Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the motion put forward by the member for Menzies and, in doing so, I want to thank him for bringing this very important matter before the House. I'm very pleased to speak to the motion and vocalise my support here today for the Uighur people. I was pleased to join with my good friend and colleague the member for Makin just the other day to meet with them in front of parliament to discuss their concerns. They had made the trip to parliament to voice their concerns. I'm very pleased that many of my colleagues on all sides of politics, including the member for Fowler, the member for Menzies and the member for Makin and others, support the Uighur nation and the Uighur people.

As someone who is Jewish, I really do understand the terrible difficulties that are placed in front of the Uighur people. It does have echoes of Germany in the 1930s. I think it is very concerning. We as individuals elected to public office in a strong and vibrant democracy have a responsibility to stand against human rights violations wherever they occur, particularly now to the Uighur people in China.

The Uighurs are a very important minority group who have been systematically denied their rights in northern China. Population estimates vary, but around 15 to 20 million Uighurs exist in China and there are many thousands of Uighurs who now reside in Australia. Many Australian Uighurs feel deeply concerned about the systematic abuses that their people and loved ones are facing in China, and I share their concern. I know many of my colleagues share these concerns. We believe that China has coped very well with the pandemic. Medically, they have done some remarkable things and I applaud them for that. But their policies of treatment of the Uighur people and the sinicisation in Xinjiang province is really distressing. The Uighurs report violations of international law, including of conventions which China as a state is party to. These are not the actions of a responsible global power. It's incumbent upon the Australian government to provide its assessment of what's happening in Xinjiang and how it characterises the human rights violations that're taking place, based on all the information that is available to us and our agencies, and to other countries. The government of Canada has been mentioned as one that shares these deep concerns about human rights abuses involving the Uighur people.

The Australian government must also explain what actions it is taking to address the situation in Xinjiang and provide support for the Uighur communities in Australia and elsewhere. We owe it to our fellow human beings to not only stand in solidarity against such atrocities but do more than just mere words. As the honourable member's motion indicates, a number of other national parliaments have already stood in solidarity with the Uighur people and it's time that our parliament and the Australian government, in unity, did the same.

This motion also identifies that Uighurs in Xinjiang have and are being forcibly held in re-education camps, subject to torture, forced labour and coercive transfer to other regions. Women are being sexually assaulted, children are being denied education and the Uighur population is being denied appropriate health care. It is an atrocity. Over a million Uighurs have been detained in so-called re-education camps, subject to forced labour and denied any ability to practice their religion. Many people in groups have condemned these atrocities and many have described it as potential genocide, but at least in direct violation of the United Nations' genocide convention.

I have no hesitation to echo the sentiments of the member for Menzies and implore the United Nations to investigate these reports of human rights abuses. Australia, through its peacekeeping efforts within the United Nations and under its obligations as a responsible global citizen, has routinely stood against human rights violations in the past and must do so again. Atrocities such as Srebrenica genocide not too long ago were, unfortunately, met with too little and too slow a response from the international community at the time. I don't think it's too outrageous a thing to say that the international community must thoroughly investigate these reports of human rights violations in China to ensure that history does not repeat itself. I thank the members for Menzies for bringing this important motion before the House and in doing so making it a priority for our national parliament.

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