Case study: National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families 1995–97 AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION Background and context of the inquiry The 1997 report, Bringing them home, documented an historic two-year national inquiry into one of the most serious practices of systematic human rights violations experienced in Australia, affecting Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.19 These practices were authorised by law and carried out in all Australian states and territories, under a nationally agreed policy of assimilation – a policy whereby Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples would be absorbed into the mainstream Australian community, losing their ancient cultures and their distinctive identities. Over a period of 200 years, from the start of European occupation through to approximately 1970, tens of thousands of Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities in Australia. These children were known as the “Stolen Generations”. Indigenous Australians had long seen these policies and practices of removal as one of the most fundamental wrongs done to them and as the foundation of much of the disadvantage they suffered. They were beginning to tell their stories to the broader community and to seek truth and justice. They also sought access to government records, information and assistance to try to reunite the members of separated families. In 1994, at the Going Home conference in Darwin, over 600 participants shared stories and discussed a reconciliation process for those affected by the practices. In 1995, the Australian Attorney-General requested the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) (now the Australian Human Rights Commission) to conduct an inquiry into the policies, legislation and government practices that had led to the Stolen Generations. It would be a cornerstone of the national commitment made in 1991 to a ten-year programme of national reconciliation between Indigenous and other Australians.20 The National Inquiry examined the multiple intergenerational effects of dispossession on Indigenous families. It was a means of recognition, bearing witness to the experiences of those who suffered, and initiating a process of reconciliation, healing and, ultimately, reparation with and for them. Its terms of reference included making recommendations on policy and law reform, compensation and processes to assist family reunions. It also examined contemporary government practices relating to the removal and care of Indigenous children. 19 For the report and other resources from and about the National Inquiry, see: www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/aboriginal-andtorres-strait-islander-social-justice/publications/bringing-them-home-stolen. 20 See Reconciliation Australia’s website at: www.reconciliation.org.au. Case studies | 89