Australia's shame received full glare as an international conference of education unions condemned the Federal Government’s unprecedented incursion into Aboriginal communities.

The fifth world congress of Education International in Berlin - a global gathering of 2000 educators from 160 countries - passed an emergency resolution submitted by Australia's education unions.

It was made in response to the Government's recent deployment of the army and federal police to seize control of 64 remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

It branded the Government's cynical move as a basic infringement of human rights, exploiting the serious issue of child abuse to further marginalise Indigenous people and undermine Aboriginal land rights.

The resolution was just one more illustration of Australia's increasingly tarnished reputation overseas. The Howard Government's actions in the Territory - and the years of neglect that led to the current crisis - have attracted global headlines, asking how one of the world's richest nations can leave its oldest inhabitants living in third-world conditions.

Australia's treatment of refugees and failure to act on the environment have also left its allies abroad shaking their heads.

The EI resolution acknowledged the seriousness of the issue of child abuse, but affirmed it as not unique to Indigenous culture.

And it singled out for condemnation the fact that more than 5000 Aboriginal children in the targeted communities have no access to primary, secondary or early childhood education. The resolution called on the Australian Government to prioritise the training of Indigenous educators and to provide adequate professional support, including housing.

EI called on the Government to develop long-term solutions to the many serious issues affecting Indigenous communities.

This article originally appeared in AEU News, vol 13, issue 6, September 2007.

Read the full EI resolution.