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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-09-15 Daily Xml
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HUMAN RIGHTS, BURMA

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. T.A. Franks:

That this council—

1. notes the 5 March 2010 report of the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar documents 'a pattern of gross and systematic violation of human rights which has been in place for many years and still continues';

2. notes the Special Rapporteur states these violations 'may entail categories of crimes against humanity or war crimes under the terms of the statute of the International Criminal Court' and recommends that 'UN institutions may consider the possibility to establish a commission of inquiry with a specific fact finding mandate to address the question of international crimes';

3. notes on 9 March 2010 the Burmese regime announced the election laws for the forthcoming election based on the 2008 constitution that excludes political activists who have been arrested, Buddhist monks and nuns and public servants from standing for election, prevents the National League for Democracy (NLD) headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, and winners of the country’s last election, from registering if Aung San Suu Kyi remains a party member, and annuls the results of the 1990 election which saw the NLD win more than 80 per cent of the vote; and

4. welcomes the Australian government’s indication that it would support investigating possible options for a United Nations commission of inquiry, and—

(a) articulates its support for human rights and democracy in Burma;

(b) calls for the release of each of the 2,100 political prisoners in Burma;

(c) condemns the 2008 constitution as anti-democratic; and

(d) supports the call for all governments to refuse to accept the results of the Burmese elections scheduled to be held later this year unless all political prisoners are unconditionally released and a new democratic constitution is introduced that would permit the full participation of all political parties and individuals and would respect the will of the Burmese people.

(Continued from 21 July 2010.)

The Hon. S.G. WADE (16:52): On behalf of the Liberal opposition, I rise to commend the Hon. Tammy Franks for raising this motion and indicate our support in a modified form. Burma is one of the most repressive regimes in the world and it is a regime operating in our region. Amongst turbulent decades, 2010 marks a significant year of potential political change in Burma. The military regime that currently holds power in Burma has announced that an election will be held later this year, the first in 20 years. The election will be held under a new constitution which was adopted in 2008.

The Burmese government forced this constitution on the people through a referendum in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. Although supposedly approved by over 90 per cent of the electorate, this result is widely regarded as a sham in that voting was either forced or manipulated by the authorities. The new constitution allows for the president to effectively be above the law, government officials to be exempt from punishment for previous violations to human rights and makes the freedom and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi ineligible to be elected as president or vice president. Aung San Suu Kyi has become the personification of the struggle of the Burmese people for democracy. She has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years.

Other ethnic minority political opponents and activists have continuously been repressed by the military regime. As has been outlined by Amnesty International's Burma expert Benjamin Zawacki during a visit to Australia in July, some of the human rights violations perpetrated against political opponents have included arbitrary arrests, unfair trials resulting in imprisonment, torture and extrajudicial executions.

It is estimated that the number of political prisoners in Burma is 2,200, but it is feared that it may well be substantially higher. The junta also uses forced labour, land and food confiscation, arbitrary beatings, recruitment of child soldiers, and torture. In 1999, a law was passed explicitly banning forced labour but, unfortunately, the law has never been enforced, and an Amnesty International report in June 2008 documents this failure.

In terms of the 2010 election, there is pessimism over the prospects of an effective and peaceful election being held. The electoral laws passed in March this year prescribe who can become a member of a political party, who can serve in parliament and how acts relating to the election can be penalised. As pointed out by Benjamin Zawacki, these laws violate three of the freedoms that Amnesty International is trying to promote: freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.

Further censorship has been increased, and the media is not authorised to make any critical statements of the election or the electoral laws. It can only be expected that censorship will escalate as the election gets closer. In his most recent report to the United Nations Human Rights Council on 10 March 2010—to which the Hon. Tammy Franks' motion refers—the UN Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, called for the consideration of a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity and possible war crimes in Myanmar. Australia has indicated its support, and a motion was passed by the Senate on 17 March.

On 8 February 2010, the month before the motion was put in the Senate, the shadow minister for foreign affairs, Julie Bishop, made a statement in the House of Representatives on the situation in Burma. She said that the military junta in Burma stands accused of some of the most serious human rights abuses of any regime in the world. She described it as one of the most repressive regimes in the world. She also stated:

I have called on the Rudd government repeatedly to work with the international community to condemn the Burmese military junta and especially its treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for a significant part of the past 20 years...The coalition continues to extend its strong support for Aung San Suu Kyi in her efforts at leading her people to freedom and democracy. While the United States has indicated a degree of re-engagement with Burma, it has retained sanctions and continues to pressure the regime for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and free elections this year, and that is a position that the coalition supports.

The Liberal opposition in this parliament is happy to associate with our federal colleagues, the Senate, and the Greens in this place, to condemn the military regime in Burma. It is an issue that members of the Australian Greens have raised in different parliaments. The Greens' motions in the different parliaments have differed slightly, one from the other.

Given that the federal parliament, amongst all the parliaments, has the greatest expertise and the primary responsibility for foreign affairs, the Liberal opposition would prefer that this parliament uses the words of the Senate motion. On behalf of the opposition, I therefore move to amend the motion to replace the current words with the words of the Senate motion moved by Senator Ludlam, a Western Australian Greens Senator, as follows:

Leave out all words after 'That this Council' and insert the following:

1. notes that the 10 March 2010 report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar documents 'a pattern of gross and systematic violation of human rights which has been in place for many years and still continues';

2. notes that the Special Rapporteur states 'the possibility exists that some of these human rights violations may entail categories of crimes against humanity or war crimes under the terms of the Statute of the International Criminal Court' and recommends that 'UN institutions may consider the possibility to establish a commission of inquiry with a specific fact finding mandate to address the question of international crimes';

3. notes that on 9 March 2010 the Burmese regime announced the election laws for the forthcoming election based on the 2008 constitution that excludes persons serving prison terms and public servants from standing for election, may prevent the National League for Democracy (NLD) headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, and winners of the country's last election, from registering if Aung San Suu Kyi remains a party member, and annuls the results of the 1990 election which saw the NLD win more than 80 per cent of the vote;

4. notes that on 10 March 2010 the United States of America (US) Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Kurt Campbell, said that the election laws were 'disappointing and regrettable' and the US State Department spokesperson, Dr. Philip Crowley, said 'given the tenor of the election laws that they put forward, there's no hope that this election will be credible'; and

5. welcomes the Government's statement on 15 March 2010 to the UN Human Rights Council expressing its support for 'investigating possible options for the establishment of a United Nations commission of inquiry' and the statement of the US acknowledging the significance of the Special Rapporteur's recommendations to create a commission of inquiry which 'underscores the seriousness of the human rights problems in the country and the pressing need for the international community to find an effective way to address challenges there'.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. Carmel Zollo.

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