Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 23 October 1991 the Paris Peace Agreements were signed by all four of Cambodia's combatant factions plus 19 other countries. Then, Australia and the world made a promise to the Cambodian people to stand up for human rights, peace and democracy. But 30 years on the world has failed to keep its promise, standing by while Hun Sen's gangster regime has attacked human rights, killed democracy, given away the Cambodian people's sovereignty, accumulated secret wealth overseas and undermined our region. I travelled, at my expense, two years ago to see the situation firsthand. What I saw in Cambodia truly shocked me. The trampling of human rights and the state of democracy was dire. It has got even worse through COVID.

The question now for Australia, and countries that promised 30 years ago to support peace and democracy, is: what can be done now? The 1991 Paris peace accords are a place to start. There are of continuing moral and legal relevance, as the UN has observed. Article 29 of the accords—they anticipated this—contain a formal mechanism to bring together these countries in the event of serious human rights violations and it's way past time that this clause was triggered. The Morrison government talks a big game but it's not good enough to do just keep saying, 'All options are on the table' but do nothing. Australia's Labor government drove the 1991 peace process. Today, 30 years on, Australia should again play a leadership role in triggering article 29.