Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday, I attended a photographic exhibition here in Parliament House displaying the oppression, persecution and systematic acts of violence against Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka. The photos on display, which are only a sample of the many more held by the Australian Tamil Refugee Council, showed horrific examples of the killings, brutality, suffering and misery of Tamil people. The Eelam Tamils claim that the ongoing enforced disappearances, land dispossession, militarisation and cultural destruction of the people and their lands is the continuation of a genocidal process that commenced decades ago and that did not end in 2009 when the civil war ended. The Sri Lankan government and military deny those claims. However, the photos are real and so is the human suffering.

Furthermore, several international inquiries have validated claims of killings, rape, torture, brutality and other human rights violations. I have also met with Tamils in my local community who are fearful for the wellbeing of family members and associates they have left behind in Sri Lanka. I urge the Australian government, in conjunction with like-minded countries, to use whatever influence it has to bring peace, security and justice to all Sri Lankan people.

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