Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, , 32:10 to 46:17
Representatives from Human Rights Watch and the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar provide opening statements on the unprecedented scale of the crisis. They argue that international attention is declining despite the worsening regional security situation.
Topics: Human rights, National security
Speakers: Elaine Pearson, Christopher Sidoti, Hon Sarah Henderson, Dean Smith, Daniela Gavshon, David Shoebridge
I would now ask that the next witnesses move to the table uh and welcome representatives from Human Rights Watch and the special advisory council for Myanmar online. I understand that information on parliamentary privilege and the protection of witnesses giving evidence to Senate committees has been provided to you. Uh for the handside record, would you please state your full name and the capacity in which you appear And we might start Um Mr. Sedoti, if if you could kick kick off, that would be great.
>> My name is Chris or Christopher Sedot. I'm appearing today on behalf of two organizations. the special advisory council for Myanmar and the human rights council of Australia. Uh these two organizations made a joint submission to the inquiry.
>> Uh thank you very much Mr. Sedot and to Human Rights Watch.
>> Hello chair. Uh I'm Ela Pearson. I'm the Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
>> Good morning. Thank you.
>> Hi, I'm Daniellea Gavshan. I'm the Australia director of Human Rights
I would now like to invite uh both organizations, representatives from both organizations to make a short opening statement and at the conclusion of any remarks I will invite members of the committee to answer questions. In advance, as I indicated, we will be suspending uh around about 10 to 9 uh because of our party room commitments. So, please apologies in advance. Thank you for bearing with us uh due to this unexpected situation that Liberal senators are in. So first
>> can I just for the record apologize for being late. I was at the national apology breakfast this morning I think Senator um with other senators as well.
>> Senator Shu welcome. I did indicate that you would be joining us expected. So thank you very much for being here this morning as well. Uh firstly to an opening statement from uh Human Rights Watch.
>> Great. Well, thank you for inviting us to take part in this hearing on Myanmar, a crisis which is just too often overlooked. As highlighted in the recent statement by Foreign Minister Wong, we're 5 years on from the military coup, but the people of Myanmar are facing escalating violence and repression at the hands of the military hunter. The Hunter's assault on the population has decimated every facet of life in the country. The military's atrocities, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, have escalated over this past year as the Hunter sought to entrench its rule through abusive military operations and fraudulent elections. The sham elections held in December and January were organized to ensure a win for the military's proxy party and obtain legitimacy for a military controlled state. As expected and by design, the military has claimed a landslide victory. Since the coup, the hunter has systematically dismantled the rule of law and the country's naent democratic institutions. The takeover effectively ended Myanmar's limited democratic transition under Ansunguchi's National League for Democracy. The recent elections are a sham because the Hunter has crushed all political opposition. Uh shuttering at least 40 political parties have been forced to disband. Ahead of the polls, authorities issued a slew of draconian laws and policies and arrested at least 400 people under a so-called election protection law passed in July. China and Russia, the Hunter's primary suppliers of aircraft and arms, both sent election observers. The two countries have long supported the Hunter while blocking international action on Myanmar at the UN Security Council. With increased Chinese and Russian support, the Myanmar military air and drone strikes increased 30% last year. Aerial tracks aerial attacks hit schools, hospitals, religious sites, displacement camps, killing thousands of civilians over the past year. Since late 2024, the military has increasingly used armed param motors from which pilots drop mortar rounds without any targeting capacity. Myanmar also remains one of the few countries use using banned cluster munitions and anti-personnel landmines. The recruitment and use of child soldiers has surged since the coup. Uh there are about 5.6 million people displaced internally and across borders. Foreign aid cuts skyro skyrocketing prices and restrictions on medical care and humanitarian supplies have exacerbated malnutrition, waterbornne illness and preventable deaths. The Hunter authorities have arrested more than 30,000 people. More than 2,200 have died in custody. These atrocities have been met with dwindling international aid and attention. The international response has so far failed to exert sufficient leverage on the military which continues to violate the December 2022 security council resolution, the AEN 5-point consensus and numerous other international calls. In terms of concrete recommendations, we can get into these. uh they are noted in the submission but firstly Australia should urge other governments in the region to reject the outcome of the sham elections. It's important to counterbalance the support from China, Russia and other regional countries that are backing these election results. So we need a very clear emphatic message that these sham elections only serve to entrench the military dominated repression and abuses. Australia should also coordinate coordinate with other uh governments to identify gaps in existing sanctions to expand and better enforce mechanisms to cut the military off from the revenue funding its atrocities. Australia should also institute a total ban on the sale of aviation fuel. To better support people in need, Australia should expand its humanitarian aid, political and technical support for Myanmar civil society and opposition groups. The the government should also increase resettlement and visas for educational work for Myanmar asylum seekers including Rahinda. And lastly, Australia should explore every avenue for justice and accountability for the uh Hunter's grave crimes including through the universal jurisdiction framework. Thank you.
>> Thank you so much. U Mr. Sedosi, do you have an opening statement?
>> Uh thank you chair. A few comments. >> Yes. The situation in Myanmar today is without precedent in the almost 80year [snorts] history of Burma, Ben, Myanmar since independence. Uh there have been civil wars repeatedly over those 80 years, but never a situation like the current one where virtually the entire country is at war. There have been uprisings in the past, but never one that has gone on for 5 years, is nationwide, and shows no sign of ending. The result of this situation is that the country is in absolute crisis. Uh human rights crisis, humanitarian crisis, political crisis and economic crisis. Human rights watch has well presented an overview of the current crisis and its impact on the people of Myanmar. Our submission deals with two principal points. First, it indicates why the recent Yuna inspired elections cannot be concept uh accepted as free and fair or in any way legitimate. Second, it makes a number of very specific recommendations. In my comments though, I want to point to an overarching need and that is the need for a new initiative outside Myanmar at a regional level to bring about a breakthrough. Not only is the situation inside the country continuing with war uh with repression and increasing poverty, but outside there is stalemate. The Security Council is unable to act because of vetos from Russia and China. The General Assembly hasn't considered Myanmar properly for a number of years. Uh Assan started off very positively with a groundbreaking fivepoint consensus in April 2021, but Assan itself has not known what to do since then. I think it's accurate to say that ASEAN has goodwill, but no strategy for dealing with the Myanmar situation. And in the meantime, the Myanmar situation is becoming more and more a threat to regional peace and security. Its immediate neighbors, of course, are most affected, but we're all affected. There needs to be a regional initiative to seek to find a breakthrough in the Myanmar situation, and Australia needs to be one of the leaders of that initiative. It can no longer be left to Assan which as I have indicated has goodwill but no strategy. It must involve all of Myanmar's regional neighbors. So China, India, Bangladesh as well as ASEAN and others who have an influence such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the Republic of Korea. There has been no initiative taken by these regional states in relation to Myanmar. It simply is not a high enough priority. The Australian government needs to take the lead to talk with ASEAN to talk with China, India, Bangladesh and the other states that I have mentioned and seek to have a genuine regional meeting and regional proposals to address the Myanmar situation more seriously than has been done to date. That is the fundamental framework for action that we put before the committee. Thank you,
>> Mr. Sedod. Thank you so much. We will now go to questions from senators. Uh Senator Smith,
>> uh two um two brief questions. Uh why is there dwindling international attention on the uh catastrophe that is the Myanmar conflict? Secondly, do you think there is an appreciation in the Australian government how this conflict has now expanded to present a very significant and real regional security risk?
>> I mean, I can Oh, Chris, do you want to
>> No, no, go, mate.
>> Okay. Um I mean sadly there are so many horrific humanitarian and human human rights crises unfolding around the world. You know after the Myanmar military coup, the Taliban also took over Afghanistan. Then we had Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Then we have uh Israel's assault on Gaza. And so it feels like Myanmar has just been dropping um from international attention. And in part it's been left to Azan to resolve. If you look at many of the statements from Western governments, they always hide behind this fig leaf of Azen is taking the lead on this with its five-point consensus. But Azen is only as strong as its member states and its member states are really divided on the approach to Myanmar. And unfortunately, the approach that Thailand, Cambodia, um Vietnam and Laos take really undermines the efforts of the more progressive states within Azan including the Philippines, uh Indonesia and Malaysia. And so I think that is the fundamental problem. this uh conflict is having um you know knock-on effects uh within the region. Um you know certainly there are millions of people who've been displaced into Bangladesh into India into Thailand and Malaysia. Um but at the same time you know China has provided cover to the military for abuses and that cover has really sustained and enabled the military to conduct these sham
Senator Smith, I would agree with the comments that Elaine Pearson has made. Um, I would address though the second question that you asked and that is whether there is an appreciation within the Australian government of the regional seriousness of the situation. I I think there is an appreciation but there is no response to it and that's what I'm calling for today. There is a need for the Australian government no longer to sit back and not con no longer being content with the smaller but significant actions being taken but rather to try and address the picture as a whole. That doesn't mean us acting alone but it does mean us trying to facilitate the kind of regional approach that I have suggested. Uh I think the Australian government has opportunities that others don't have particularly in the context of the Assan divisions that Ela Pearson has described. Um but also the lack of a strategy on the part of ASEAN that's what we need at the moment a regional initiative and Australia is well placed to lead it.
>> Final question from myself and a brief answer uh if we can. Would you agree that an immediate tactical response or an immediate tactical action that the Australian government should take is a much greater focus and emphasis on the disruption of um and prohibition uh of aviation fuel so as to you know run interference against uh the in the air strikes uh which are not just causing severe civilian casualties but are interrupting the progress that the ethnic armed organizations might be having uh in um in repelling the um Burmese regime.
>> I'm just going to have to ask you to keep your question [clears throat] responses very brief. We've only got two more minutes.
>> Okay. Yes, absolutely. We do we do call on the government to be imposing comprehensive sanctions on jet fuel. Um on that we we have sort of had three categories. One is on the banks. Australia's already done two on two of the banks but the hunter has found loopholes. We need to close that loophole. So specifically sanctioning Myammar economic bank would be another one. Um and then also foreign revenue for the hunter. So through you know my oil and gas um enterprise and the other extractive industries where they're um managing to get in foreign revenue. So the three buckets are ones where we think are really important.
>> Uh and from us yes