Politics and Law Blog

For the past 18 years, the Wubalawun people of the Northern Territory have being fighting to gain native title rights over land in the township of Larrimah. On Wednesday the 25th of October, their claims were finally acknowledged by the Federal Court of Australia and they received rights to one square kilometre of land in the Northern territory. Native title is the recognition that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have rights to land according to their traditional law and customs as set out in the Australian Constitution. Native Title is governed by the Native Title Act which was established in 1993. The Wubalawun community have been living on an outstation outside the township of Larrimah, 500 kilometres south of Darwin. Jimmy Wavehill, who lives in Kalkarindji, assisted the Wubalawun community to lodge the official claim with the Federal Court seven years ago. After gaining rights to the land, Jimmy Wavehill stated "We help each other, we do our best, and we got our

China has recently been accused of locking up hundreds of muslims in its Western region of Xinjiang. Satellite pictures from July 12 2015 show Dabancheng, in China’s west, to be a patch of empty, untouched desert. However more recent images from 22 April 2018 of Dabancheng, show a new massive compound enclosed within a 2km exterior wall and 16 guard towers. The compound is rumoured to be just one of many camps, forming around the country. Reports began to emerge last year, many accusing China of locking up muslims without fair trial. However, the Chinese government have denied all claims, saying that people are willingly attending the ‘vocational schools’ which combat terrorism and religious extremism. Government officials are saying the camps are ‘necessary’ to prevent the spread of religious extremism in the western regions of Xinjiang. In the past, these regions have seen violent outbreaks between the Uyghur and Han Chinese populations. However, many people are confused as to why m

Today, the 10th of October is International Mental Health Day. Over the past few years, the increased awareness of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety have positively affected many people. A recent report from 2018 showed that male suicide has dropped to its lowest level in 30 years. Whilst the suicide rates for first world countries have lowered, many third world countries can’t say the same. Low income countries spend on average just 0.5% of their health budgets on mental health, according to the World Health Organisation. In Africa, Ghana has only one psychiatrist per 1.2 million people. This lack of mental health support means many people turn to ‘prayer camps’. These are camps that use ‘traditional healing methods’ to assist patients. However, these camps have been shown to use chains to restrain their residents despite government ban. Reports have also shown that patients are put in cages, believed to be possessed by Satan. This not only violates ones human right

Climate scientists in Korea have been researching new and inventive ways in which they can reduce the effect of climate change. The Korean Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have had multiple meetings and are soon to publish a report on their findings. It is scientifically proven that if carbon emissions continue at the rate they are at now, the global temperature will rise by a total of 1.5 degrees celsius by 2040. The goal of the panel was to research techniques in which they could prevent this - early drafts talked of machines that would suck carbon out of the air. Whilst many support Korea’s push to prevent the rise in global temperature, others are questioning the realism of their ideas. These machines would cost money and time that could be spent looking into more effective and realistic ideas. However, Korea is not the only country looking to be more sustainable and prevent climate change. Sweden has focused on ensuring all citizens are doing their part to take care of