Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Syria is a nation not unlike ours. We both have a population of approximately 22½ million people. We both have long and ancient cultures that are internationally recognised as cradles of civilisation. We both have abundant energy resources in the form of natural gas and oil. But that is where our stories diverge.

Unlike our fellow countrymen and countrywomen, Syrians are being killed and arrested for wanting a voice in the government of their country, for wanting their government to be based on democratic principles such as freedom of speech, the right to peacefully assemble, equality under the rule of law and the right to choose one's own leaders. These killings and arrests have to stop. The Syrian human rights organisation, Swasiya, estimates the number of civilians killed to be at least 1,100 since pro-democracy protests started in Deraa on 18 March.

In May, Syrian security forces went into the central city of Homs to suppress pro-democracy activists. A 12-year-old boy was killed as a result of the use of tanks and machine-gun fire against civilians. The situation has continued to worsen. Recently, Reuters reported that 27 civilians were killed over three days as Syrian security forces used tanks to crack down on pro-democracy protesters in the Lebanese border town of Tel Kelakh.

The tragic irony is that the Syrian constitution guarantees in article 25 that freedom is a sacred right. It also promises that the role of the state is to protect the personal freedom of its citizens and to safeguard their dignity and security. The killing of civilians and acts of intimidation and violence are intolerable and must stop. The Australian government has taken a number of steps to pressure the Syrian regime to cease the violence and implement genuine political and economic reform with imposed targeted financial sanctions against those responsible for ordering human rights abuses and the lethal suppression of peaceful protests.

We are bringing pressure to bear against key regime figures responsible for this violence and suppression and have imposed an embargo on arms and other equipment used in the repression of Syrian civilians. We have co-sponsored a resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Council condemning the use of lethal force against protestors. The foreign minister today wrote to the President of the United Nations Security Council referring the Syrian leadership to the International Criminal Court.

Since protests began, diplomats and human rights activists say that as many as 8,000 people have been jailed or are simply missing. Leading dissident Riad Seiff was arrested and imprisoned in 2001, 2008 and, most recently, on 6 May this year. His supposed crime—to build a new political movement, through the Damascus Declaration, to compete with the ruling Ba'ath Party. His movement is based on human rights, pluralism, press and academic freedoms and the building of a civil society.

The right to express one's views and protest peacefully is a right we in Australia take for granted. It is such a part of our heritage and national values that to question our right to do so meets with fierce opposition. Yet in Syria this fundamental democratic and human right comes at a deadly cost. The Syrian people have shown remarkable courage in demanding this for themselves. As one Syrian man, Mohammed al-Dandashi, told journalists, 'They are punishing us for demonstrating against the regime.' President al-Assad should stop the brutal and fatal suppression by his security forces and support the legitimate democratic aspirations of Syrians by making simple yet profound choices: stability over instability, growth over decay, peace over violence, trust over suspicion and confidence over fear. These are the characteristics of a modern nation that is a responsible global citizen and whose people are empowered to take advantage of the opportunities this century presents. These are the choices now faced by President al-Assad.

I am proud to be part of a government that, when it sees abuses and violations of human rights here or overseas, takes decisive action because it is the decent thing to do. Perhaps Syrian poet and dissident Faraj Ahmad Bayrakdar best described the overwhelming desire of his people for democratic and universal human freedoms when he wrote from within Saydnaya prison, 'Freedom is a homeland and my country an exile.' (Time expired)

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today we reflected in this House on the terrible loss of two more Australian diggers who died in war so that we and others may live a life of freedom and dignity. Five kilometres south-west of Damascus is a tree-lined Commonwealth war cemetery where at least 37 young Australian men are buried. They fought and died in two separate wars so that we and others may live with freedom and dignity. Their bodies never came home. Even though time and distance separate the fallen soldiers, the reason for the sacrifice of their young lives endures. We must as a nation speak for the voiceless. We must stand up for the weak. So it is tonight in this House, where we have sent so many of our own children to war to fight and die for freedom and dignity, that I speak of the recently deceased Hamza Ali Al Khateeb. Hamza was a peaceful protester in the Syrian town of Dara'a . According to gulfnews.com:

He was arrested for chanting 'down with the regime' along with a group of young protesters.

That day, the day of the protest, 29 April, was the last day he was seen alive. He was 13 years old. The boy's mutilated body was returned to the family just last Wednesday, nearly one month later. A very distressing video of his corpse has been posted on YouTube. According to the Washington Post:

The boy's head was swollen, purple and disfigured. His body was a mess of welts, cigarette burns and wounds from bullets fired to injure, not kill. His kneecaps had been smashed, his neck broken, his jaw shattered and his penis cut off.

What finally killed him was not clear, but it appeared painfully, shockingly clear that he had suffered terribly during the month he spent in Syrian custody.

The Syrian people have suffered for far too long. Bashar al-Assad, the current president and son of the former dictator, promised a more compassionate, humane government based on the principles of good governance and human rights. He has failed his own people. Over a month ago the Syrian people, motivated by events elsewhere in the Middle East and northern Africa, began protests calling for an end to 50 years of Syrian emergency rule. The reaction of Syrian authorities has been brutal. Since mid-March, Amnesty International indicates around 10,000 protesters have been imprisoned. The amnesty offered today by Assad is too little and too late. Emergency rule was supposedly lifted the day Assad instructed forces to take control of the town of Dara'a, an ancient city near the border with Jordan. All this was just a couple of days before Hamza disappeared. He was detained and tortured to death—a 13-year-old boy. Our limited knowledge of events has filtered out because courageous young Syrians are using technology to disseminate news. But the situation in Syria is getting worse, not better. Syrian activists are reporting that government snipers stood on top of apartment buildings in Dara'a, shooting people preparing to take to the streets to peacefully protest. The regime's actions are un-Syrian, un-Islamic and unacceptable.

Freedom is never without cost. In Iran, the struggle for free and fair elections was epitomised by the life of Neda Agha-Soltan, a young woman killed during the Iranian election protests in 2009. The Tiananmen protests were epitomised by the man with his shopping bags who stood in front of a tank. These brave people are the symbols of a greater movement of people demanding control over their own destiny. The Arab Spring has led to the transition of power from dictators in Egypt and Tunisia. It is the start, I hope, across the region of a liberal revolution which will deliver peace, security and democracy. But the people need and deserve our support. We cannot be selective; we must be consistent in our approach to the region. It is not good enough that Australia and the international community offer little more than words and sanctions that continue to be defied. Australia needs to be a leader in its condemnation of the atrocities.

Today the Minister for Foreign Affairs wrote to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the President of the Security Council seeking to refer President Assad to the International Criminal Court. I congratulate him on this initiative. But we can go further. It is time that Australia considers refusing to give credentials to the new Syrian ambassador designate in Canberra. The ambassador, who I understand is close to President Assad, should be given the opportunity to tell President Assad directly about the depth of feeling here.

The Syrian people deserve freedom. Hamza's death cannot be in vain. Young Australian soldiers who have died so that others may live expect us to be ever vigilant. (Time expired)