A UN committee has found the Australian and WA governments potentially breached racial discrimination conventions, over the handling of Aboriginal cultural heritage issues.

A complaint was lodged in August 2021, under the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. About a year after Rio Tinto destroyed the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara.

The Committee wrote to Australia’s UN Representative in late April, citing the government’s failure to protect  the cultural heritage of Indigenous peoples, lack of consultation with traditional owners throughout the process, and weak existing legislation.

Image: Image: Supplied/ Ngaarda Media

Produced By: Asad Khan

Featured In Story: Clayton Lewis – Nanda Widi man & Co-Founder of the Aboriginal Heritage Action Alliance

First aired on The Wire, Monday 3 June 2024