Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak in support of the motion moved by the member for Brisbane and join with her and many other colleagues in the condemnation of Boko Haram with respect to the kidnapping of these young girls and for the ongoing acts of violence carried out in Africa's most populated nation, Nigeria. I welcome the efforts of the government in seeking to have Boko Haram listed as a terrorist organisation and, similarly, applaud the United Nations Security Council for its condemnation of the group. I also join the member in acknowledging the importance of having a major focus on the empowerment of women as part of Australia's aid program.

As other speakers have mentioned, the Arabic name 'Boko Haram' is a term which suggests 'Western education is forbidden or sinful'. This extremist group is an immediate threat to the stability, security and sovereignty of Nigeria, especially in the nation's northernmost provinces, as a result of numerous high-profile attacks on targets from mosques and churches to schools and political offices. The group has preyed on the most vulnerable amongst Nigeria's Muslim communities, including university students, the unemployed and street children, warping the teachings of the Koran to attract recruits to carry out crimes and violent acts, all in the hope that Boko Haram could create an Islamist state which upholds sharia law.

It is another unfortunate example of an extremist group giving a bad name to Islam as they manipulate the religion's messages to justify Boko Haram's indefensible and disgusting crimes that it carries out. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for countless acts of terror, resulting in thousands of deaths since the group's inception over a decade ago. This kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls is one of the most recent acts of terror they have committed. Boko Haram has also been responsible for many drive-by murders; bombings of churches and mosques of other Muslim traditions; and even a bombing of the UN headquarters in the nation's capital, Abuja.

The chair of the al-Qaeda sanction committee, Australia's UN Ambassador, Gary Quinlan, said the international body had very clear evidence that members of the Nigeria based group had trained with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. There is no doubt that what we are debating here today, and, I am hoping, uniting the parliament, is around the question of condemning a horrific act of terrorism—horrific in terms of the fact that it also actually targets the most fragile in the community.

All of us are in a situation where we look at this tragedy and wish the authorities all speed and all power to be able to rescue these kids and give them a chance to actually have a decent life. The fact that they were engaged in an education, something that we would all view as being a fundamental right of all people to have an education, that they would be targeted in this way, underlines the very heinous nature of this group and the way it operates.

When we look at poverty around the world we do know that women in particular and girls are in a situation where they often bear the brunt. That is why it is important that aid programs recognise that and look to provide support when they can.

Statistics from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade suggest: two-thirds of the 774 million illiterate adults worldwide are women; women make up just over 19 per cent of parliamentarians worldwide but only 2.3 per cent in Pacific countries; women farmers produce more than half the world's food and between 60 to 80 per cent in developing countries, but have far less access to land and resources than male farmers; and one in three women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. So ensuring that we have an aid program which takes the needs of women into account is essential and it needs to be on an ongoing basis in our program.

With respect to the circumstances around this particular tragedy, I join with all others in encouraging those who are working to catch these criminals and free these children all speed and all power. The support of the international community to the authorities in Nigeria is therefore essential. The actions of governments in providing support from across the world are part of what is required to ensure that this organisation is dealt with and dealt with professionally, efficiently and, frankly, in the way they behaved, ruthlessly.

The needs of these children are indicative of the needs of those in developing countries and the needs of women in developing countries are something that need to be— (Time expired)

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