Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

As First Peoples of this country, we know what it's like to have your children ripped away by a system that tries to erase you; this is genocide. Genocide is also what is happening in East Turkestan. Currently over three million Uighurs are in detention without being charged, or with false and illegal charges. These centres are modern day concentration camps aimed at destroying the cultural connection of Uighurs and to fully assimilate them into Chinese culture and society.

Genocide is the worst crime of humanity. People think it is in the past and unimaginable but it is very real and it is happening now. We need to stand up against genocide always and everywhere, and I stand with Tibetans and Uighurs to do so. I stood today outside in solidarity with Tibet and East Turkestan while the foreign minister was meeting with the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and is not strong enough—or too weak, in fact—to call out the human cost of that genocidal regime. We need to call out genocide everywhere, including the actions of the Chinese government.

Tibetan children are being forced into boarding schools run by the Chinese Communist Party, separated from their religion, families, culture and traditions. The aim is to assimilate and fully disconnect them from their people and culture—sound familiar? Around one million children out of just six million Tibetans are forcibly separated from their families. I do hope our foreign affairs minister took it seriously and called out genocide in her meeting today. (Time expired)