MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
On United Nations International Day in Support of Torture Victims, I am pleased to announce new measures as part of Australia's ongoing support for the victims of human rights abuses.
The Australian Government will contribute $100,000 to the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture to support projects that provide medical, psychological and social counselling services to the victims of torture as well as to their families. The Voluntary Fund also provides financial support for legal actions against the perpetrators of torture.
Since its inception in 1982 the Voluntary Fund has benefited about 59,000 victims of torture.
The Australian Government will also provide up to $200,000 to the Australian Red Cross to help promote awareness of the provisions of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), otherwise known as the 'rules of war'.
Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols of 1977, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has a specific mandate for promoting compliance with international humanitarian law, and taking measures to ensure that combatants are aware of their obligations.
The dramatically changed nature of armed conflicts in recent years has seen an increasingly blurred distinction between military and civilian targets. An estimated 90 per cent of the casualties in contemporary conflicts are civilian.
The Australian Red Cross will use the funding to deploy IHL Dissemination delegates to support the emergency activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross in conflict zones around the globe. They will work alongside relief staff to maintain contact with parties to the conflict, including armed forces, civilian police, prison administrations and elements of civil society, in order to promote observance of international humanitarian law.
Our support for the Voluntary Fund and the international humanitarian law dissemination program is consistent with the Australian Government's strong commitment to the protection and promotion of universally recognised human rights.
Media contacts:
Innes Willox (Minister's Office) (02) 6277 7500 / 0411 414 695 Matt Francis (AusAID) (02) 6206 4967 / 0417 683 126