Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to congratulate the member for Menzies for bringing this motion to the parliament. I believe this is a very significant motion in the context and history of our parliament as, today, members from all sides of the House are speaking out against the appalling systematic human rights abuses against Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in China by the Chinese Communist Party in Xinjiang province. As a member of parliament who is part of an ethnic and religious minority, I think it is vital that our parliament is counted in condemning this wide-scale human rights abuse across the world. I'm pleased that in my time in this place I have spoken against the persecutions of Christians in North Korea; Christians, Muslims, Yazidis and Kurds in the Middle East; and Christians and the Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party. Today, I add my name to those speaking on the persecution of Uighurs by the Chinese Communist Party.

Today the House of Representatives joins the Canadian House of Commons, the Netherlands parliament, the House of Lords in the United Kingdom in calling out and condemning the systemic human rights abuses committed against Uighurs and other ethnic minorities. We indicate our abhorrence at the continued actions of the Chinese Communist Party in engaging in these systemic human rights abuses. We call on that government to respect the human rights of all people and we call on the UN to investigate breaches of human rights in China. At the same time, we as a parliament acknowledge and encourage the Australian government to continue to protest the ongoing human rights abuses by China and to enforce modern slavery laws, which were piloted by this government against suppliers who use forced labour.

As an Australian, I want to acknowledge the wonderful work of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which has drawn these systemic human rights abuses to our attention. As James Leibold and Kelsey Munro wrote earlier this month:

Under President Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party has launched an extraordinary campaign in China’s northwestern autonomous region of Xinjiang to forcefully integrate the indigenous Uyghur population into the Han majority, in violation of China’s own constitution and international legal norms.

As is now well documented, the CCP's crackdown in Xinjiang includes max extrajudicial detention of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in hundreds of purpose-built interim camps; near ubiquitous surveillance; systematic destruction of Indigenous culture, language, religions and practices, including the demolition of mosques; forced birth-control, including sterilisation; psychological and physical torture, including sexual abuse; and forced labour and restrictions on the freedom of movement.

In 2020, ASPI identified 27 factories in nine Chinese provinces using Uighur labour transferred from Xinjiang since 2017. Those factories claim to be part of the supply chains of 82 well-known global brands. And ASPI estimated between 2017 and 2019 at least 90,000 Uighurs were transferred out of Xinjiang and assigned to factories throughout the labour transfer programs under the Xinjiang aid policy. ASPI's work identified the need to do more to rid global supply chains of forced Uighur labour.

I want to acknowledge the foreign minister, Senator Payne, who has consistently called out human rights abuses in Xinjiang and last month, in response to reports of rape of women in detention camps, said:

These latest reports of systematic torture and abuse of women are deeply disturbing and raise serious questions regarding the treatment of Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.

We consider transparency to be of utmost importance and continue to urge China to allow international observers, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, to be given immediate, meaningful, and unfettered access to Xinjiang at the earliest opportunity

Our country has consistently raised reports of arbitrary detention, restrictions on freedom of religion, pervasive surveillance and forced labour, both in the bilateral discussions we've had and also at the United Nations.

I want to conclude my remaining time by acknowledging some comments of Ephraim Mirvis, who is the Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth. As a Jewish Australian I'm particularly proud, as is the member for Macarthur, that Jewish leaders around the world have called out the persecution of Uighurs. Rabbi Mirvis called for the urgent, independent and unfettered investigation into what's happening. Those responsible must be held to account, and Uighurs able to escape must be given asylum. He said this of their persecution:

Can it be true that, in our modern, sophisticated world, men and women are still beaten if they refuse to renounce their faith? That women are forced to abort their unborn children and are then sterilised to prevent them from becoming pregnant again? That forced imprisonment, the separation of children from their parents and a culture of intimidation and fear have become the norm?

Sadly, the weight of evidence of this persecution of the Uighur Muslim minority in China is overwhelming. Satellite images, leaked documents and survivor testimonies all paint a devastating picture affecting well over 1 million people, which, for the most part, the world continues to ignore.

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I have been left feeling that any improvement in the desperate situation is impossible.

The chief rabbi calls on us to make it not impossible, and this motion helps him do that.

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