Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the contributions of the members for Makin, Fowler, Wakefield and Dunkley to this debate. Last month I was visited by a number of my constituents of Uygur background. Like many new Australians, they came here as students to study and make a better life for themselves. They chose to stay in Australia and become Australian citizens not only because of the opportunities and promise that this great country offers but because they had a genuine fear for their lives if they returned to their homeland. They work hard, they pay taxes, they raise their families and they are actively involved in civic life with local Uygur groups and the wider Australian community. They, of course, still have family and friends back home in the Xinjiang region of China—brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, friends, schoolmates and neighbours. Many Uygurs living in Australia have lost contact with those friends and family and have serious concerns for their safety.

Several constituents have recently come to see me and have related that they have not had contact with relatives and friends for well over eight months. They explained that they fear for the safety of their loved ones as there have been rumours that they've been taken to prison and their general wellbeing is not good. They are concerned from firsthand witness accounts, media reports and the response of government and intergovernmental agencies around the world about the potential human rights violations by China in its treatment of its Uyghur minority. These reports include arbitrary mass detention of a massive scale. I stand today to voice my concerns about these disturbing reports.

Australia has a long record of playing a leading role in international relations and defending human rights, especially in our region. Doc Evatt, a member of this parliament for two decades, played a major hand in both founding of the United Nations and drafting the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A fellow parliamentarian, Gareth Evans, was instrumental in founding APEC, the cooperation forum, and brokering the Cambodian peace process. Once again, members of the Australian parliament need to play a key role in leading the world in the defence of human rights.

China officially recognises 55 ethnic minorities in addition to the Han majority, of which the Uyghur are one. Predominantly Sunni Muslims, the Uyghur live in the Xinjiang region of China's north-west. Recent reports paint an increasingly worrying picture of the treatment of the Uyghur by the Chinese government. The detention of Uyghurs in so-called re-education camps and the increasing rate at which those detention centres are being built continues to increase the worry. Varying reports on the detention rate estimate up to 12 per cent of the community have been detained, with the detention camps having a capacity to hold up to one million people. Jerome Cohen, a leading academic authority on Chinese legal systems, suggests that this is potentially the largest mass detention program seen since 1950, the period of 'the great leap forward'. Detainees come from all strata of the Uyghur society and include prominent sportspeople, academics and pop stars. The supposed crimes that result in internment can include praying regularly, growing a beard or visiting a Muslim country. Given that some of these crimes represent core religious acts to people of the Islamic faith, these reports are disturbing.

There are also reports of Chinese surveillance and intimidation of Uyghurs abroad, including in this country. It is important that the Uyghur community here in Australia does not feel pressure or intimidation from a foreign power. Condemnation of the Chinese government has been widespread. Last month, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination called on China to halt the practice of detaining individuals who have not been lawfully charged, tried and convicted for a criminal offence. I welcome the recent confirmation by the Minister for Foreign Affairs that the Australian government has raised concerns with Beijing, and I echo the calls for multilateral action of the shadow minister for foreign affairs, Senator Penny Wong, in addition to direct discussion with China. As a member of the UN Human Rights Council, we should be working in coordination with other members to pursue this issue with the Chinese government so that members of the Uyghur community who I represent are able to find comfort that their friends and family are safe and are soon to be out of detention.

Debate adjourned.

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