John Forrest (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I imagine that many colleagues are not familiar with the Akha people. They are a people who occupy the mountain regions of South-East Asia, across Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Laos. That is why this motion is before us today—to bring some attention to their situation. We are quite familiar with disenfranchised national groups all around the world, whether they are in Palestine, Sri Lanka, Africa, China or Latin America, but this is one distinctive group with their own language that has gone under the radar to some extent over the last 50-odd years.

Their tortured history goes back five centuries, and it is due to their cultural differences. They are not a tribal group like the other 10 or 12 tribal groups in the region. For example, they do not have anything like the concept of war. Even their hunting weapons are not warlike. They are a distinctively different group, with their own language, as I said. I came across this group almost by accident, led by members of my constituency in Swan Hill who were providing volunteer support and donations to an organisation called Children of the Golden Triangle Inc. They are a non-government group who for the last 15 years have been providing assistance and outreach services to the Akha people to meet some of their urgent needs. At that time I was asked to assist that organisation towards its goal to achieve deductible gift recipient status as an overseas aid fund. That was achieved late last year, and I was very grateful for the support of the Hon. Bob McMullan, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance. They were battling for five years to achieve that status, so it was quite a thrill for them to finally get it. The generosity of the Australian people never ceases to amaze me—and we have seen recently, in the response to the terrible fires in Victoria and the floods in North Queensland, how generous the Australian people are.

It was quite a coincidence that, when this contact came through my office, I was researching an area that is a favourite hobby of mine, weather modification—both deliberate and inadvertent. I was impressed by international publications on the effect of deforestation, particularly by smoke, in South-East Asia and Brazil. This led me to the people of South-East Asia and particularly the Mekong hinterland—which is the upper part of the Mekong catchment—who for many years have been using a method of deforestation which is to slash and burn. The creation of carbon in the atmosphere has been having a dramatic impact on the precipitation outcomes right throughout the region and, I suspect, even some impact on the Australian environment. So it was interesting that both of those things came together.

So I journeyed up to the facility run by Children of the Golden Triangle Inc. You have to remember that this particular tribal group and other tribal groups in the region have a tortured history, with 500 years of oppression. It is the region of the terrible period of the opium trade. Because of their economic depression and their unwillingness to fight, they simply ran away from their oppressors.

This particular language group have suffered badly and, as a result, their economic depression has caused a whole range of outcomes that have affected their survival dramatically. For example, they have the highest child mortality rate of any dispossessed language group anywhere—50 per cent. There is the terrible subject of child trafficking, which has had shocking outcomes for parents who were fundamentally conned because of their vulnerability and have found their children taken away and involved in the sex trade right throughout South-East Asia. Some terribly tragic human stories are associated with these people.

Then along come members of an Australian organisation like Children of the Golden Triangle, who have reached out for the last 15 years and with the assistance of donations from Australians, people of goodwill, have established an education facility. They call it the Akha Training Centre. It is located in the north of Thailand, in a little village called Maei Suai. I had an opportunity to visit them, and I was greatly impressed with their work—and deeply disturbed that, circulating throughout the internet, is some terribly scurrilous blogging about the nature and intent of their work. I was so determined to do something about this, to increase the exposure of this group in Australia, that I proposed the resolution that is before us. I seek leave to table a report that I prepared as a result of my visit in late January.

Leave granted.

Thank you. What I would like to see happen is that AusAID agencies take a little bit more of an interest in the activities of CGT. From my detailed inspection, having spent some time with the people there, I can say that their work achieves goals far above any we set when we consider Millennium Development Goals to bring people out of economic depression. Their programs principally focus on capacity building of the Akha people themselves, teaching them language skills. I met quite a number of the young people, from the young boyhood and girlhood years to late teens, who now speak three languages—their own language, Thai and English. I was quite impressed to see CGT, in that 15 year period, bringing the Akha people right through the education system—even to include university studies in Chiang Mai, where the nearest university is, some hour or so away from where the training centre is located—and to see the transformation of these youngsters, who now have opportunities. All of them wish to come back and do something for their own people. I was quite impressed. And for anyone to criticise their intentions on the internet to me speaks more about the people making the criticisms than an organisation that is achieving an enormous amount.

But I was disappointed to discover in Bangkok—I brought some of the organisers from Maei Suai down to Bangkok to speak with the AusAID counsellor and other people in the mission there—that recently Thailand has withdrawn its bilateral agreement for Australian aid. So Thailand no longer qualifies for AusAID support. But I do call on AusAID to assist. There are so many of these people scattered through the north-west. It is estimated that something between one million and two million Akha people are spread across the highlands of the Mekong upper catchment. Opportunity still exists to assist this organisation to reach into countries other than Thailand—into Laos, right next door, Vietnam and even into China itself. These people are stateless—nobody wants to know them. The King of Thailand himself is to be commended on his outreach, not just to the Akha people but to a number of the tribal groups across the north-west, funding support for alternative agri-forest activity, trying to find a way to get them out of this dependency on slash and burn—it is called swidden farming. So I am asking that AusAID support that.

The other problem, which I have not mentioned, is the massive number of these people, and people of other tribal groups, now streaming across the Myanmar border into Thailand, creating the need for refugee camps. I think the UN needs to do so much more about that oppressive regime in former Burma to bring them to account for the oppression of these peaceful mountain people and other cultural groups like them that they are creating.

I commend this resolution and thank members for their willingness to speak on this. They may have had some difficulty in finding out what it was. I know other colleagues have said to me, ‘What is this all about?’ I guess I am reflecting my own ignorance, because only 18 months ago I did not know a lot about the Akha people, but they are just another group that has got under the radar and deserve our consideration and support.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion moved by the member for Mallee which, among other things, calls for assistance in helping the Akha people work towards self-determination and for increased Australian aid for the Akha people. I acknowledge the many difficult issues facing this group, and I would also like to acknowledge the intent of the member for Mallee in moving this motion to seek to draw attention to their plight.

The Akha are a tribal population of nearly half a million who live in the hills of eastern Burma, northern Thailand, south-western China and north-western Laos. The Akha have a rich history stretching back around 1,500 years. It is believed that their tribe originated in Mongolia and migrated south through China to their current locations in the hills of what is sometimes called the Golden Triangle, which, of course, crosses many international borders. Like the Kurds in the Middle East, this complicates issues for the Akha, as relations do not need to be made with one government but with many. The fact that one of the main nations where the Akha live—Burma—is an undemocratic and oppressive dictatorship with an appalling human rights record does not help their cause either. There is no doubt that many Akha have been displaced by conflict, particularly on the Thailand-Burma border, and that relations between the national governments and the Akha need to be substantially improved for the good of these people.

In the case of the Akha, as with a number of other ethnic minority groups, many have found refuge in Thailand. There continue to be issues related to the conditions and the status of ethnic minorities in Thailand, especially hill tribes in northern Thailand. However, I understand the new Thai government has put land reform on its agenda. This could address some of the issues confronting poorer communities and regional Thailand, which would, of course, include the Akha people. I do not, however, fully support the text of this motion. This is not because I do not believe that the Akha people deserve our assistance, nor because I approve of the treatment of this group of people by the Burmese government, but because there are numerous minority groups in the region—the region that has been referred to by the member for Mallee—who face disadvantage. The Rudd government’s policy is to offer assistance to all of them and not to single out one group such as the Akha. Indeed, the member for Mallee, in his speech, referred to many other groups in this part of South-East Asia, which indicates that he too is aware of other groups that are suffering difficult conditions.

The Australian government is committed to promoting and protecting human rights, whether domestically or internationally, through bilateral dialogue, representations and engagement with relevant multilateral institutions, including the United Nations. It is important to bear in mind that, while the plight of the Akha people is certainly worthy of attention, there are many other ethnic minority communities in South-East Asia—and one could name the Shan, the Mon and the Karen minorities of Burma—that are facing similar issues to those confronted by the Akha people.

Ethnic minorities can face challenges such as inequitable access to land, shelter, education and health care. Many of these minority groups are traditionally spread across a number of countries, particularly in the Golden Triangle region, although some have sought refuge in places such as the United States, Canada and Scandinavia, and there are small numbers here in Australia.

Many of these minority communities, not just the Akha, have been displaced through conflict. The Australian government looks to support the advancement of and ensure the equitable treatment of all ethnic minority groups, including the Akha, which is why the Commonwealth provides assistance to displaced persons in the camps along the Thai-Burma border. Since 2003 this assistance has amounted to over $5.2 million. Australia is also supporting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in improving protection for vulnerable refugees, including children, in camps along the Thai-Burma border through AusAID’s International Refugee Fund and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s Displaced Persons Program. Australia also supported the placement of 17 volunteer positions on the Thai-Burma border in 2007-08 through Australian Volunteers International, Volunteering for International Development from Australia and Australian youth ambassadors to build the capacity of organisations working with refugees.

The Australian government continues to press the Burmese regime to hold a genuine dialogue with opposition groups and ethnic minorities aimed at political reform and equitable treatment for all Burmese. The Australian government also raises the situation of ethnic minorities in its human rights dialogues with Vietnam, Laos and China. It is important to us as a government that our nation is developing stronger economic and cultural ties with our Asian friends, that our relationship remains open and honest and that we are comfortable raising human rights issues with each of those countries. It is for that reason that the Australian government hosted the human rights dialogue with China in February of this year and with Vietnam in August 2008.

However, I am not convinced that the Australian government should be calling on the Burmese, Thai, Lao and Chinese governments, as the motion indicates, to offer self-determination to the Akha people. It is very difficult and probably not appropriate for us here in this place to make an assessment of whether self-determination is the best course of action for the Akha, nor indeed whether that end is achievable. The best solution is one where national governments work in conjunction with the Akha people to achieve fair and equitable outcomes within existing borders. I have every faith that the Australian government will continue to work towards this goal for the benefit of the Akha people and other minority groups in the South-East Asian region.

That is the basis on which Australia is co-chairing with Indonesia a ministerial meeting of the Bali Process on human trafficking and people-smuggling in Bali next month, on 14 and 15 April. This is the premier regional organisation dealing with these problems and is attended by regional governments. The Minister for Foreign Affairs will lead the Australian delegation and co-host the meeting with the Indonesian foreign minister. It is through these channels that dialogue with relevant governments in regard to the treatment of ethnic minorities can be furthered, and I know that the Australian government has already shown by its dialogue with Asian nations on the issue of human rights that it will stand up as a supporter of those who are being mistreated and persecuted in South-East Asia.

It is, of course, always worth while for this House to consider groups in difficult circumstances, like the Akha people. It is noteworthy that the existence of this group was drawn to the member for Mallee’s attention by works that are being done by people in his electorate, and it is consistent with what we know of Australians that, as a people, we are prepared to reach out and help people in needy and difficult circumstances across the world. We are prepared to recognise the value that, in particular, people from diverse ethnic groups can bring so as to enrich all of our lives. I commend the member for Mallee for drawing the attention of the House to the circumstances being encountered by this group of people living in the hill country in South-East Asia. While I have, as I have indicated, a small disagreement about the appropriate course of action for the calls that might or might not be made on the national governments that presently govern these people, certainly the motion as a whole has my support for drawing attention to the circumstances of this group.

Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Mallee, who has eloquently outlined the many problems of the Akha people. He has called on the House to recognise and understand the issues that are confronting the Akha people. In particular, he has called on the United Nations to further their programs into recognising the issues that are faced by the Akha people.

I want to spend this time concentrating on health aspects, particularly HIV-AIDS. Statelessness is the most disgraceful situation for anyone to be in. As a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union HIV-AIDS committee I have been working on this for some time. Statelessness contributes enormously to the vulnerability of children in the sex-trafficking industry. As a result of children being trafficked into a raging sex trade the spread of HIV-AIDS has become rampant. If we are to stem the spread of HIV-AIDS we must address statelessness. People who have been exiled and declared stateless have no rights and are not recognised. They have no access to health treatment and those people who take children and traffic them into the sex trade or slavery are not prosecuted. There are no rights for the parents or the children.

The Akha people in particular are viewed as dirty and worthless. Therefore, they have no rights and are given no consideration. Their children are taken and trafficked in the sex industry where they are raped repeatedly and subsequently suffer with an enormous number of sexually transmitted diseases. Ultimately, this results in AIDS and other diseases and they then die at a very early age. This should not happen to any child anywhere in the world. All governments in developed countries across the world and the United Nations need to start to earnestly address the issue of statelessness and the problems that statelessness causes, including the lack of access to fundamental human rights. This is about access to fundamental human rights.

In some of the material there is a report written by doctors about 12 Akha girls aged between 12 and 16 years of age. They had been rescued from the sex slave trade after they had been constantly raped and had contracted every venereal disease there is from gonorrhoea, syphilis to AIDS—and some diseases I have never heard of. Basically these children are given no access to treatment, thus we have the indiscriminate spread of HIV-AIDS.

This is a worldwide problem. It is up to us, men and women in developed countries, to take this seriously. We should look at the private member’s motion moved by the member for Mallee with all his good intentions and at his report which outlines many of the trials and tribulations that the Akha people are exposed to. Most of all, countries and the United Nations need to start working their way into these areas to offer AIDS prevention programs, AIDS prevention support and treatment for HIV-AIDS and to assist these children out of the depths of despair.

The Akha people simply have no rights. They are considered not worthy of rights because they have no country to call their own. This is the problem that you see time and time again. It exposes the vulnerable children of the world to the disgusting practices of the sex slave industry. I commend the member for Mallee for bringing this issue to my attention. I will do all I can to support him in getting assistance for the Akha tribes.

Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Mallee for bringing to light the situation of the stateless Akha people of South-East Asia, who occupy the mountainous Mekong hinterland regions of Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and China. Through my previous work with the United Nations I have been aware in a general sense of the situation of the estimated 100 million indigenous people spread throughout Asian countries. However, it was not until the member for Mallee showed me the report of his study tour from his January visit to Thailand that I became aware of the particular plight of the Akha hill people.

As the member for Mallee noted just now, the Akha are a historically peaceful people who have tended to avoid conflict by retreating to more and more remote areas. They have no culture of weapons or concept of army within their language. As stateless persons their disenfranchisement has led to subjugation by oppressive governments, military regimes and criminal elements such as opium producers. It is the Akha’s situation of being both indigenous and stateless—of being an ethnic minority group—that makes them particularly vulnerable as targets for discrimination, forced relocation, forced labour and sexual exploitation.

In the last 50 years the lucrative tropical timber market has seen the encroachment of logging and destruction of old forest areas where the Akha have traditionally lived. In 2003 the UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Myanmar described a pattern of confiscation of property, forced labour and portering, and rape, in ethnic areas by the Burmese army and other militia groups. Furthermore, the Akha have been easy targets for child traffickers for the sex industry in Bangkok and elsewhere. In April 1999 in a statement to the former UN Commissioner on Human Rights in a session relating to protection of children, a spokesperson from the Terre des Hommes International Federation spoke of a strong correlation between the worst forms of child labour and children coming from specifically vulnerable groups, such as ethnic minorities, tribal populations and refugees, and said the Akha hill people in northern Thailand are an example. Heavy discrimination against them means that many Akha children are being forced into slavery like situations, including prostitution and work in illegal factories. Children caught up in armed conflict are also very vulnerable to sexual exploitation. As the member for Riverina has highlighted just now, the eventual return of some sex workers to their villages has further led to the spread of AIDS to Akha communities.

Malnutrition has resulted in critical health issues, with preventable enteric and respiratory diseases dramatically reducing the Akhas’ life expectancy. In some villages child mortality is among the world’s worst, at around 50 per cent. In 2005, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women examined the periodic reports of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. It found that, while literacy rates were extremely low among Lao women—at 66 per cent—literacy rates among ethnic minority women were far worse. For instance, Khmu women had a literacy rate of 22 per cent; Hmong, eight per cent; and the Akha women, an extremely low 0.74 per cent. In 2007 the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people summarised the plight of indigenous peoples in Asia as follows:

They are discriminated and victimized for their origin and identities, specially in the case of women. They are excluded from full participation in the political life in the countries in which they live. They remain at the margin of national development efforts, and they score low in all indicators in relation to their enjoyment of basic rights such as education and health. They are impoverished as a result of the loss of their traditional lands, territories and lifestyles.

I understand from the member for Mallee’s parliamentary report that the Akha people in northern Thailand receive some assistance with aid projects from NGOs and Australian and other aid agencies as well as from the King of Thailand. However, it is clear from the available evidence that significant further assistance is needed for the Akha people to achieve basic health and literacy levels in the various countries in which they live. I am aware that this is also the case for other ethnic minority groups across Southeast Asia.

Achieving significant improvement in the situation of all ethnic minority groups requires the support of the United Nations, the international aid community and active dialogue between and assistance of UN member states, particularly within this region. The member for Isaacs has noted the various ways in which the Australian government is assisting in this matter. I look forward to Australia continuing to play an important role in promoting the advancement and equitable treatment of indigenous peoples in Asia who are, in the view of the special rapporteur, among the most discriminated against, socially and economically marginalised and politically subordinated parts of the society in the countries in which they live. (Time expired)

Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.