Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move the motion as amended in the terms circulated to honourable members:

That the House:

(1)

notes that Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National League for Democracy in Burma:

(a)

remains under house arrest and incommunicado;

(b)

has been in prison or under house arrest for 11 of the past 17 years; and

(c)

is only one of over 1,100 political prisoners in Burma;

(2)

calls on the State Peace and Development Council of Burma to:

(a)

allow its citizens to peacefully exercise their rights to freedom of association and assembly; and

(b)

immediately and unconditionally release all people who have been arrested for the peaceful exercise of these rights;

(3)

notes that on 12 January 2007, nine out of fifteen countries in the UN Security Council voted in support of a non-punitive resolution on Burma and in debate on the resolution all Council members registered their concern about the situation there; and

(4)

expresses its concern regarding the 500,000 displaced people in Burma and the further 150,000 displaced people on the Thai border in refugee camps.

In 1998 Ko Thet Win Aung, a prisoner of conscience, was imprisoned in Burma for organising peaceful small-scale student demonstrations calling for the release of political prisoners and improvements to education. He was tortured during his imprisonment and suffered from malaria. He protested against the poor diet and medical treatment of prisoners by going on a hunger strike in 2002. By 2005 he was reported to have been unable to walk assisted. On 16 October last year, Ko Thet Win Aung, aged 34, died in prison.

This is just one individual case of human rights abuse. At least six deaths in custody have been reported since January 2005 in which individuals in pre-trial detention and prisons are suspected to have died as a result of either a lack of adequate medical attention, torture or ill-treatment. In all cases the bodies have been promptly cremated, preventing any autopsy or analysis of physical evidence.

There are countless cases of political oppression, torture and other human rights abuses in Burma under the current regime. Over 1,100 political prisoners languish in Burmese prisons for no reason other than simply expressing their political views. The most high-profile political prisoner in Burma is Aung San Suu Kyi. She was democratically elected as Prime Minister in 1990 but has never assumed that office as the results of that election were nullified and the military has refused to hand over power. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She has now been held in detention for 11 of the past 17 years and Burma’s military regime has not indicated any likelihood of her release.

This is an appalling state of affairs. When we speak of Aung San Suu Kyi and the many other political prisoners in Burma we are reminded of how precious those basic tenets of freedom and democracy are. We are lucky enough to be able to take these things for granted here in Australia.

When I represented Australia at the United Nations General Assembly in September last year—along with the member for Denison, who is here in the chamber and shares my strong concerns on this issue—I had the opportunity to represent the Minister for Foreign Affairs at a forum on Burma chaired by the US first lady, Laura Bush. This forum focused on what pressure could be placed on the Burmese regime and was attended by non-government organisations and diplomatic representatives from Singapore, Thailand, Japan, the Philippines and Canada. It highlighted the plight of two million displaced Burmese.

We spoke about the aggression of the military, which has been responsible for significant human rights abuses, particularly in the treatment of women. There have been 625 documented cases of sexual assault of women and children. One hundred and twenty-five were raped by officers, often in front of troops and sometimes involving gang rape. Twenty-one cases resulted in death. Thirty per cent of victims were under 18 and the youngest was eight years old.

Governments of the world are aware of the urgent need for democratic political reform in Burma. Only last month, on 12 January 2007, nine of the 15 countries in the UN Security Council voted in support of a non-punitive resolution on Burma, while all members of the council registered their concern during the debate about the situation in Burma.

The government has repeatedly called for the Burmese regime to commit itself to a genuine process of democratic political reform and to adhere to international human rights standards. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Downer, spoke to the Burmese foreign minister in Kuala Lumpur on 26 July last year about Australia’s concerns. Our embassy in Rangoon continues to take every opportunity to encourage reform and to exert strong pressure for the release of all political prisoners.

Australia has a longstanding program providing food and shelter and health support to a large number of Burmese refugees in the Thai-Burma border camps. The government is spending $703,000 on this program for the year and a further $500,000 is being spent to provide education to children in those camps. In Burma proper we are providing $11.3 million in humanitarian assistance, particularly in health services.

We must continue to put pressure on Burma’s regime to change. We cannot rest until significant changes have come to pass in Burma. We must continue to bring our strongest pressure to bear on the Burmese regime to address the ongoing abuse of the legal system to silence peaceful dissent and debate and to prosecute people who have reported allegations of human rights violations. The government of Burma has had every opportunity to embrace change, however small. As per the motion, I call on the UN Security Council to continue to scrutinise closely the concerning human rights record of the Burmese government. (Time expired)

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