CANBERRA, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- A coalition of 35 Australian human rights, justice and community groups have called on the government to take action on rising indigenous incarceration rates.
In an open letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion, the 35 organizations -- including Unicef and the Law Council of Australia -- demanded an immediate response to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC)'s Pathways to Justice report.
Indigenous Australians make up two percent of Australia's adult population but 27 percent of the jail population.
According to the ALRC, indigenous women were 21.2 times more likely to be in prison than other women and indigenous men 14.7 times more likely.
The report, which contained 35 recommendations to address the "persistent and growing problem" of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incarceration, was tabled in parliament six months ago but has not been acknowledged by the government.
"Unfair justice systems are failing to build the safer, stronger communities all Australians want," the letter said.
"We cannot let another generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lose their futures, their dignity and -- for some -- their lives because of inaction by Australian governments."
The ALRC report, which was commissioned by then-Attorney General (AG) George Brandis in 2016, recommended that the government establish a national justice reinvestment body and develop national justice targets.
It called for a portion of the 3.9 billion Australian dollars (2.8 billion U.S. dollars) spent on jailing indigenous Australians to instead be spent on intervention programs.
In response to previous questions about indigenous incarceration and deaths in custody, Scullion said that any death in custody was "unacceptable".
"We must do all that we can to reduce levels of offending of Indigenous Australians,"he said.
