we are nothing in our
own land; we cry amid the
ashes of our fathers".
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