Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It seems that hardly a day goes by without news of reports of grave human rights abuses occurring in countries across the globe. Whether it is violations relating to civil, cultural, economic, political or social rights, basic liberties are being denied to millions of people every day. Particularly over the past 12 months we have seen and been confronted by pretty disturbing images of atrocities that have occurred around the world.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 17 : 56 to 18 : 15

Before the suspension, I was saying that we were seeing the deaths and displacement of people almost on an unprecedented scale in Syria, looting and killing in Iraq, rapes and amputation in the Congo, mistreatment of workers in Cambodia and repression of dissidents in Vietnam. The one thing that all these situations have in common is that they are gross and blatant violations of international human rights law.

Despite the establishment of the United Nations and the enactment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, sadly, gross and systemic abuses continue to be perpetrated at an alarming rate across the globe. Within the Asia-Pacific region, Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma are amongst the top countries that have the most deteriorating human rights record. I will start by recapping the situation in Vietnam, given that the 12th round of the Australia-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue took place in Canberra only last month.

Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, there have been systematic violations of human rights occurring in Vietnam committed under the one-party system. Freedom of speech, assembly association and religious practice continue to be significantly repressed and are controlled by a government through the misuse of law enforcement bodies as well as the enactment of vague and controversial laws. Before the human rights dialogue, I specifically requested the Minister for Foreign Affairs to raise a number of prominent cases with the Vietnamese government. Cases of particular concern included that of Tạ Phong Tan, who was arrested in 2011 for her critical blog post against the government; Dang Xuan Dieu, Ho Duc Hoa and Nguyen Dang Minh Man, who were sentenced to outrageously lengthy jail terms ranging from three to 13 years for their activities in relation to the Catholic Church; Viet Khang, a prominent songwriter, who was arrested and sentenced to four-years jail for writing a patriotic song about South Vietnam and freedom; and, more recently, Nguyen Viet Dung, a 29-year-old environmental activist, who was arrested by the Hanoi police for wearing a t-shirt with a South Vietnamese emblem during a peaceful protest against the government's decision to cut down the centenary trees.

In all of these cases, the dissidents have been completely deprived of the basic rights of freedom of speech and freedom of association and the right to religious practice in an attempt by the government to maintain absolute authority over the social and political movements that it considers might challenge the government's monopoly on power. However, these occurrences have not gone unreported, with more and more Vietnamese citizens turning to the internet and social media to publicise their voices and concern. In fact, the internet has become a major trend, with more than 90 million Vietnamese people connected to the World Wide Web. Vietnamese citizens have used the internet and social media to speak out against these violations. Their demands for accountability are out-pacing the Vietnamese government's ability to shape public opinion.

In response to this, the Vietnamese government enacted what is known as Decree 72 in 2013 to prohibit internet use from sharing news and blog posts online. Many have become victims to decree 72, including an overseas Vietnamese student named Hoang Anh Ho, whom I met recently—as a matter of fact, last month here in Canberra. Mr Hoang came to Australia in 2010 and recently graduated with honours in a Bachelor of Environmental Science from the University of New South Wales. Having become more aware of the repression occurring in Vietnam during his time abroad, Mr Hoang took it upon himself to engage in social media to voice his concerns. To his horror, his family in Vietnam were threatened by Vietnamese officials, who also sent Mr Hoang a letter calling on him to stop all activities on his social media account, alleging that his actions amounted to an attempt to propagandise against the state. Mr Hoang's case is just another example of the tyrannical measures that the Vietnamese government will use in order to silence dissidents, even those abroad.

Cambodia's human rights record is not much different to that of Vietnam, with a country that is also ruled by a virtual one-state dictatorship, which has been in power now for over 30 years. Following the country's procedurally flawed national elections in 2013, the Cambodian People's Party has taken further steps to restrict peaceful protests, limit political opponents' ability to engage in policymaking and prevent the independent establishment of civil society organisations, particularly in the lead-up to the 2018 elections. Protesters who voice their opinion have had to brave batons and bullets, and torture is commonplace in police custody.

In January last year, Cambodian authorities banned all forms of protest to force organised labour in the garment industry to lower their demands for minimum wage increases. However, this did not deter some who continued with their protest. What followed was a brutal measure of suppression by the Cambodian security forces, who opened fire and used excessive force on protestors, leaving four young men dead. The authorities still have not conducted any serious investigation into these killings.

In the same year, a 27-year-old reporter, Lay Samean, was punched, kicked and hit with batons after he tried to film security forces attacking a religious monk during a protest in Phnom Penh. Lay Samean suffered a broken cheek bone, and his case was later dropped by the courts without any explanation.

These are just a few of the instances which have highlighted the lack of an independent judiciary system in Cambodia and the rampant impunity offered to the perpetrators of human rights abuses which are often law enforcement bodies.

Another country which has hit the radar in terms of its declining human rights record is Myanmar, otherwise known as Burma. The country's population of 55 million people continues to suffer ongoing human rights violations as hundreds are jailed for their dissenting views. Not only is the media completely controlled by the state; article 18 of the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law is often used to charge human rights defenders and activists who protest and conduct demonstrations.

Amongst these abuses, the Burmese Government has also carried out crimes against humanity through their campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya people—a Muslim minority. More than 100,000 of the Rohingya people have been severely discriminated against in the country and are forced to live in appalling camps, cut off from their livelihood. The government also denies aid to these minorities and completely restricts their movements in the Rakhine State.

For Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma, redressing these human rights violations is essential from any developmental perspective. Not only does recognising equal rights and fundamental freedoms promote social and sustainable development for a country, it also improves the country's economic prospects by allowing greater participation in global trade. Free trade can only properly function when foreign countries have proper policies in line with the World Trade Organization, which requires the enactment of appropriate labour laws and the provision of an independent voice for workers.

In the case of Vietnam, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is obviously an attraction to the Vietnamese government. However, Vietnam should not be allowed to participate in the TPP until it can tangibly demonstrate its promotion of accountable and transparent laws when it comes to the country's human rights situation. Only then should it be allowed to participate and take a place more fully on the world trading stage.

As Australia looks to develop closer economic ties with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, we need to ensure our commercial ties help develop the ability of states to improve their human rights records, and that should be one of the issues that is required of any aspect of free trade agreements. Therefore, as we approach International Human Rights Day on 10 December, let the declaration pose as a significant reminder to us all that we recommit to the vision of acknowledging human rights everywhere, for everyone, around the globe. (Time expired)