Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) Amnesty International has evidence that hundreds of Rohingya women, men and children have been killed since the escalation of a violent assault in Northern Arakan/Rakhine State, Myanmar, since 25 August 2017;

(b) the United Nations has estimated that since August 2017, over 589,000 Rohingyas have been forced to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh;

(c) there are at least another 20,000 Rohingyas being detained at the borders;

(d) the United Nations Human Rights Council has witnessed accounts and heard testimonies of the Myanmar security force setting villages on fire and injuring, torturing, raping, killing and executing innocent victims;

(e) 214 villages have been destroyed through fire and will be taken over by the Myanmar Government because burnt land becomes government-managed land;

(f) the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, has called these government attacks 'a textbook example of ethnic cleansing';

(g) approximately 600,000 people are still deadlocked inside Rakhine State with limited access to food, medical care or humanitarian assistance;

(h) despite the history of the Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine region extending back to the post-colonial era, this community has been denied citizenship and most basic government services since 1982; and

(i) the treatment of Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine region is an issue that deeply concerns the Australian community; and

(2) urges:

(a) the Government of Myanmar to:

  (i) recommit to the pursuit of peace and national reconciliation; and

  (ii) allow access to all parts of Rakhine State to allow for the provision of humanitarian aid;

(b) the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs to:

  (i) do everything in her power to help alleviate the suffering in Rakhine State;

  (ii) lead the push for a strong United Nations General Assembly Resolution on the violence in Rakhine State; and

  (iii) work to establish an independent United Nations investigation into human rights abuses in Myanmar; and

(c) the Australian Government to:

  (i) support unimpeded humanitarian access to the Rohingya population;

  (ii) maintain pressure on the Myanmar Government, particularly the military and security forces, by condemning the persecution, attacks, killings and human rights abuses of the Rohingyas; and

  (iii) stand up for the moderate voices in Myanmar which are being widely suppressed by the threat of persecution by the Myanmar military.

Deputy Speaker Buchholz, I'm very grateful for the opportunity to speak on this very important motion which seeks to raise the ongoing humanitarian crisis of the Rohingyas in the Rakhine province in Myanmar, as they remain displaced in camps on the Bangladesh border. There are an estimated 850,000 refugees, men, women and children, with over half a million of them arriving since August last year.

We're only just seeing the extent of the atrocities as they are being revealed to us by the international media, the aid agencies and the parliamentarians who have visited the refugee camps. UNICEF reports that almost 60 per cent of the refugees living in tents and temporary shelters are children, and 21 per cent are children under five years of age. In its report, UNICEF speaks of the Rohingya children as outcasts and desperate. The children face a perilous future. They have witnessed unspeakable atrocities as they fled their homes. They are suffering from malnutrition. Many have been separated from their families and are in desperate need of vaccinations, sanitation, food, counselling and schooling. The UN Secretary-General, the US Secretary of State and many others around the world have condemned Myanmar's ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, and we must also condemn this. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch report widespread acts of sexual violence and rape perpetrated by men wearing security uniforms, and describe seeing children being beaten to death, ruthless killings and the destruction of homes and property.

Myanmar has a long history of dehumanising the Rohingya. It refuses to recognise their nationality and to grant them many rights on an equal basis with other citizens. This abhorrent denial facilitates the violence and accompanies the treatment that the Rohingya have experienced as recently, of course, as August last year. Displacement and persecution is an all too familiar story, so much so that Australia has in recent years received many Rohingya refugees, and many are living in my home state of Victoria. According to the ABS, there are currently about 2,000 Rohingya living in Australia. The Australian Burmese Rohingya Organisation—ABRO—who I met with, tell me that they are facing significant barriers for their own successful resettlement in Australia, and this includes finding work and access to adequate English language training. Despite their own personal challenges here, they can never be at ease whilst their family and friends continue to suffer back home. They have been very active in calling out the recent atrocities perpetrated by Myanmar security forces, and, following the most recent mass displacement of Rohingyas, they are calling on the Australian government to increase our refugee intake of Rohingyas and to work hard to guarantee third-country resettlement for those we cannot settle here.

Australia has a very special relationship with Myanmar. We are one of its three major donors for economic development and building capacity for democracy. We must and we do have the capacity to press the government of Myanmar to cease persecuting the Rohingya minority. It's not only our duty as a country that values human rights and democracy but also our responsibility to ensure that Australian aid money to Myanmar is benefiting and building capacity for all, without exception and without discrimination. We need to send a strong message to Myanmar that we will not tolerate these human rights violations. Our duty is to ensure that the Myanmar government upholds its duty of care to the Rohingya people—a duty of care that can allow them to return home and to live in safety and without fear of further persecution.

I want to commend Oxfam's work in providing relief to over 185,000 Rohingya people. They, along with Save the Children, have provided many briefings to us in this place about the situation in the camps, and I want to thank them for their candour. These wonderful agencies require our continued support so that this crisis does not deepen further. On a local level, I'd like to commend the work of Hasene Australia, a local charity in my electorate. Last year this organisation helped raised $57,000 for the crisis and sent volunteers overseas who are providing more than 6,000 families with food, shelter and financial support.

I want to welcome the steps announced by Myanmar's government to work with Bangladesh to repatriate many of the refugees. However, I join with ABRO and other NGOs who remind us that many of the people have been repatriated before. Any new plans for repatriation must be voluntary and must be undertaken alongside effective security protection for the returnees. Oxfam reports that many refugees, especially women, remain deeply traumatised by their experiences and are gravely concerned about being forcibly returned to the birthplace of their trauma.

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