{"id":60238,"date":"2025-07-12T18:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T18:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/60238\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T18:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T18:36:11","slug":"police-shooting-of-kumanjayi-walker-shows-australia-needs-comprehensive-reform-un-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/60238\/","title":{"rendered":"Police shooting of Kumanjayi Walker shows Australia needs ‘comprehensive reform’, UN says"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United Nations says Australia is facing a period of “soul-searching” and needs “comprehensive reforms” following the release of long-awaited findings from the inquest into the fatal police shooting of Indigenous man Kumanjayi Walker.<\/p>\n

Note: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the names of Indigenous people who have died, used with the permission of their families.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Walker, 19, was shot dead by then-police officer Zachary Rolfe during an attempted arrest in the remote outback town of Yuendumu, in central Australia, in November 2019.<\/p>\n

Mr Rolfe was acquitted of murder, manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death by an NT Supreme Court jury in Darwin in 2022.<\/p>\n

He argued he fired the shots in self-defence after Mr Walker stabbed him in the shoulder with a pair of scissors.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kumanjayi Walker was fatally shot by Constable Rolfe in Yuendumu in 2019. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

UN rights chief Volker Turk said the Northern Territory coroner’s inquiry into Mr Walker’s death “uncovers disturbing allegations of institutional racism in Northern Territory policing and use of excessive force”.<\/p>\n

“Findings by coroner reinforce urgent need for comprehensive reforms to address injustice suffered by First Nations peoples,” Mr Turk said on X.<\/p>\n

The findings were delivered on Monday, more than five years after the shooting, and after a nearly three-year inquiry.<\/p>\n

NT coroner Elisabeth Armitage found Mr Rolfe “was racist”, and that the then-police officer worked in an organisation with the hallmarks of “institutional racism”, warning that there was a “significant risk” that Mr Rolfe’s racism and other attitudes affected his response “in a way that increased the likelihood of a fatal outcome”.<\/p>\n

Yuendumu calls for change after coronial findings <\/a><\/p>\n

Kumanjayi Walker’s family has welcomed the Northern Territory coroner’s findings after six years of waiting for answers, but say the fight for justice isn’t over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She found that she could not definitively rule that Mr Rolfe’s racist attitudes contributed to Mr Walker’s death, however she also said it could not be ruled out.<\/p>\n

“That I cannot exclude that possibility is a tragedy for Kumanjayi’s family and community, who will always believe that racism played an integral part in Kumanjayi’s death; and it is a taint that may stain the NT Police,” she said.<\/p>\n

Mr Rolfe was dismissed from the police force a year after his trial concluded for penning an open letter criticising the coronial process and upper echelons of the NT Police Force.<\/p>\n

He rejected the coroner’s findings around racism and misconduct while on duty and is considering appealing the findings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The NT coroner found that racism was “embedded into the decisions” made by Zachary Rolfe on the night Kumanjayi Walker was killed. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

Mr Walker is one of 598 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have died in custody in Australia since 1991, when detailed records began.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Mr Turk’s spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, said she expected the inquiry to “lead to quite a bit of soul-searching by the authorities to take measures”.<\/p>\n

Australian authorities should evaluate whether “further independent oversight” was needed, she said, also calling for “awareness-raising among police officers of the dangers of profiling, the dangers of unconscious bias”.<\/p>\n

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