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

I congratulate the member for Hotham for bringing this very important matter to our attention. I also welcome the Australian Cambodian community and venerables who are attending here today. Sadly, the start of 2014 brought more disturbing news from Cambodia with continued harassment of human rights activists and protesters at the hands of their own government and security forces. On 3 January, during a legitimate industrial dispute in support of a minimum wage in the clothing industry, five workers were shot dead in Phnom Penh. Many were injured and many others were beaten by the police and members of the security forces; more than 20 were detained without trial. Understandably, this provoked significant widespread protest on the streets of Phnom Penh; I understand more than 20,000 people marched in protest at these actions. By the way, the protesters were met with the same heavy-handed treatment that, presumably, originated on the orders of the Prime Minister Hun Sen.

These recent incidents are part of a pattern of violence in Cambodia. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in our region and there are more than 15 million people living with the lasting scars of their painful and brutal past. Under the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s, the population were put through some of the worst atrocities known to mankind and genocide saw more than eight million people killed through execution, starvation and forced labour. The promise of lasting peace, which was supposed to come at the end of Pol Pot's regime and the signing of the Paris peace agreement in 1991, was never quite fulfilled for the people of Cambodia. Since then, the Cambodian people have been subjected to autocratic political rule and frequent periods of violence.

Since gaining power, the Hun Sen regime has been marred by corruption, violence and systematic human rights abuses. It has only been since the formation of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, led by Sam Rainsy, that there has been a coordinated and plausible opposition to the Hun Sen government. In the elections last July, the Cambodian National Rescue Party doubled its presence in the parliament, gaining 55 seats in a 120-seat parliament. However, following serious allegations of electoral fraud, manipulation of the electoral commission and tight government control of the media, the opposition boycotted the parliamentary sessions in September last year. I met with Sam Rainsy, the leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. As a matter of fact, I met with him twice during his visits to Australia. Last year, in Sydney, we spoke about the effects of the flawed governance and corruption of the current regime, and I heard his concerns and his plans for a future for the Cambodian people. To suppress any threat to its three-decade rule, the Hun Sen administration has instigated court proceedings against Sam Rainsy and his deputy, Kem Sokha, on charges that they have incited crime to undermine public security.

I have spoken on many occasions in this place about the issue of human rights in various parts of the world, including Cambodia, and I will continue to do so because I believe in a society where people's fundamental human rights are respected. Human rights are the inherent privilege that every person is entitled to regardless of their background or where they were born. Given the significant relationship between Australia and Cambodia, I believe Australia has a responsibility to join with the international community in voicing in the strongest possible terms its abhorrence to the continuation of human rights abuses in Cambodia and place appropriate pressure on the Cambodian government to address this dreadful situation.

Australia is a major foreign aid contributor to Cambodia, and our aid should have strings attached; essentially the conditions should be to improve their human rights record. People in Cambodia deserve better than what they have, and they certainly need our support. I would also like to acknowledge Mr Chhayri Marm, President of the Cambodia National Rescue Party in Sydney, one of the most passionate advocates for human rights that I have met, in his tireless work undertaken for his community. I will continue to attend functions with him, and encourage him to continue with his noble work.

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