The congress' director, Errol Wyles, says Indigenous youth are being targeted in racially motivated hit and run attacks and he has likened the situation to genocide.
"Our kids are being killed on the streets, our families are crying out for help, we're not getting any help from the government and people are getting away with all these injustices," he said.
The congress has declared Townsville racist.
But Mayor Tony Mooney says the claims are outlandish and untrue. "I thought it was April Fools Day when I read those comments, they're just laughable and we are not a racist city," he said.
The National Indigenous Human Rights Congress will hold a rally in Townsville next month.
By John Howard 27 August 04
Related:
"MESSAGE STICK" NEWSLETTER:
"Message Stick": the newsletter of Senator Aden Ridgeway, Australian Democrats Senator for NSW.
AMA calls for extra health funding for Aborigines
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is asking for an extra $450 million a year to be spent on the health needs of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders.
Whitewash over Hickey's death
The New South Wales coroner has cleared police of any responsibility for the death of Aboriginal teenager Thomas 'TJ' Hickey.
Governments urged to change race hate laws
The Ethnic Communities Council of Australia is calling on the state and federal governments to amend racial vilification laws in response to a reported race hate campaign at Newcastle University.
Prisoner's right to vote attacked again!
Prisoner's right to vote attacked again! Tell Labor not to support the bill!
Labor to request Senate inquiry into ATSIC's future
The Federal Opposition has announced it will call for a Senate inquiry into the Government's plan to abolish the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).
Forum on refugee and indigenous human rights
The long-term mandatory detention of asylum seekers not only breaches multiple UN treaties to which Australia is a signatory, it goes against the principals of any decent and humane society.
The Young Man From Kamilaroi
On Monday, 5 July 2004, the Hickey Family and their supporters will come together in the Glebe Coroners Court with the Redfern Police, the same police, specifically unknown at this time, who pursued the Young Man to his death by impalement.
Reconciliation dreaming
Djerrkura had witnessed the collapse of ATSIC, which he led from 1996 to 1999, with sadness. Despite the peak indigenous organisation's flaws, which he did not deny, its abolition, he said, had been done in "the classic imperial fashion, without negotiation, without understanding and with little empathy". He noted that as early as December 2001 he had called on his successor Geoff Clark to resign for the good of the organisation. But he reserved his harshest words for John Howard.
Amnesty sees lack of progress on reconciliation
Amnesty International says the Federal Government must be held accountable for its commitments to Indigenous services.
The bone has been pointed at Howard
A Queensland Indigenous leader says an ancient Aboriginal curse placed on Prime Minister John Howard is no laughing matter and could even have deadly consequences.
Australian Govt human rights record 'worsening'
Community groups have given the Federal Government five out of ten for its record on human rights this year. Mr Purcell said the Government was also marked down because of the policy of holding children in immigration detention centres.
