Sydney (Australia), Feb 13 (EFE).- The Australian Government reported this Monday that it will allocate a million-dollar fund to improve the living conditions of the aborigines, in an announcement that coincides with the commemoration of the fifteenth anniversary of the official request for apologies for the treatment given to the native peoples of the country.
The 420 million Australian dollars (290 million US dollars or 271 million euros), will finance various programs to provide clean water, food security and housing to indigenous communities, as well as to improve their access to education and psychological treatment, in addition to to fight domestic violence.
The funds “will support organizations controlled by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to lead work in their communities,” Australian Indigenous Minister Linda Burney said in a statement.
The announcement responds to a report presented by the ministry last November, which pointed out that in the last 14 years several of the objectives to increase the living conditions of indigenous people have not been met, including promoting schooling or reducing the number of aborigines in prisons and the numbers of deaths by suicide, among others.
It also coincides with the anniversary of the public apology of February 13, 2008, when the then Labor leader Kevin Rudd apologized to Parliament for the practices given to the country’s indigenous people, including the abduction of aboriginal children to be raised by white families or institutions.
Between 1910 and 1970, this policy affected some 100,000 indigenous minors, who became known as the “stolen generation.”
The indigenous people – who represent 3.2% of the country’s population and live mostly in poverty – have been victims of constant mistreatment since the colonization of Australia.
In an attempt to reverse the scenario, the government of Labor Anthony Albanese plans to hold a referendum at the end of the year so that the aborigines have a voice in the Legislature and are recognized in the Constitution, which could “be a moment of national unity “, according to what the president said today before Parliament. EFE
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