David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances is on 30 August, and today I'm honoured to host a round table with people from around the world who have experienced this horror. Many are here in the gallery as I speak. There could not be a more important time to be this protective work. We'll hear from Palestinian, Chilean, Tamil, Bangladeshi, Iranian, Filipino, Kurdish, Myanmar, Indian, Western Saharan and Pakistani communities, and there are common threads that link how oppressive governments work—similarities in their domestic cruelty and in how they try to silence diaspora voices. Whether it's Sikh human rights activist, Jaswant Singh Khalra, who was abducted 30 years ago, the systemic disappearances brutally delivered by the Rapid Action Battalion in Bangladesh, political violence in Pakistan or the prisons bulging with Palestinian political prisoners, the architecture of violence and fear is common. These mass disappearances—watching your mum, dad, children, siblings and friends disappear—are a nightmare.

Listening to the Chilean community is especially hard as they recount the horrors of Pinochet, where there was clear Australian involvement. The Chilean community demand the full release of documents showing Australia's role in the overthrow of the Allende government in 1973. They call for Adriana Rivas to finally face extradition. This is the least we could do for justice. Sri Lanka has one of the highest numbers of enforced disappearances in the world, and that grief echoes through generations. Finding the disappeared also often brings new grief, and we saw this recently in the uncovering of the mass graves in Chemmani, where remains have been recovered, including those of kids and infants.

So often, justice remains elusive, with the perpetrators yet to be held accountable. We must act in solidarity with all those who face repression and discrimination. For those who have lost loved ones to forced disappearances: please know that you're not alone—that we are with you in your struggle for justice.