Death in Custody: Justice for Mr Ward

I found this truly shocking. Mr Ward, an indigenous elder, was being transported by authorities when he died. AI writes:

Inside the metal pod, the temperature reached up to 50.4°C and the metal floor peaked at up to 56.6°C. Mr Ward died of heatstroke and suffered a serious burn from his skin touching the metal surface. His body temperature was 41.7°C when he reached Kalgoorlie Hospital. Despite the efforts of hospital staff, they were unable to revive him.

Please follow this link to write to the Attorney-General to protest. My letter is below.

Dear Attorney-General,

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a PhD student at the Australian National University. I am writing to express my utter disgust at the appalling death of Mr Ward, and to express my grave concern that the history of Indigenous deaths in custody in Australia is, evidently, still not receiving adequate attention by the Australian Government.

I call on the Commonwealth to uphold its responsibility to honour Australia's human rights obligations.

The treatment of Mr Ward breached Australia's human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which states that no-one shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and that all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and dignity; and the Convention Against Torture which obliges States to ensure that effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are in place, and that all violations are punished.

I also call on the Commonwealth to uphold its responsibility to ensure that the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody have been implemented. These include:

- addressing the economic and social factors that underpin the extreme over-representation of Indigenous people in custody;
- improving standards of continuous monitoring to ensure the health and well-being of Indigenous prisoners;
- limiting the unnecessary transportation of accused persons over long distances;
- not placing Indigenous prisoners in institutions far from their families and allowing appeal against transfer decisions; and
- ensuring that all deaths in custody are investigated on the basis that they may be homicides.

I trust that you will do all that is within your power to ensure that the human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders is upheld and that all necessary actions are taken to prevent a recurrence of this tragedy.

Sincerely yours

Ole Koksvik