Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House calls on the United Nations to:

(1)

substantially increase the level of aid to the Darfur region of the Sudan;

(2)

call upon member nations to provide peacekeeping forces to quell the civil war currently taking place in the country;

(3)

lift the profile of this catastrophic situation that confronts Darfur and the conflict which has already claimed 300,000 lives and seen 2.4 million people displaced;

(4)

work effectively with the NGOs to ensure a substantial lift in the level of privately sourced aid going to the region; and

(5)

ensure that maximum cooperation is given to peace negotiations.

As the House would be aware, the humanitarian disaster occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan only continues to worsen. The plight of the people of this region should resonate with every member of the House, as it should with every member country of the United Nations. It is almost beyond belief that this wanton murder, this genocide, of innocent people by armed militias could occur in our time. From within Australia, it is hard to picture the terror these people suffer in their daily existence. It is hard to imagine the feeling of waiting for the next raid by Janjaweed militias, not knowing if you, your spouse or your children will be the next to be murdered in the name of sectarian violence.

It is more than 2½ years since the crisis began. The western region of Darfur is recognised as being a monumental humanitarian disaster. It is estimated that 300,000 people have been killed in this conflict and an additional 2.4 million people have been displaced over three years. On average, 60,000 people a year have been killed, which is far beyond the tolerance of most people. To put this in context, the number of people killed every day in the western region of Darfur is more than the total number of members of the House. Unfortunately, the situation continues to deteriorate. People are still dying in vast numbers from violence, malnutrition and disease. While humanitarian access has improved to a very moderate degree, we are not seeing a corresponding decrease in the mortality rates in this region.

The international community is failing to protect these people adequately. Pressure must be brought to bear on the government in Khartoum to disarm the Janjaweed and restore order and peace. I call on this House to make the strongest representations possible for the UN to act swiftly and strongly, for this is quite simply a matter of life and death. As the parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, it is our moral duty to pressure the United Nations, of which Australia was a formation member, to markedly increase foreign aid and to ready a large international peacekeeping force to quell the violence. Some of the refugee camps are reputedly home to more than 100,000 people who are living in the most squalid and distressing conditions. This conflict has already claimed more than 300,000 innocent lives.

The international community stood back and watched the senseless destruction in Rwanda, which is still reeling and scarred from its experience. After Rwanda, the world promised that it would never again sit on its hands and watch a systemic genocide, yet the Sudan already closely resembles Rwanda. Without a huge international effort and a strong commitment to a peaceable solution, the situation will continue to worsen.

The Australian government has already committed strongly to resolving the problems in Darfur. Over the past two years Australia has spent more than $50 million to help displaced people in Sudan. Just last week the Minister for Foreign Affairs announced another $5 million in Australian support for Darfur and $2 million for southern Sudan. This money will be used to provide more emergency food through the World Food Program and UNICEF.

The international community has resolved on numerous occasions to call on the government of Sudan to allow full access to Darfur for peacekeepers and aid. The crisis in Darfur will be solved not by war, but rather by a properly negotiated political solution that addresses the underlying cause of the conflict.

Australia has strongly supported UN Security Council action on Sudan, including the establishment of the UN Mission in Sudan, UNMIS, and assisted the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement, which was signed in January 2005. We have contributed 15 specialist ADF personnel and 10 Federal Police officers to the UN mission.

Now that the government of Sudan has signed a peace agreement with the main rebel group, there is no basis for it to delay and to place conditions on a transition. But it continues to stall. There is a need to work more closely with NGOs to find a political settlement to the problem. Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, World Vision, the Red Cross and a wide array of other organisations are working tirelessly in Sudan and it is vital that they receive the strongest possible support from the international community.

Already, the balance of Australia’s funding for Darfur is ceded to various international NGOs. The government also provides support to several Australian NGOs working in Sudan. However, some of these projects have recently been scaled back as staff have had to be withdrawn due to the ever-increasing threat of violence toward aid workers. A number of aid workers have been killed and injured over the last few months.

The situation in Darfur is so serious that we, as legislators—and Australians, as human beings with compassion—are beholden to do all we can to push toward a solution to this dreadful conflict. Genocide is not a domestic affair; it affects the whole world. I call upon the House to recognise the importance of the situation in Darfur and to call for the appropriate steps to be taken to restore peace and order in one of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries. I commend this motion to the House.

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