The Australian Government will provide economic reparation to indigenous children who have been separated from their families since the 1990s. This is an aid of $75,000 for each of the victims, to which an additional $7,000 will be allocated for reparation. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the measure in a statement released on Thursday. The aid is part of the “Closing the Void” fund of $380 million to help citizens who are part of the so-called “stolen generation”.

In the early 1900s, the Australian Government launched policies for the integration of indigenous children - the Aboriginal and the inhabitants of the Torres Strait - into Western culture. According to the Al Jazeera medium, the children "received the children from their homes and applied them to white foster families, according to the official assimilation policy that followed in the 1970s". In total, 100,000 children were distributed to their families. The economic repairs that have been approved will be aimed at victims who are now over 18 years old and still alive.

Prime Minister Morrison stressed the importance of the decision at a parliamentary hearing on Thursday: “This is a long-awaited measure that establishes a link between healing, dignity and ‘Stolen Generation’ and the health and well-being of their families.” The president, who has recalled one of the hardest chapters in the country ' s history, has asked for forgiveness on behalf of the Government by adding that they will assume their responsibility.

The indigenous community has also been satisfied with the measure. However, they have stressed that much remains to be done to achieve the objective of consultation. Fiona Cornforth, president of the Healing Foundation Association for the stolen generations, said: “It’s something, but it’s not all. It will not bring that final step, that of a healed nation.” However, Conrnforth has said that it is a "great step" and that he still has "hope" that a solution to the conflict will be achieved. In short, “the basis of redress is the acceptance of past mistakes”.

Complaint against the Government

Some 800 people in the Northern Territory of Australia filed a collective complaint against the Government in April, according to the NGO. They were victims of assimilation policies between 1910 and 1970, and called for their reparation to the Supreme Court of New South Wales for the treatment they had received. The measure, taken on Thursday, has arrived three months later, according to the local newspaper DW Radio Euskadi.

Situation of indigenous people

In addition to reparation measures, the Australian Government wants to invest one billion Australian dollars in measures to improve the quality of life of the country ' s indigenous people. According to Reuters, after the government has "failed" in many of the policies implemented, they intend to establish new policies that improve life expectancy and the quality of education of this group. Currently, 700,000 indigenous citizens residing in Australia are part of the population of lower economic and social levels.