Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I'm happy to second the motion, and I rise to speak on the motion by the member for Mackellar and thank him for his fine words. It's a motion marking the 70th anniversary of the opening for signature of the four Geneva conventions of 1949. As I am one of the co-chairs of the Parliamentary Friends of the Australian Red Cross, along with the member for Mackellar, it is timely to remember that the original Geneva convention, adopted in 1864, was initiated by what is now known as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. The first treaty protected wounded and sick soldiers during wartime. Other conventions followed, in particular, after World War II in 1949. Collectively, the Geneva conventions and their additional protocols provide minimum protection, standards of humane treatment and fundamental guarantees of respect to individuals caught up as victims of armed conflict.

Before the 1949 conventions were adopted only combatants were protected, not civilians. The events of that horrible World War II highlighted the catastrophic consequences of not providing protections for civilians in wartime—for example, there were 15 million battle deaths in World War II and 45 million civilian deaths, and 45 million is probably a low estimate. So the 1949 conventions set out obligations of the occupying power towards civilians and detailed provisions for humanitarian relief for populations in occupied territory. They set out protections on the treatment of civilians, prisoners of war and soldiers who are hors de combat, or outside the fight due to injury or damage. The conventions and additional protocols are known as the humanitarian law of armed conflicts. The conventions and protocols regulate the conduct that occurs during armed conflict. The objective is to have no breaches of the conventions. Where grave breaches occur, including torture or biological experiments and people wilfully causing great suffering, those responsible must be sought and tried, or extradited for trial, whatever their nationality.

The Geneva conventions have been ratified by all states and are universally applicable. One of the very visible protections provided by the conventions and their additional protocols is the defined use of emblems. The red cross emblem was settled in the first Geneva convention way back in 1864 as a clear neutral sign on the battlefield to protect medical staff and facilities. It is the exact reverse of neutral Switzerland's flag. The red crescent was adopted by the Ottoman Empire during the Russo-Turkish War as its protective sign while still recognising the red cross. In 2005 the red crystal emblem was adopted as an additional protective sign because it has no national, political or religious connotations. All three emblems are now universally recognised for protective use in armed conflict for the protection of medical services or equipment and buildings of the armed forces under international law. Protection through the emblems is extended to certain humanitarian organisations when they're working alongside the military, attending to the suffering or the wounded prisoners and civilians caught up in a conflict. The emblems can also be for indicative use where they're used to identify national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies around the world.

In Australia we're all familiar with the red cross emblem used for the Australian Red Cross. It is a symbol we have come to trust in these times of many emergencies. In the last few weeks, as Australia has been burning, we've seen the Australian Red Cross mobilised to offer support and relief to those caught up in the horrific bushfires raging across the country. Red Cross volunteers are staffing evacuation centres, comforting people who have lost their homes and, sadly, in a few cases, even their family members. In some evacuation centres in New South Wales, Red Cross volunteers have registered more than 1,000 people and even some of their pets. One of the evacuees described knowing the Red Cross volunteers were there to help as being 'the sense of people wrapping around you' which is what the Red Cross did. It might not be a war zone, but the people being comforted by the Red Cross volunteers are suffering and in shock at the devastation all around them.

The Red Cross are doing amazing work under very difficult circumstances. Tracy, a Red Cross volunteer at one evacuation centres, said:

The reason why I'm a Red Cross volunteer is the empathy we can show people and that we really do care about them and their mental health, their family, making sure that they are in a safe place.

It's important work that the Red Cross does in both disaster relief and conflict zones around the world. This motion pays respect to the continuing global leadership role of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and I thank the member for Mackellar and the rest of the bipartisan Parliamentary Friends of Australian Red Cross for their support. I commend their continuing leadership and the Red Cross all around the world. On the occasion of this, the 70th anniversary of the Geneva conventions of 1949, it's important for everyone in the House to remain vigilant of the object and purpose of the conventions and their protocols and to stand ready to defend them.

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