Marlon Noble was jailed for a decade despite never being tried or convicted of any crime. He is a participant in UNFINISHED BUSINESS - a photographic essay about Australia's First Peoples with disability. Credit: Belinda Mason

Australia has been reviewed for the first time under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which Australia is a signatory. Our disability rights record was scrutinised and we came up wanting.

Last month, a non-Government delegation representing a number of disabled people's organisations and advocacy groups presented to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations in Geneva. An Australian Government delegation also attended. The Committee had the opportunity to hear presentations from both groups.

The Committee identified significant shortcomings relating to all Australians with disability. Many are outlined in the fact sheets prepared by the non-Government delegation that presented to the UN Committee.

In its concluding observations released last week, the Committee outlined its recommendations for progressing Australia's compliance with the Convention. The Committee is "concerned that not all the organisations of persons with disabilities, including those of people with psychosocial disabilities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, are provided with adequate resources for their operations."

Damian Griffis, Executive Officer of the First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) said, "The recommendations provided to the Australian Government are critical reflections of the way Australia is viewed on its human rights record by the rest of the world. When it comes to Aboriginal Australians with disability, there are some steps that must be taken immediately."

The Committee's report recommends that the government "as a matter of urgency, ends the unwarranted use of prisons for the management of un-convicted persons with disabilities, with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons with disabilities, by establishing legislative, administrative and support frameworks that comply with the Convention."

The indefinite detention of people with disability, most of whom are Aboriginal, is a persistent issue that has been prioritised by the Australian Human Rights Commission. According to the UN Committee it is a breach of these individuals' human rights.

The ABC's Lateline program reported the stories of Aboriginal men with mental illness who are detained indefinitely in prison and without conviction last year and again last month during the UN sessions.

Aunty Gayle Rankine, Chairperson of FPDN, said, "We are proud and honoured to have travelled to Geneva to participate in the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disability process. A range of issues and injustices impact on the daily lives of people with disability, particularly Australia's First Peoples with disability, who are often subjected to 'double disadvantage'."

At the time of the meetings, an important human rights photography exhibition was opened by the Director-General of the UN at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. FPDN collaborated with photographer Belinda Mason on UNFINISHED BUSINESS - a photographic essay about Australia's First Peoples with disability. The exhibition reveals the stories of 30 people with disability from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Belinda Mason said, "Each participant's story is complex and intertwined with Australia's shameful political and social history, which has resulted in the unacceptably high rates of disability in Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities. Through their involvement in the project, each participant is revealing their story and drawing much needed attention to these critical issues."

Marlon Noble, one of the participants in Mason's project, was incarcerated for ten years without conviction. He also featured in the Australian Human Rights Commission's Twenty Years: Twenty Stories film series which celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act. He is no longer in prison but he is still not free. There are strict conditions placed on him and he is constantly supervised. He tells his story in the short video Presumed Guilty.

Speaking on ABC Radio National's PM program last week, Rosemary Kayess, Chairperson of the Australian Centre for Disability Law, said, "I think [the Committee's concluding observations] gives the Australian Government something really strong to work with in identifying areas of reform, and working within reform processes that have already started.

"They provide guidance to the Government in the reform process, but they also become a mechanism for local disability organisations and advocacy organisations to work with the Government for change and to ensure that there's reform occurring in these areas."

Sara Irvine works in the disability and health sectors as a communications adviser.