Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I strongly support this motion and congratulate the member for Cook for again bringing this matter on Darfur to national and international attention and to the attention of this parliament. I know many members across the parliament feel strongly about the need to take more action. Without continually raising this issue through motions such as this, we cannot apply sufficient pressure—and we must keep applying that pressure—on the Sudanese government and international bodies. Of course, we must also urge our own government to continue its action to see whether there is anything else we can do to stop the great hardship we see occurring.

The origins of this conflict, between government sponsored Arab militias and two rebel groups—the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudanese Liberation Movement—are many. While the political conflict emerged after attacks by rebel groups on government targets, the recruitment of Arab militias by the Sudanese government to attack villages added a very ugly ethnic dimension to an already ugly dispute. Some commentators have also pointed to the competition for land and water resources between nomadic and sedentary tribes in the region as contributing to the conflict.

But, whilst the origins are complex—and we can go through them many times—there is no shortage of evidence that the conflict in Darfur continues to have an absolutely appalling humanitarian cost. Staggeringly, the World Health Organisation estimates that up to 10,000 people die of disease and violence each month. I note the member for Cook cited some other figures. In any case, the figures are staggering. On top of this, currently 1.8 million displaced people cannot return to their homes and are living in fear.

In Australia we have a new and heightened investment to resolve this crisis, with the growing number of refugees arriving on our shores from the region. I have quite a large Sudanese population living in Gellibrand and I want to ensure that Australia plays its role in making Sudan safe for their extended families and in helping them to see an end to the conflict and crisis in their home country.

I want to speak about a particularly disturbing aspect of this conflict: the use of sexual and gender based violence against Darfurian women and girls. Not only have women been subjected to gross violence when being driven from their homes and villages but it seems they are also not safe in refugee camps, where there are reports of ongoing harassment and extreme violence against women. We must call on all sides of this conflict to end this shocking treatment. It makes you ask: where on earth has our humanity gone? The violence, the fear and the attacks on the most vulnerable must stop. These gross violations of human rights must be stopped, and this motion calls upon the international community to provide extra resolve and resources to do so.

I urge the United Nations to increase the level of aid to the region and ask the Sudanese government to commit to ensuring the safety of aid workers. I commend the African Union mission in Sudan and other groups who work in very strained circumstances. I acknowledge the work they have done in the face of limited resources and immense challenges.

Without a properly resourced peacekeeping force in the region, the conditions for administering aid are becoming just too dangerous. The UN’s most recent humanitarian profile of Darfur states that the accessibility of the population to UN aid workers has dropped dramatically. In January 2006 it had dropped to 72 per cent of the population, which is well below what was achieved in the middle of 2005 and leaves nearly a third of the population without much-needed assistance.

I add my voice to the call for the United Nations to provide peacekeeping forces to the region. This cannot be seen, as is sometimes suggested, as a statement of Western imperialism; it is one of global humanism—more must be done to stem the tide of extensive human suffering caused by this conflict. I also urge the Sudanese government to accept the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces to stem this violence in Darfur.

Further, it is imperative that peace negotiations continue, to ensure that an inclusive peace agreement is reached. While I commend the signing of a peace accord in May this year, I remain concerned about its chances of success given that the smaller rebel groups remain outside the process. I fear that there can be no lasting peace in Darfur without an inclusive agreement. Through this issue coming to the attention of the House, I hope that this parliament, our government, the international community and the government of Sudan will all redouble their efforts to do whatever they can to stop this humanitarian crisis from growing to an even greater scale. I commend the motion to the House.

See this speech in context