Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As Australian Greens spokesperson on foreign affairs, it's a sad reality that too often I have to rise to speak in this place of attacks on human rights around the world. We will continue to speak out about human rights violations, wherever they occur, because we believe that universal human rights are fundamental and must be respected and protected in all countries and for all people. That's why we call out human rights violations here in Australia wherever they occur, and we will do the same in other countries wherever that happens.

Like millions around the world, I'm incredibly concerned about the declaration of emergency law by the Myanmar military and the unlawful detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other individuals. The November 2020 general elections reflected the will of the people of Myanmar to keep building their democracy and must be respected. We urge the Myanmar military to release those that have been detained and to cease interference with election outcomes and democratic transition.

I visited Myanmar in January 2019 as part of a mentoring program for women MPs, organised by the International Women's Development Agency, IWDA. I worked with the program over the last two years, including hosting a group of women MPs who visited us here in Australia. I'm now really worried for their safety and the safety of the other MPs who've recently been elected. Being involved in the IWDA mentoring program made us very aware of how the road to democracy is a bumpy one, but we did not foresee that the military would be so brazen as to take control and overturn a democratic election result. There are steps that the Australian government can and should take immediately. Australia must scrap all military ties with Myanmar until democratic processes have been restored and we should impose targeted sanctions on General Min Aung Hlaing and all others involved in this action by the military. We should also accept any political refugees from Myanmar seeking protection in Australia.

Moving to Sri Lanka: sadly, we have seen the release of a report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, which warned that the failure of Sri Lanka to address past violations has significantly heightened the risk of human rights violations being repeated. It highlights worrying trends over the past year, such as deepening impunity, increasing militarisation of government functions, ethno-nationalist rhetoric and intimidation of civil society.

There are two particular issues I want to mention tonight. We've heard from many community members and groups that they are devastated by a Sri Lankan government policy forcing the cremation of the bodies of people who have died from COVID-19, even where this goes against the wishes of family members. It's particularly concerning, given there is no advice from the World Health Organization recommending cremation. It appears to be a particular persecution of Muslim people, for whom cremation goes against their religious practices. I'm also very concerned by reports of the destruction of the Mullivaikkal Tamil genocide memorial monument inside the premises of the Jaffna university by the Sri Lankan state and a pattern of destroying Tamil monuments. So to all Sri Lankan community members who have been in touch: I hear you and we're incredibly concerned about what's been happening. We call upon the Sri Lankan government to protect the human rights of all of its citizens and we urge our Australian government, particularly Minister Payne, to raise this issue with their Sri Lankan counterparts at both ambassadorial and ministerial level.

As well as speaking out for the human rights of those in countries around the world, tonight I want to particularly highlight the human rights of Australians stranded overseas—the stranded Aussies. Amnesty International has been vocal on this issue and I want to thank both Amnesty and the many individual Australians and community groups who've campaigned incredibly hard on stranded Australians. As Amnesty International said:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights say that everyone has the right to return home to their country, and shall never be deprived of the right to enter their own country.

Of course we recognise the importance of complying with health advice, but the clear role here is for the Commonwealth to step up and to show genuine leadership by creating more quarantine facilities. Section 51(ix) of the Constitution explicitly provides a head of power for the Commonwealth with respect to quarantine. The Commonwealth has a real responsibility here. Instead, Prime Minister Morrison has abandoned Australians overseas and tried to pretend that quarantine is a state responsibility.

Let's be very clear: we call on the Australian government to do everything it can to build and fund new quarantine facilities, or to repurpose existing facilities, that are safe and comfortable to enable Australians stranded overseas to return home. Yes, this may incur an additional cost but this is a real responsibility that we have to Australians overseas to ensure that they have a viable pathway home. We've heard some incredibly hard stories from people stranded overseas through the COVID-19 committee and expanding quarantine capacity would allow families to be reunited. It would bring people together, who haven't seen each other for years. It would mean that Australians could be brought back safe and sound to a country where they can rely on their networks and support from their and our government to respond to this pandemic, rather than being left stranded overseas. The Prime Minister must do more. If he cares about Australians, he needs to expand Commonwealth quarantine facilities.

I also want to speak tonight about the situation in Western Sahara. The Australian Greens condemn the violence and the breakdown in the UN-backed ceasefire in Western Sahara. Any acts of aggression by the Moroccan government are unacceptable. We urge the UN to broker a ceasefire as soon as possible. More than that, we strongly support the right of the Saharawi people to self-determination. They've been waiting for decades for a referendum, and the United Nations should finally organise a free and fair referendum on independence in Western Sahara without further delay. The Australian government should do what it can to support those efforts. We call on it to use all diplomatic channels available to advocate for an immediate cessation of hostilities and support all efforts to organise a free and fair referendum on independence in Western Sahara.

I also want to speak briefly about police brutality against pro-democracy demonstrators in Thailand. People have been protesting for months there, and we believe that the right to protest is important and must be protected. I understand that in Thailand in some instances police have set out barriers, including barbed wire, to prevent peaceful marchers from reaching the parliament. Beyond that, they've used water cannons laced with dye and chemicals, as well as tear gas grenades and pepper spray grenades. Water cannons were fired as part of an effort to disrupt and disperse protesters, some of whom were students and children. The reports indicate that protesters have been injured, including from tear gas, and some of those injured include very young children. So we call for action by the Thai government to protect human rights, and we call on the Australian government to make representations to its counterparts bilaterally and, as possible, through multilateral forums to advocate for the rights of protesters and to ensure that they are protected.

I want to conclude my contribution tonight by supporting the protesting farmers in India. They have encountered an incredibly difficult situation. Even before the current protests began, farmers have long faced shrinking plot sizes and declining farm incomes, and now they are facing laws that would leave them even more at the mercy of the multinationals. Eleven rounds of negotiations have failed to resolve their concerns. They've protested for months, and it's tragic that 60 farmers have died during the protests. It's an incredibly concerning issue and one that we call on the government of India to address. The Indian government must abandon its unfair changes to its agricultural laws and do more to protect its farmers and ensure their human rights and wellbeing.