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MEMBER FOR GREENWAY

SPEECHHUMAN RIGHTS IN SRI LANKA

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 24 MARCH 2014I move:That this House:(1) notes:

(a) Australia's co-sponsorship of the 2012 United Nations General Assembly

Human Rights Council resolution calling on the Government of Sri Lanka toimplement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and ReconciliationCommission of Sri Lanka and to take credible and independent actions toensure justice, equity, accountability and reconciliation for all Sri Lankans;(b) Australia's co-sponsorship of the 2013 United Nations General AssemblyHuman Rights Council resolution expressing concern at continuing reports ofviolations of human rights in Sri Lanka, and reiterating the call upon theGovernment of Sri Lanka to implement the Commission's recommendationsand to fulfil its commitment to conduct an independent and credibleinvestigation into allegations of violations of international human rights law

and international humanitarian law;(c) reports of continuing violations of human rights in Sri Lanka, intimidationof and reprisals against human rights defenders, members of civil society and

journalists, threats to judicial independence and the rule of law, and a rapidrise in violence and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief in SriLanka; and(d) the conclusion of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rightsthat national mechanisms have consistently failed to establish the truth andachieve justice in Sri Lanka, and her recommendation that the Human RightsCouncil establish an international inquiry mechanism to further investigate thealleged violations of human rights law and international humanitarian law andmonitor any domestic accountability processes; and

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(2) calls on the Australian Government to:

(a) maintain Australia's strong record of support for human rights at the 25thsession of the Human Rights Council; and(b) join with the United Kingdom, United States of America and other co-

sponsoring nations and commit the Australian Government to the strongestpossible support for draft Human Rights Council resolution A/HRC/25/L.1.

In moving this motion I want to focus on Australia's strong record of supportinghuman rights and ensuring justice, equity, accountability and reconciliation. I wouldlike to acknowledge the work of the shadow foreign minister, the member forSydney, for her support of this motion and the commitment to human rights aroundthe world and indeed of Australian governments of all political persuasions who haveplayed their part in that process over the decades.Three weeks ago I was joined by members of this parliament from all sides ofpoliticsLabor, Liberal, the Greens, minor parties and independentsto discusshuman rights in Sri Lanka with visiting Tamil National Alliance MP Mr MASumanthiran. I was extremely pleased to see such broad representation from

Australia's parliament so present, something which highlights that this is an issuewhich indeed crosses political boundaries, and I note the advocacy of manymembers of the government on this issue, particularly the member for Reid.This is a motion I have particularly pursued because my electorate of Greenway ishome to a large Sri Lankan population. Many have fled persecution, had family

members flee during the civil war or still have family living in an unreconciledhomeland. Ultimate reconciliation of Sri Lanka and active accountability processes toacknowledge the injustices that were, and still are, occurring are therefore majorconcerns.For some time now I have been on the record supporting the cause of human rightsin Sri Lanka and accountability for atrocities committed by all sides in that conflict. Iwish to stress, Deputy Speaker, that this is about reconciliation in terms of the actsof all sides of the conflict. I made this point to former Foreign Minister Bob Carr andexpressed my preference for Australia to reconsider its involvement in the recentCHOGM event, but I was told of Australia's preference for engagement overisolationa perfectly valid preference which I can respect. I made similarrepresentations to the current foreign minister and I noted publicly that, while thiswas a decision consistent with Labor in office, my hope was that human rights wouldcontinue to be on Australia's agenda. So, this is now a process of engagement and,as such, I urge the Australian government to maintain Australia's strong record forthe support of human rights in Sri Lanka at the upcoming 25th session of the UnitedNations Human Rights Council.

I also want to bring to the attention of the parliament that today a letter has gone tothe Prime Minister from a number of eminent Australians across the political divide,

including the Hon. John Dowd AO, QC, former New South Wales Attorney-General;the Hon. Gareth Evans; Malcolm Fraser; Owen Harries, the former Australian

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Ambassador to UNESCO; Geoffrey Robertson QC; and Gordon Weiss, the AdjunctProfessor at Griffith University and founding adviser and consultant expert to theInternational Crimes Evidence Project. I quote one of the paragraphs in their letter:This resolution is of real relevance to all citizens of Sri Lanka. Any credible

investigation into violations committed by both sides would provide all Sri Lankancommunities the space and environment to come to terms with crimes committed intheir respective names. The Australian Government must support this resolution, aswithout meaningful truth, justice and accountability for the alleged crimes committedduring the war, there will be no genuine opportunity to set Sri Lanka on the path toreconciliation and lasting peace.The 2012 UN General Assembly Human Rights Council resolution called upon thegovernment of Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of its Lessons Learntand Reconciliation Commission and to take credible and independent actions to

ensure justice, equity, accountability and reconciliation is achieved for all SriLankans. Similarly, the 2013 UN General Assembly Human Rights Council resolutionexpressed concern over the continuing reports of violations of human rights in SriLanka. It called upon the government to implement the commission'srecommendations for 2012 and to fulfil its commitment to investigate all allegationsof violations of human rights law. I note that Australia was, rightly, a co-sponsor forboth the 2012 and 2013 resolutions.This motion calls upon the Australian government to honour our strong and proudrecord of support for human rights at the upcoming 25th session of the Human

Rights Council. I note that the resolution entitled Promoting Reconciliation,Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka does recognise that some progresshas been made in this respect. It calls upon the Sri Lankan government to continueto do this. It also reiterates that it take all necessary steps to fulfil its obligationsunder the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.

I believe that accountability and transparency are crucial for reconciliation to beachieved in Sri Lanka. An important step towards this is an investigation into theatrocities performed by all sides during the civil war. The harrowing reports offurther violence and violation of rights must be dealt with in a transparent and in-depth manner in order for genuine reconciliation to take place. I represent, as I said,a large population of people from a Sri Lankan homeland and they want nothingmore than reconciliation in their homeland. I believe the Australian governmentshould use this as a platform to promote it.ENDS