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

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) Amnesty International has evidence that hundreds of Rohingya women, men and children have been killed since the escalation of a violent assault in Northern Arakan/Rakhine State, Myanmar, since 25 August 2017;

(b) the United Nations has estimated that since August 2017, over 589,000 Rohingyas have been forced to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh;

(c) there are at least another 20,000 Rohingyas being detained at the borders;

(d) the United Nations Human Rights Council has witnessed accounts and heard testimonies of the Myanmar security force setting villages on fire and injuring, torturing, raping, killing and executing innocent victims;

(e) 214 villages have been destroyed through fire and will be taken over by the Myanmar Government because burnt land becomes government-managed land;

(f) the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, has called these government attacks 'a textbook example of ethnic cleansing';

(g) approximately 600,000 people are still deadlocked inside Rakhine State with limited access to food, medical care or humanitarian assistance;

(h) despite the history of the Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine region extending back to the post-colonial era, this community has been denied citizenship and most basic government services since 1982; and

(i) the treatment of Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine region is an issue that deeply concerns the Australian community; and

(2) urges:

(a) the Government of Myanmar to:

  (i) recommit to the pursuit of peace and national reconciliation; and

  (ii) allow access to all parts of Rakhine State to allow for the provision of humanitarian aid;

(b) the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs to:

  (i) do everything in her power to help alleviate the suffering in Rakhine State;

  (ii) lead the push for a strong United Nations General Assembly Resolution on the violence in Rakhine State; and

  (iii) work to establish an independent United Nations investigation into human rights abuses in Myanmar; and

(c) the Australian Government to:

  (i) support unimpeded humanitarian access to the Rohingya population;

  (ii) maintain pressure on the Myanmar Government, particularly the military and security forces, by condemning the persecution, attacks, killings and human rights abuses of the Rohingyas; and

  (iii) stand up for the moderate voices in Myanmar which are being widely suppressed by the threat of persecution by the Myanmar military.

Deputy Speaker Buchholz, I'm very grateful for the opportunity to speak on this very important motion which seeks to raise the ongoing humanitarian crisis of the Rohingyas in the Rakhine province in Myanmar, as they remain displaced in camps on the Bangladesh border. There are an estimated 850,000 refugees, men, women and children, with over half a million of them arriving since August last year.

We're only just seeing the extent of the atrocities as they are being revealed to us by the international media, the aid agencies and the parliamentarians who have visited the refugee camps. UNICEF reports that almost 60 per cent of the refugees living in tents and temporary shelters are children, and 21 per cent are children under five years of age. In its report, UNICEF speaks of the Rohingya children as outcasts and desperate. The children face a perilous future. They have witnessed unspeakable atrocities as they fled their homes. They are suffering from malnutrition. Many have been separated from their families and are in desperate need of vaccinations, sanitation, food, counselling and schooling. The UN Secretary-General, the US Secretary of State and many others around the world have condemned Myanmar's ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, and we must also condemn this. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch report widespread acts of sexual violence and rape perpetrated by men wearing security uniforms, and describe seeing children being beaten to death, ruthless killings and the destruction of homes and property.

Myanmar has a long history of dehumanising the Rohingya. It refuses to recognise their nationality and to grant them many rights on an equal basis with other citizens. This abhorrent denial facilitates the violence and accompanies the treatment that the Rohingya have experienced as recently, of course, as August last year. Displacement and persecution is an all too familiar story, so much so that Australia has in recent years received many Rohingya refugees, and many are living in my home state of Victoria. According to the ABS, there are currently about 2,000 Rohingya living in Australia. The Australian Burmese Rohingya Organisation—ABRO—who I met with, tell me that they are facing significant barriers for their own successful resettlement in Australia, and this includes finding work and access to adequate English language training. Despite their own personal challenges here, they can never be at ease whilst their family and friends continue to suffer back home. They have been very active in calling out the recent atrocities perpetrated by Myanmar security forces, and, following the most recent mass displacement of Rohingyas, they are calling on the Australian government to increase our refugee intake of Rohingyas and to work hard to guarantee third-country resettlement for those we cannot settle here.

Australia has a very special relationship with Myanmar. We are one of its three major donors for economic development and building capacity for democracy. We must and we do have the capacity to press the government of Myanmar to cease persecuting the Rohingya minority. It's not only our duty as a country that values human rights and democracy but also our responsibility to ensure that Australian aid money to Myanmar is benefiting and building capacity for all, without exception and without discrimination. We need to send a strong message to Myanmar that we will not tolerate these human rights violations. Our duty is to ensure that the Myanmar government upholds its duty of care to the Rohingya people—a duty of care that can allow them to return home and to live in safety and without fear of further persecution.

I want to commend Oxfam's work in providing relief to over 185,000 Rohingya people. They, along with Save the Children, have provided many briefings to us in this place about the situation in the camps, and I want to thank them for their candour. These wonderful agencies require our continued support so that this crisis does not deepen further. On a local level, I'd like to commend the work of Hasene Australia, a local charity in my electorate. Last year this organisation helped raised $57,000 for the crisis and sent volunteers overseas who are providing more than 6,000 families with food, shelter and financial support.

I want to welcome the steps announced by Myanmar's government to work with Bangladesh to repatriate many of the refugees. However, I join with ABRO and other NGOs who remind us that many of the people have been repatriated before. Any new plans for repatriation must be voluntary and must be undertaken alongside effective security protection for the returnees. Oxfam reports that many refugees, especially women, remain deeply traumatised by their experiences and are gravely concerned about being forcibly returned to the birthplace of their trauma.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. Elie Wiesel, the great Jewish writer who survived Auschwitz and wrote the book Night, quoted:

When adults wage war, children perish.

I was, I guess, a witness to some of that a few weeks ago when I was in Cox's Bazar at the Rohingya refugee camps. The striking thing that confronts us firstly is the number of children there—children with smiles on their faces but dirt on their faces, barefoot and running around, at risk of a major disease outbreak in 60 days when the monsoon season comes—who are the victims of this trauma. People might say to me, 'Why would a member for regional Victoria be interested in the children in the refugee camp at Cox's Bazar?' I say to them that we are the beneficiaries of a very robust and prosperous country and that very robust and prosperous country affords us great opportunity but also great responsibility, and that is to ensure that the values that we hold dear are reflected in other parts of the world.

It is warming to my heart to know that Australia is the third-largest donor to the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar. I was able to go there with Senator Lisa Singh from the Australian Labor Party to see the work that took place. Senator Singh and I co-chair the Parliamentary Friends of UNICEF. I want to reflect on what I saw—a story of what is the worst of humanity, coupled with some of the best of humanity. The worst of humanity, which is quite confronting, was to hear the stories of women who were raped by soldiers whilst they watched their husbands being hung. They didn't want to take their eyes away from their husbands as they died because they wanted to at least give some sort of support. Rape was used as an act of terror. It is not the case that 600,000 or 700,000 people shift for small atrocities; they shift because they are fleeing for their life. We heard stories of the unfolding crisis of 40,000 babies that might be born. Those women are carrying those babies not knowing if they were fathered by their now dead husbands or if they were fathered as a result of rape. The aid organisations have to think through how they will deal with the issues of abandonment if those babies turn out to be fathered as a result of rape.

Standing on a hill, looking as far as the eye could see, you could see a bamboo and tent city that essentially was forest six months ago, showing the rapidness with which people had arrived—they were basically starving after trekking up to eight days. We were told how, with 60 days before the monsoon season, they needed to shift 80,000 people from areas where they are at risk of landslide when the rain starts. We heard that drainage needs to be put in place in order to ensure that disease doesn't perpetrate through that group of people.

But we also saw the compassion of our aid workers. Can I just say on the record: I saw no waste. The great criticism that Australians make is of the waste that's in the aid program, but I saw no waste. I saw hardworking, diligent people. A lady said to me—she's from Perth and has been involved in the aid program work for a long time—that she cries at a Kleenex tissue ad, but, she said, 'I can't cry here because that doesn't help these people. I'm here to work. I'm here to make people's lives better.' They are doing a tremendous job, on things like sanitation—100 people to a toilet—and water supply. I have to say that the farmer in me—I have set up water supplies on my own farm—got talking about bar pressure and pumps and how to set water up. We saw medicine and we saw also education.

The challenge, of course, is: what is the future for those people? People without hope cannot be left to stagnate. And this is the challenge, because the Myanmar government doesn't want to take them back. They don't want to go back in a hurry. The Bangladesh government doesn't want to absorb them, and I think there is probably a real discussion to be had about the way the World Bank and the countries of the world create trading zones, investment and opportunities. I don't think that these people are going to be going back to Myanmar in a hurry. It's simply not safe. Ultimately, we need to create hope for these people because, otherwise, it does sadly become a breeding ground for disenchanted young men and women.

I say we should be proud of Australia's contribution, but, of course, we will need to do more. It was a privilege to go with such hardworking people. We saw the worst of humanity, but we also saw the best of it.

Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to join the member for Calwell and to follow the member for Mallee on such an important issue in our parliament. I note the member for Lilley, the member for Gellibrand and the member for Newcastle will also be speaking on this important issue. We've heard the figures about the number of Rohingya refugees who have had to flee Myanmar over the course of the last 12 months. Following a brutal outbreak of violence in late August, the crisis, of course, has worsened—the crisis faced by the minority Rohingya Muslim community has escalated. We heard from the member for Mallee of his recent trip. I've spoken to the member for Gellibrand about what he saw on his trip. I too would join those members in commending the work of Save the Children in this crisis.

It was reported in late August that over 650,000 members of this community have taken refuge in Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh, after having been forced to flee their homes in Myanmar's northern Rakhine province. As others have noted, people don't flee in those numbers because they're economic refugees; they flee in those numbers because they are terrified for their lives. This has added to the extraordinary numbers of displaced people around the globe. On February 3 it was reported that five mass graves were found holding the bodies of Rohingya Muslims, and we know that in the future we will be looking back on this and standing in this place discussing the atrocities uncovered. The United Nations has described the situation as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing, and what we need to do now is to be part of the solution, in terms of both diplomacy and aid, to support those people who have fled and to put pressure through diplomatic processes to ensure that these atrocities cease. In December, Doctors without Borders reported that at least 6,700 people had died in 2017, approximately 730 of whom were children younger than five years of age, and that these deaths were attributable to the attacks in Rakhine. Sitting in Australia, it is difficult to imagine the impact that kind of terror might have.

The provision of aid for the refugees is absolutely critical. We need to remind the Myanmar government of their duty and their duty of care towards these people. We need to be part of that diplomatic pressure, but we also need to be part of the solution. We need to ensure that these hundreds of thousands of people are getting the targeted support that they need in Bangladesh. We need to ensure that people have access to vaccinations, to education, to trauma counselling and, most importantly, to shelter and safety, in the first order.

We've heard again today about the monsoons coming, and about the work that will need to be done to ensure safety and shelter for those who are already there as well as to ensure that no more need flee. SBS News reported on 3 February that an estimated 80,000 tents in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh will have to be repositioned due to the upcoming monsoon season. This is a current issue that needs to be addressed immediately. Like others in this place, I am proud that Australia is part of that solution, with the $31 million that we have contributed to assist in this crisis.

It is difficult to be in Australia and to think about the pressures that those people are under. It certainly gives us a clear focus on the issues facing us globally. It gives us cause to think about the contributions that we as a country can make to assist the millions of displaced people across the globe at this point in time. But, as the member for Calwell noted, this one matters to a population, particularly in Victoria, of those who are already here. Their hearts break, and we need to give them the support that they need as well as ensure that we are giving support to those who are doing the work on the ground supporting these people.

Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Calwell for moving this important motion today. The exodus of the Rohingya people from the northern Arakan and the Rakhine state of Myanmar—and the persecution, attacks, killings and human rights abuses that precipitated it—is a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions, which is unfolding in our own region. United Nations officials have described the crimes committed against Rohingya as a 'textbook example of ethnic cleansing'. Human Rights Watch called them 'crimes against humanity'.

Those who have been able to escape this terror confront a new horror—trying to survive in the extraordinarily overcrowded and under-resourced refugee camps of Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. In the time between the tabling of this motion last year and today's parliamentary debate, the number of Rohingya forced to flee into refugee camps in Bangladesh has increased to over 650,000. It is the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world.

I want to thank one of my constituents, Mat Tinkler, from Save the Children, for telling me about the reality of life in these conditions at the Cox's Bazar refugee camp, after his recent visit to the site. Those who arrive at Cox's Bazar have frequently been walking on foot for days, sometimes weeks, in the face of aggressive persecution during their escape. As a result, they are often exhausted, sick and starving—not to mention traumatised and separated from family members. Almost 70 per cent of those arriving are children or pregnant and breastfeeding women. The provision of food and clean water, shelter and sanitation, medical care and protective services for children to so many vulnerable people arriving in this short a period of time is extremely challenging. Many more lives are being lost in these camps as a result. The fate of hundreds of thousands of human beings is currently in the balance.

There are many things that the international community, the Australian government and the general public can do in response to this crisis. I want to recognise Senator Singh, from the other place, and the member for Mallee for their recent visit to Cox's Bazar and their work in helping to raise awareness of this crisis with UNICEF. I want to also congratulate the ABC for its Myanmar-Bangladesh crisis appeal.

On behalf of the Australian Labor Party, I want to echo, in this chamber and in this debate, the call of our shadow minister for foreign affairs. We call for the full implementation of the Kofi Annan report and the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, which seek to prevent violence, maintain peace and foster reconciliation. We call on the government to work to establish an independent UN investigation into human rights abuses in Myanmar and to continue holding the government of Myanmar, especially the military, to account for their conduct, and for their continued obligation to respect the human rights of all people. We call for the government to support unimpeded humanitarian access to the camps in Bangladesh and to work closely with our regional partners on medium- and long-term responses to the refugee crisis, seeking to ensure that the Rohingya population has a secure place to live in peace. The situation presents State Counsellor and Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the government more broadly, with an opportunity to exercise moral authority to protect the human rights of the country's citizens and to mediate a peaceful resolution to the current crisis. We believe it is in Myanmar's own interests for this conflict to be responded to and fairly resolved.

I want to add to this a comment about the importance of the government and the general public investing in Australian aid to support not only the immediate humanitarian needs of those affected by this crisis but also the longer-term development needs of those impacted by violence in the Rakhine State, including support for Rohingya refugees who may wish to return to Myanmar on a voluntary basis in the future, when and if it is safe to do so. I encourage my constituents to donate to the aid agencies who are providing humanitarian support on the ground in these refugee camps, including the Australian Red Cross, Australia for UNHCR, Save the Children and many more.

The current crisis has been building for many years. And, like the Rwandan crisis of a generation ago, in the future people will look back on this crisis and judge the actions taken by the international community to protect the lives of the human beings caught in the middle of it. That is why in April last year I travelled to the Rakhine State in Myanmar to meet with Rohingya people living in the internally displaced persons camps and to hear the stories of Rohingya refugees living elsewhere in the region, in Malaysia and Thailand. Even at that time, before the present catastrophe, it was clear to me that the relationship between the Rohingya and the broader Myanmar community and the government held the seeds of a future catastrophe. I heard many stories of the horrible conditions confronting Rohingya in the Rakhine State—the official and social persecution they faced and the heartbreaking stories of loss that resulted from it.

I wonder what has become of the many people I met in the Rohingya community in the Rakhine State last April. I know that the least I owe them is to add my voice to the call in this parliament for the Australian community and the Australian public to do everything we can to support the services being provided in Cox's Bazar today.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to start by thanking the member for Calwell for bringing this motion on the Rakhine State in Myanmar before the House of Representatives. From many of the contributions you can tell the depth of concern that is rightly being reflected in the House today, and I think it's very fitting that on our first day back in parliament we're debating this topic. And I'd like to frame my comments today around a visit I made last November to Cox's Bazar, where I accompanied the CEO of Oxfam, Dr Helen Szoke, and the CEO of CARE Australia, Sally Moyle, and their respective teams in order to try to understand firsthand the situation facing Rohingya refugees fleeing the north Rakhine State across to Bangladesh.

Whilst intellectually I thought I was prepared for that visit and had done my reading and talked to as many people as I could, absolutely nothing could have prepared me for the sight of Cox's Bazar. To describe this as the fastest-growing humanitarian crisis simply as a matter of fact does little to really portray the situation in Bangladesh right now, and I would like upfront to send the most sincere thanks to the Bangladeshi government, who have, notwithstanding the very poor nature of their country and the struggles of their own people, displayed the most extraordinarily generous spirit in providing a safe haven for Rohingya people fleeing persecution and violence from the north of Rakhine State.

I had the real pleasure of meeting with many women parliamentarians whilst I was in Bangladesh. I was able to send my personal thanks for their generosity. At a time when many member states in the world are pulling up the drawbridges of their communities and closing their borders, this has not been the approach of the Bangladeshi government. As I said, notwithstanding the fact that they have their own deep challenges when it comes to looking after their own citizens, they have never blinked or even contemplated the possibility of not providing safe haven and assistance for the Rohingya refugees.

We owe the Bangladeshi government enormous thanks and enormous gratitude. Every ounce of support is needed that the Australian government can provide to the Bangladeshi government and to the humanitarian actors who are, thankfully, in Cox's Bazaar in large numbers to ensure that there is some emergency aid being delivered to the men, women and children in those camps. The role they play is so essential. Like my colleagues before me, I absolutely encourage Australians to donate, to contribute in any way they can, to that appeal. Unlike with many natural disaster appeals, a lot of people struggle to understand what is happening in this particular situation. So I don't think we've seen the generosity that we normally see from Australians—and, indeed, from other nations around the world—in providing some additional financial assistance. I thank the Australian government for the contribution we have made there, but it is a drop in the ocean. I don't think we should kid ourselves otherwise.

Certainly I know from my discussions with people in those camps there won't be repatriations any time soon without some assurance that there will be safe places for them to return to. That they are able to return to their ancestral lands and villages, not some so-called temporary camp closed off somewhere, is absolutely vital. That is not to mention the question of citizenship, which remains a core issue that needs to be redressed.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a massive humanitarian crisis. When it comes to humanitarian crises, they don't get much bigger than this. It is occurring with great speed. Some 688,000 Rohingyas have been forced to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, and those who remain are subject to ethnic cleansing. I think we've all seen the pictures of villages on fire and people being tortured, and we know that there are reports of rapes, killings and executions. This is a massive tragedy.

In the area in which I live, we have something like five per cent of Australia's Rohingya population. I've had the privilege to meet with members of the Rohingya community and their advocates, both in my electorate and here in parliament. I've heard, time and time again, the harrowing stories from a people who have been denied their identity and denied their statehood. These are people who have escaped persecution and terror but whose fear for their lives and the lives of their families is seared into their brows. Last year, I met with Mohammed Sadek, a young Rohingya refugee living in my local area. He spoke about the escalation of violence in Myanmar, the killing of his people and the systemic burning of villages. He urged this parliament to take quick and decisive action before, as he put it, the Rohingya as a people are exterminated in Myanmar. I also went to a rally outside Parliament House, a year or so ago, organised by Nor Zaman, another impressive local young Rohingya leader. He spent 15 years in a refugee camp before he managed to come to Australia. He's currently in his early 30s, and he's fighting the fight for his people and his family who have been left behind.

That activity and that activism from Rohingya in this country are vital in informing the Australian people and, most particularly, the people in this parliament of the urgency before us to do something to assist the refugees and, more importantly, to do something for those who are left behind, and then, of course, a plan for the future if these people are to be dealt with in a decent way outside the borders of modern Myanmar.

In 1948, when Myanmar gained independence from the British, the Rohingya people were promised an autonomous state, but they were rebuffed by the new leadership. The persecution of the Rohingya people continued through subsequent decades. Rohingya social and political organisations were closed, privately-owned Rohingya businesses were transferred to the government and Rohingya people were subject of forced labour, arbitrary detention and physical assault. So there have been concerted policies of discrimination against the Rohingya people for decades, and there are now more than one million of them. They are subject to a health crisis. Harvard University researchers have described a vicious cycle that begins with poor health in infancy that then feeds into malnutrition, waterborne illnesses and so on. And Rohingya children are denied a public education, which exposes an entire generation of Rohingya to the risk of illiteracy.

The recent escalation is of a different order to all of that past discrimination, because in August last year—described in testimony to the UN Human Rights Council as the assault, torture, rape and murder of innocent Rohingya people—there was a huge escalation of persecution of Rohingya in that country. In a horrifying example of disproportionate response, after a series of small attacks on police and army posts in August, Myanmar's military launched a catastrophic wave of so-called clearance operations. Of course, we now know what that means.

The task before the Australian government and the task before the United Nations is urgent—the violence continues. Our government, and I know they are working on this, has a responsibility to do everything they possibly can to change the behaviour of the authorities in Myanmar and to participate in developing a plan for the future for a group of people who've been excluded, persecuted and who are now the subject of ethnic cleansing. The task before us is urgent.

Debate adjourned.