Indigenous translation of UN Declaration of Human Rights »

ANU Researcher Dr Sarah Holcombe has translated the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights into the central-Australian language of Pintupi-Luritja. Image: Stuart Hay, ANU. Many were surprised at the fact that Aboriginal people are equal to all other people, because the fact is that is not the way they are treated. A researcher at The Australian National University (ANU) has translated the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) into the central-Australian language of Pintupi-Luritja, making it the first time the world's most translated document has been made available in an Aboriginal language. The translation of the document's 30 articles and preamble took more than two years and involved working closely with Pintupi-Luritja translators and stakeholder groups. Project Leader and social anthropologist Dr Sarah Holcombe said the process of translating the document was revealing. "Very few Anangu people (Pintupi-Luritja speakers) had heard of universal human rights," Dr Holcombe said.