Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

  (a)    the Syrian conflict which began in March 2011 has:

        (i) developed into one of the worst humanitarian disasters of our time; and

        (ii) caused widespread damage to infrastructure across Syria, with basic necessities such as food, water and medical care difficult or impossible to access;

  (b)   serious human rights violations remain a common occurrence in Syria;

  (c)   it is estimated that more than 190,000 people have lost their lives in the Syrian conflict so far;

  (d)   in the three and a half years since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, more than 3.5 million refugees have fled their homes and crossed into neighbouring countries, while the United Nations estimates a further 6.5 million are displaced within Syria itself, representing an increase of 2 million in just six months;

  (e)   hosting the Syrian refugees has put enormous pressure on the infrastructure, services, utilities and local populations of the host countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, with Syrian refugees in Lebanon now constituting approximately one-third of the population, and unemployment among poor Lebanese rising significantly;

  (f)   the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has encouraged the international community to share the burden of supporting Syrian refugees, having a target for resettlement of 130,000 by the end of 2016, but has received a minimal response to date with less than 2 per cent of the registered refugee population having secured a resettlement place;

  (g)   while the regional response to the crisis should be commended, the global response has been relatively weak;

  (h)   the United Nations issued its largest appeal in relation to a single crisis in December 2013, stating that $6.5 billion was vital to adequately support Syrians inside and outside of the conflict-ravaged nation, but to date the appeal has only raised 62 per cent of that target; and

  (i)   in December 2014 the United Nations World Food Programme announced that it was suspending its food aid program for Syrian refugees for lack of funding, leaving 1.7 million refugees to go hungry during winter, and has called for US$64 million in immediate assistance to allow the recommencement of this essential aid; and

(2)   calls on the Australian Government to:

  (a)   reconsider the level of Australia’s existing humanitarian support and funding to assist those affected by the Syrian crisis with a view to making a significantly larger contribution;

  (b)   offer direct support to neighbouring countries, including through funding and arrangements to receive additional refugees in Australia by expanding the existing quota of asylum seekers and focusing resettlement on those Syrian refugees recommended by the UNHCR on the basis of vulnerability; and

  (c)   take an active role in all relevant multilateral fora in calling for a more substantial and better coordinated global response, including a ‘fair share’ approach to the resettlement of refugees.

It was just over a year ago that I participated in a UNICEF parliamentary delegation, together with the shadow minister for foreign affairs, Tanya Plibersek, and Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, to observe the plight of the Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon and the challenges faced by the host countries.

We saw firsthand the horror still on the faces of the refugees at what they had experienced, the fear for others left behind, the loss of their homes and everything they owned, the loss of pride and dignity that comes with poverty and dependence on assistance, and the anxiety about their future, especially for the children. We also saw the enormous pressures placed on local Jordanian and Lebanese communities by hosting so many refugees—pressures on the economy, on health and education services and utilities, on housing and employment and on the social and political fabric of their societies. Despite their concerns about the sustainability of the situation, these countries continue to accept refugees in true humanitarian spirit.

Since March 2011, the humanitarian crisis in Syria, horrific from the outset, has consistently deteriorated and there is no end in sight. More than 200,000 people have been killed, including 10,000 children. The life expectancy of Syrians has dropped by 13 years since the crisis began and the Syrian economy has shrunk by as much as 40 per cent. The humanitarian situation is being exacerbated by the destruction of infrastructure and the lack of access to basic necessities. Hospitals have been destroyed by airstrikes and schools have been levelled or else militarised by combatants. Civilians are sometimes bombed while they wait in line for bread, and attacks have sought the deliberate interruption of water and food supplies. Malnutrition, starvation, and death have followed.

The Syrian conflict is characterised by the widespread violation of international human rights. Enforced disappearances, unlawful detention and the torture and murder of men, women, children and the elderly are common occurrences. Children are being recruited into combat and support roles by groups like the Free Syrian Army. Sexual violence is widespread. For all that the world is focused on the brutal actions of IS, so dramatically documented and publicised on the internet, the fact remains that the Syrian regime of Al Assad has been far more deadly for civilians in Syria than IS. The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented at least 1,232 civilian deaths in December 2014, with 1,049 killed by regime forces, or more than 85 per cent. IS is responsible, by this count, for just over five percent of the civilian deaths. Of course, due to the limited media access to Syria, it is difficult to verify casualty numbers, but the available figures are based on reports by grassroots organisations and independent human rights advocates, field hospital workers and journalists.

As UN Security Council Resolution 2191 noted:

… 7.6 million [Syrians] are internally displaced, 4.5 million are living in hard-to-reach areas and 212,000 are trapped in besieged areas.

Neighbouring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, as well as Iraq and Egypt, now host over 3.5 million refugees. Lebanon, a country of 4½ million people, is hosting more than a million refugees spread over 1,700 locations. These desperate people are forced to exist in circumstances that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has described as 'double jeopardy'; displaced by conflict, they now exist in dangerous poverty.

In Geneva last December, the international community agreed to take in 100,000 Syrian refugees, contributing to the UNHCR's overall goal of resettling '10 per cent of the Syrian refugee population'. The World Food Programme has been able to resume its work in Syria after stopping in December for want of funding. While these are positive developments, the international response has not been strong enough. By December only 62 per cent of the $6.5 billion originally requested by UNHCR had been received and UNHCR currently estimates that $8.4 billion will ultimately be required. Australia needs to be part of this effort at a level commensurate with both our capacity and our national character. So far we have contributed $130 million in aid, and I was glad when the government announced in August last year that it would reserve 2,200 refugee places for Syrian refugees and 2,200 places for affected Iraqis. But when one considers the contribution being made by other countries, especially the neighbouring countries hosting millions of refugees, it is plain that Australia could do more.

At a time when serious national and global incidents occur weekly, it is crucial that we guard against a tendency to think that what is happening in Syria is just one of a number of big issues—when of course it is the largest humanitarian disaster that has occurred in decades by some considerable margin. We must guard against a sense that what happened last week or last year is old news, because the Syrian crisis continues today as terribly and harmfully as ever. In this case the right course of action is simple: Australia should provide more humanitarian assistance to the people affected by the conflict in Syria and to neighbouring host countries and we should receive more Syrian refugees.

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