Economic slump no excuse to erode rights-Amnesty

CANBERRA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The global economic crisis must not be used as an excuse to unwind human rights for the millions of people now thrown back into poverty, Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan said on Thursday.

Poverty was linked closely to human rights abuses, particularly discrimination against minorities, indigenous people and women, with the economic downturn and food shortages now merging into a potent threat, the global rights group head said.

"What you have is quite a dangerous combination of issues coming up. More than 100 million are back into poverty again," Khan told Reuters in an interview.

A key concern was the plight of migrant workers losing their jobs, and the subsequent fall in pay remittances sent back to their home countries, Khan said, which has had a knock-on effect in spreading poverty.

Amnesty, she said, had major concerns about human rights in China, where civil and political rights were still repressed. Beijing's economic rise was not dependant on continued human rights curbs, she said.

"We're arguing that you need civil and political rights alongside economic development to make that development sustainable," Khan said.

Khan used her trip to Canberra to visit a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory, criticising Australia's handling of indigenous issues and border protection policies, including offshore detention of asylum seekers.

She also demanded Australia close its far-flung Indian Ocean immigration detention centre on Christmas Island, south of Indonesia, now hugely overcrowded due to a surge in asylum boat arrivals following the end of Sri Lanka's bloody civil war.

"Australia is a country that can afford to do that. This is a country which has a core value of a fair go. It needs to be fair to asylum seekers," Khan said.

"We're asking for the closure of Christmas island, we're asking for people to be processed on the mainland."

Australia has about 460,000 Aborigines, with many living in remote communities with poor access to health, housing and education, and with a life expectancy 17 years shorter than other Australians. They also suffer higher rates of unemployment, imprisonment and domestic violence.

Khan said a government intervention in the outback Northern Territory, aimed at protecting women and children from alcohol fuelled violence, had meant 45,000 Aborigines were now subject to state-sponsored racial discrimination.

She described living conditions in some communities as "very grim" and said the government must reinstate racial discrimination laws.