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Eva Valley Statement
Category:	Event
Date:	5 August 1993
Sub Category:	Statement of Commitment/Intention
Place:	Eva Valley, near Katherine
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State/Country:	Northern Territory, Australia
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Subject Matter:	Recognition of Traditional Rights and Interests \| Cultural Heritage \| Native Title
Summary Information:
In the first week of August 1993, more than four hundred Indigenous people from around Australia gathered at Eva Valley, near Katherine in the Northern Territory. The meeting was called in response to concerns about Commonwealth proposals for legislation on native title in the wake of the Mabo decision (3 June 1992). The participants insisted on a national standard of rights to be given to all Aborigines and issued the Eva Valley Statement.
Detailed Information:
The Statement insists that any proposed legislation should advance Aboriginal rights to land, and that the Government should only move on the issue with the full support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It demanded that: - the Commonwealth take full control of native title issues to the exclusion of the States and Territories to ensure a national standard for all Aboriginal peoples; - the Commonwealth honour its obligations under international human rights instruments and international law; and - the Commonwealth agree to a negotiating process to achieve a lasting settlement recognising and addressing historical truths regarding the impact of dispossession, marginalisation, destabilisation and disadvantage. The Statement set out principles under which the Commonwealth should take actions in response to the Mabo decision and nominated a representative body to put forward the Indigenous position on these matters.