Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House calls on the Minister for Foreign Affairs to support a parliamentary debate during the current sitting on the Australian Government's strategy in response to the crisis in Syria and Iraq.

In moving this motion, I want to first acknowledge that 29 November is UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. This day is important for Palestinian history in two additional ways: it also marks the anniversary of the 1947 UN vote to divide Palestine into Arab and Jewish states; and, in 2012, it was the date when the UN recognised Palestine as a non-member observer state.

Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, the UN established the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, known as UNRWA. There are 570,000 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA in Syria. These refugees are decedents of about 80,000 Palestinians who fled to Syria during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. It has been more than four years since civilian popular protest against President Assad drew a brutal and barbaric response from the Syrian authorities, the culmination and continuation of which we witness today. Those who have suffered the most are, as always, minorities: Christians, Yazidis, Kurds and, indeed, Palestinians who have become refugees for a second time.

There are a multitude of Syrian cities and towns that are war-torn and under siege, but, according to Amnesty International, the siege of Yarmouk Camp for the Palestinian refugees in Damascus has 'had the harshest impact, and has caused the largest number of deaths from starvation'. This intolerable humanitarian situation has precipitated at mass exodus of Palestinians from Yarmouk. However, their access to neighbouring countries is very difficult. Early in the conflict, Jordan and Turkey effectively closed their borders to Palestinian refugees from Syria, or PRS. Lebanon followed suit in May 2014. Thankfully, some 90,000 Palestinians did manage to leave Syria, and mostly ended up in Lebanon and Egypt. Unlike Syrian refugees, the PRS, who constitute less than three per cent of the ex-Syria refugee population, have been denied registration by the UNHCR. The reason offered is that the PRS are already registered to another UN agency, namely UNRWA.

ASPIRE, the Australian Society for Palestinian Iraqi Refugees Emergency, is an Australian non-profit organisation that was established in 2008 by Mr Yousef Alreemawi to provide language, legal and post-arrival support to stateless Palestinians fleeing conflicted countries like Iraq and Syria. It is made up of Australians from various interest and ethnic groups, including Israeli-Australians. In collaboration with Amnesty International and the UNHCR, ASPIRE's efforts led to the successful resettlement of more than 250 Palestinians in Australia to date. This year, and upon the request of Amnesty International, ASPIRE issued a comprehensive report on the consequences of UN policies on the PRS. The findings of this report where presented by Dr Graham Thom, Refugee Coordinator of Amnesty Australia, at the UNHCR's annual meeting in Geneva last July. ASPIRE is currently preparing the applications of about 20 ex-Yarmouk refugee families currently residing in Lebanon and Egypt without any option for permanent residency or protection. Some of these families have direct family connections to Australia. I would like to mention one in particular who I have met, Ms Anan Mowed, who is a single mother who arrived in Australia from Syria six years ago and is about to finish her degree in business administration, which is to complement her overseas qualification in fine arts. Anan's parents and siblings are among the applicants that are interested in coming to Australia at this moment. They fled in 2012 from the Yarmouk Camp to Lebanon, where they currently live, with no work permit and with extremely limited aid. Anan's father is a highly qualified teacher who served in Syria and the UAE. Her brother, Mohammad, has more than 10 years of volunteering experience with UNRWA offices. ASPIRE has in the past assisted more than 40 families in similar situations to successfully integrate into Australia. Therefore, not only will those applicants enjoy the support of their families, they will also be supported and embraced upon their arrival by ASPIRE volunteers and their networks.

International best practice for the resolution of refugee situations has been to resolve them in three principal ways: local integration, resettlement in third countries and voluntary repatriation. It is therefore necessary for the Australian government to respond accordingly, by including PRS in any future intakes of refugees from Syria to Australia, and by waiving the condition of a UNHCR certificate or referral for PRS as a prerequisite for application to Australia as candidates for humanitarian protection. It is the fair and right thing to do for a people who could be rendered stateless.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I am grateful to the member for Calwell for moving this important motion acknowledging that yesterday, 29 November, was the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Never has it been more important to show solidarity with a people whose right to their own state—as established in international law—is being rendered increasingly impossible to achieve, and whose deteriorating plight has been somewhat masked by the conflagration in Syria. This applies especially to the situation of Palestinian refugees.

In discussions around the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced to leave their homes, located in what is now Israel, during the 1948 and 1967 conflicts is a topic that is rarely talked about. There are some 1.2 million Palestinian refugees living in Gaza, 700,000 in the West Bank, 600,000 in Syria, two million in Jordan and 300,000 in Lebanon, who are registered with UNRWA as refugees. I note that it has long been accepted practice in both UNRWA and UNHCR to register descendants of refugees while their political plight remains unresolved; as also occurs, for example, with the Burmese refugees in Thailand, and the Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The right of the Palestine refugees to return home is enshrined in international law: in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and through UN General Assembly resolution 194 and Security Council resolution 237, which have been consistently reaffirmed by UN member states. UNRWA was set up in 1949 to provide relief, health, education and social services to Palestinian refugees until a political settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict was achieved. UNRWA was intended to be a temporary agency but, unfortunately—as everyone is only too well aware—there has never been a political settlement. UNRWA thus continues to have responsibility for the Palestine refugees while UNHCR—which was established after UNRWA, in 1951—has responsibility for the world's other refugees.

I had the privilege of working as a lawyer for UNRWA from 2002 to 2004, based at that time in Gaza but with coverage of the refugees in all of UNRWA's areas of operation including the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Since I have left UNRWA, the situation of the Palestinians, which was bleak even then during the second intifada, has only deteriorated—particularly for the Palestinians in Gaza who have suffered major incidents of bombardment and invasion, and nine years of an economic blockade by Israel, and for those in Syria who have endured almost five years of conflict. These emergency situations, which have created extreme hardships for the Palestine refugees, have placed enormous burdens on UNRWA's finances, which are entirely dependent on donor funding from governments such as Australia. UNRWA has been forced to cut back its services, like education for half a million children in 700 schools. This is a worrying development in a region becoming increasingly unstable and radicalised.

I travelled to Damascus in April 2011, at the very beginning of the Syrian conflict. With UNRWA staff, I visited a school and various community development programs in the Yarmouk refugee camp, and was delighted to receive a warm welcome from the Palestinian children and youth I met. They were intelligent, bright and exceedingly curious about Australia's democratic system, the work of the parliament, and kangaroos. The small children sang and danced.

It has been devastating to reflect on what many of these children and their families have endured these past years as Yarmouk became besieged and people denied food and medical treatment. Yarmouk has been one of the worst affected places during the war with people trying to survive by eating grass or rocks, just to have something in their stomachs.

As the former Commissioner General of UNRWA, Filippo Grandi, who is now the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said last year:

There is a ripple effect of anxiety and fear emanating from the Yarmouk experience.

…    …    …

Yarmouk has come to represent all places where—for Palestinians and especially for refugees—control over one's life is an illusion, where the safety of decades can disappear overnight, where land is confiscated, homes are demolished, rights are denied, travel is restricted, jobs are lost, resentments and prejudices prevail ... It was a beacon of resilience. Unless we act quickly, it risks becoming a symbol of dispossession and of a history of repeated dispossessions.

The motion by the member for Calwell thus draws attention to the fact that, within the hierarchy of misfortune that applies to the people in Syria and more broadly in the region, there is a group that is more unfortunate than most, whose suffering at the hands of the Assad regime, IS and others has been multiplied by the fact that those Palestine refugees who have managed to leave Syria, have been refused entry to Jordan and Turkey, and have encountered only further hardship in Lebanon. As the motion notes, as refugees registered with UNRWA and not UNHCR, the Palestine refugees are not being considered as part of Australia's intake of 12,000 refugees from the Syrian conflict.

This week, the UN parliamentary group is pleased to host a meeting with the new Commissioner General of UNRWA, Pierre Krahenbuhl, who is in Canberra. I hope the commissioner general's visit will lead to an increased appreciation of the plight of the Palestine refugees and the vitally important work UNRWA has done to assist them for the past 67 years, and that it will continue to do until conditions markedly improve. Australia has an important role to play, financially and diplomatically in supporting UNRWA's work and global efforts to achieve political settlements, in both the Israel-Palestine conflict and the Syrian conflict. We can also assist some of the most vulnerable people affected by these conflicts by taking them in as refugees.

Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the past four years, the civil war in Syria has resulted in the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War. Over five million people, including Christian minorities, Yazidis and Kurds in addition to many millions of Muslims, have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

Amongst these minorities are Palestinian refugees who have fled the suffering and widespread human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Sadly, they seem to be falling through the cracks as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees protection program does not appear to extend to them.

When the hostilities of the Arab and Israeli conflict started in 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinian civilians became displaced. Many sought refuge in camps in West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. At that time, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency—UNRWA—was established by the United Nations to carry out direct relief work and works programs for Palestinian refugees in these regions. Unfortunately in 1967, the Palestinians were once again forced into exile as a result of the conflicts on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

These displacements together with the ongoing Syrian crisis have left many of the Palestinian community disproportionately impacted. In fact, the plight of the Palestinian refugees can only be seen as a catastrophe, as they represent the largest and longest standing case of forced displacement in history.

More than 500,000 Palestinian refugees migrated to Syria, with the biggest proportion now in the Yarmouk Camp in Damascus. However, given the conflict and upheavals that are continuing to plague the region, approximately 270,000 Palestinian refugees have been internally displaced by the Syrian conflict. According to reports by Amnesty International, more than 50,000 are reported to have fled to Lebanon; 11,000 to Jordan; 6,000 to Egypt; 1,000 to Libya; 1,000 to Gaza; and others to Turkey and other countries.

The UNRWA continues to contribute to the welfare and human development of these displaced Palestinian refugees through the provision of education, health care and social services. As of August this year, it is reported that there are 570,000 Palestinian refugees registered with the UNRWA in the Middle East.

Since the 1950s, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, has provided international assistance and protection, and sought permanent and durable solutions for refugees fleeing war-torn communities. Following the Syrian crisis, UNHCR has registered over five million refugees and has assisted many for resettlement to other countries, including Australia. I would also note Australia's intake program now of an extra 12,000 from that region. Whilst not a requirement of the UNHCR registration process to determine factors for the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection, consideration of UNHCR application nevertheless makes a significant contribution.

However, unlike other Syrian refugees, Palestinian refugees are being denied registration by the UNHCR because the Palestinians are already under the mandate of UNWRA. This is despite the fact that UNWRA's services are only for relief, education and health care, and have no involvement in processing refugees for resettlement. Since 2013, UNWRA has been struggling with its ability to provide for Palestinian refugees due to severe financial and resource restraints. This has left more than half of the Palestinian refugees in the Middle East without access to schools, hospitals and even secure shelter.

Under the 1951 Refugee Convention, UNHCR has a mandate to provide international protection to refugees worldwide, which should include Palestinians, who are fleeing from the very same violence as other refugees exiting Syria at the moment. Palestinian refugees are a vulnerable group, have been subjected to flagrant human rights violations and have experienced the same conditions as everybody else that is fleeing the violence in the Syrian conflict at the moment. Therefore, I call on the government to work with the UNHCR to process registrations of Palestinians fleeing Syria, so that they can at least be entitled to apply to the Australian government for the possibility of being resettled as part of the additional 12,000 refugee places being earmarked for Syrian refugees.

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am really pleased to be able to speak in this debate on the motion of the member for Calwell. I actually tried to get my name down to speak on this particular motion because I feel very passionate about it, but I was unable to. In fact we had reserve speakers waiting to speak on this bill, so I am really disappointed that the government could not put up even one speaker, because it is such an important issue. Currently we have refugees who are, on a pure technicality, being ruled out for consideration of being accepted by Australia.

On this side of parliament, we really welcome the government's decision to take in 12,000 additional refugees, but it is so very unfair that Palestinian refugees are precluded from consideration of coming to Australia, purely on a technicality. Palestinian refugees have been displaced in the same way that other refugees have been displaced, but the support that they are receiving comes from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, or UNWRA, rather than through the UNHCR—and, because the UNWRA are already providing that support, the UNHCR cannot provide the same support. These applications from Palestinians are not being rejected because they are not refugees. It is not because these people have not been subjected to the same horrendous violence as other refugees who have been assessed by UNHCR. It is not that; it is purely a technicality. We have refugees who have lived their lives in refugee camps. I have actually visited some of those refugee camps and I know the horrendous conditions that those refugees are living in. If you are living in a refugee camp and you have absolutely no hope whatsoever of ever leaving those camps then it makes your life pretty appalling.

Now, 29 November was International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, as observed by United Nations resolution 32/40B. I think it is really appropriate that around this time we as a nation and as a parliament consider the issue that these people are refugees. They are fleeing, their lives are in danger and, as such, we should be looking at including them in our refugee intake. Many of these refugees have family here in Australia, and it would be wonderful if they could be reunited with their families. I am extremely disappointed that we are not doing this. We need to carry on direct relief programs, work programs, for the Palestinian refugees. We have provided support through a different agency for refugees who have fled the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. But we are not considering including them in the intake into Australia.

I know that members of this House feel very deeply about our obligation. Members on both sides of the parliament feel very deeply about our obligation to refugees who have been displaced by war, particularly in the Middle East at the moment, because it is such a big issue. I implore the government to sit down and consider the plight of these refugees and to include them in the 12,000 intake to Australia.

Debate adjourned.