Indigenous Peoples – Australia Program

DTP has recently renewed its partnership with Oxfam Australia (OA) to promote and advance the realisation of Indigenous Peoples rights in Australia.

DTP’s first Indigenous peoples’ rights program with Australian Indigenous community advocates was in 1990, in Alice Springs at the request of Indigenous leaders. They wanted to build their knowledge of international human rights standards, and accountability mechanisms.

From 2004, DTP reengaged more strategically in Indigenous peoples’ rights advocacy capacity building in partnership with OA. This included support for DTP’s Asia-Pacific Regional Indigenous Peoples' programs in Australia. These programs linked Indigenous rights advocates in Australia, Asia and the Pacific.

With the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), DTP worked with Oxfam Australia, Amnesty International and Fred Hollows Foundation to develop and deliver programs in Australia with Indigenous community advocates. Programs were held in Western Australia, Victoria, Northern Territory and Queensland.

There were specific programs to prepare delegates for participation in the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), on the Right to Health and for Indigenous youth advocates.

DTP and OA are now working with our alumni to develop and implement a capacity building strategy.  In February 2023 DTP and OA, supported by the Swiss Embassy in Australia, hosted a roundtable with leaders from a number of key organisations to inform this strategy.