PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS
Notices 1
MS VAMVAKINOU: To 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; Page 6 of 12
(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 the post-colonial era, this community has been denied citizenship and most basic government services under 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.
(Notice given 23 October 2017.)
