Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Canadian House of Commons unanimously passed a resolution that, 'in the opinion of the House, the People's Republic of China has engaged in actions consistent with the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 260, commonly known as the "Genocide Convention", including detention camps and measures intended to prevent births as it pertains to Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims';

(b) the Parliament of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has passed a resolution stating that 'measures intended to prevent births' and 'having punishment camps' in China fell under United Nations Resolution 260;

(c) the UK House of Lords has passed a resolution urging the government to uphold all undertakings in and international obligations arising from the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;

(d) the then US Secretary of State, Mr Mike Pompeo, issued a determination that Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims are being subjected to a genocide by the Government of the People's Republic of China, a position reinforced by his successor, Mr Antony Blinken;

(e) a series of international reports, including by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, have concluded that Uyghurs in Xinjiang have and are being forcibly held in 're-education' camps, subjected to torture, forced labour and coercive transfer to other regions; and

(f) other ethnic and religious minorities are being persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party;

(2) records its abhorrence that the Chinese Government continues to engage in serious and systematic breaches of the human rights of its peoples;

(3) calls on the Government of China to respect and abide by universally acknowledged human rights for all its peoples;

(4) urges the United Nations to investigate the breaches of human rights in China; and

(5) encourages the Australian Government to continue to protest the ongoing abuse of human rights by the Chinese Government and to take appropriate measures to enforce laws against modern slavery and identify supply chains that use forced labour.

The most egregious systematic abuse of human rights in the world is occurring in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region of western China. It has been occurring for several years. It involves the imprisonment, torture and enslavement of millions of ethnic Uighurs, who compose some 90 per cent of the population of the southern area of Xinjiang.

The evidence for this conclusion is drawn clearly from a series of recent expert reports, including those cited in this motion; from internal statements and documents of Chinese officials; from analysis of Chinese statistics and data; and, significantly, from the eyewitness testimony of many people and the accounts provided to family and relatives. There is overwhelming evidence of the cruel, inhumane and brutal practices of the Chinese communist regime. Some of these practices extend beyond Xinjiang, but the sheer scale of restrictions on freedom, the mass internments and the programs of mass sterilisation and enforced labour elevate the activities in the region to new levels of human rights abuse.

It is for these reasons that the parliaments of Canada and the Netherlands and the British House of Lords have adopted motions of condemnation. It is why US secretaries of state Mike Pompeo and Antony Blinken have denounced the policies and why many are asserting or questioning whether the CCP's program amounts to a contravention of the 1948 genocide convention. The official Chinese response to the widespread accusations is that there are no breaches of human rights and that the Uighurs are guilty of violent terrorism and separatism. But these unconvincing and self-serving responses conflict with the statements of Chinese officials and other objective evidence about the activities in Xinjiang.

Most notorious are the repeated statements of the CCP secretary-general of Xinjiang, Chen Quanguo. In his 2016 policy agenda speech Chen described religious extremist thought and behaviour in Xinjiang as a 'malignant tumour' and a 'communicable plague requiring more radical and invasive surgery'. His remarks mirror repeated comments by Xi Jinping calling on the police and security forces to prepare for 'a smashing, obliterating offensive' and giving directions to 'round up everyone who should be rounded up'. In speeches and in government orders there are directions to 'eradicate tumours', 'wipe them out completely', 'destroy them root and branch', 'show absolutely no mercy' and 'eliminate risks within risks, hidden dangers in hidden dangers'.

The result of this deliberate policy is the construction of more than 380 internment camps, described officially as 'concentrated transformation through education centres'; the imprisonment of millions of Uighurs over the last few years; the mass video surveillance of the population; the widespread collection of biometric data; the killing, torture and rape of Uighurs; the enforced sterilisation of the population; and the widespread use of enforced labour. In 2020 there were eyewitness accounts and video evidence of Uighurs transported in batches across China to work in factories around the country. A document from academics at China's Nankai University reported that the labour transfers were also a long-term measure that 'not only reduces Uighur population density in Xinjiang, but also is an important method to influence, meld, and assimilate Uighur minorities'. The writers recommended that the government expand the programs to other areas of China to meet labour demands. A documented report by ASPI found that Uighurs have been transported to factories in China, where they were forced to work. The report concluded that 83 foreign and Chinese companies, including many well-known brands, were benefiting from enforced labour. That is why this motion calls for, amongst other things, greater action to enforce laws against modern slavery and to identify supply chains that use forced labour.

This is not a party political issue; it is an issue of basic human rights. This is a time when this parliament should speak with one voice. I cannot think of any member or senator who would vote against this motion. I encourage the parliament to uphold the rule of law and universal human rights and not to accept these brutal totalitarian practices of the Communist regime. And I respectfully urge this government to recognise that this is one of those occasions when a motion such as this ought to be allowed to a vote in both chambers. On that basis, I commend the motion to the House.

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