Dr U Ne Oo Human Rights Home Page

Written by U Ne Oo on 2002-08-06

AUSTRALIAN SENATE Hansard



Tuesday, 6 August 2002 Legal and Constitutional Committee



[2:53pm







OO, Dr U Ne, Secretary, Network for International Protection of



Refugees







CHAIR -- Welcome. You have registered with the committee your



submission, No. 24. Are there any amendments or alterations that you



would like to make to that submission ?







Dr Oo -- No, I do not have any amendments, but I should like to make an



opening statement.







CHAIR -- I invite you to do so.







Dr Oo -- Before I make my opening statement, I would like to encourage



you to ask questions if you do not understand me very well. I did not



fly here from Adelaide to be misunderstood by this committee.







CHAIR -- We will try and understand you to the best of our capacities.







Dr Oo -- My accent is difficult to understand.







CHAIR -- We have a little bit of time.







Dr Oo -- Could you also please speak a little bit slowly so that I can



understand.







CHAIR -- Sure.







Dr Oo -- Firstly, I would like to thank this committee and the Romero



justice community in Adelaide for enabling me to come here and present



my organisation's view. I am U Ne Oo, a Burmese exile and refugee



living in Adelaide. I was sent to Australia in 1988 by the Rangoon



University physics department to do a doctorate under the Australian



government's Colombo Plan Scholarship, and I obtained a PhD in physics



from Adelaide University. I applied for refugee status in Australia in



1992, and the government granted a refugee visa in 1993.







Since then, I have survived as a refugee in Australia and as an exiled



person from Burma. Over the years, from 1992 to date, as a Burmese



exile I have had an extensive involvement with Burmese democracy and



human rights movements. As the committee members may have noted from



one of the attachments to my submission, I began to be seriously



concerned about the refugees in Australia in 1997-98. In response, I



started a South Australian based grassroots refugee advocacy group,



the Network for International Protection of Refugees, and its



objectives are outlined in an appendix to my submission.







Our organisation seeks to address the government's views on the human



rights of refugees and displaced persons at the policy level. In a



personal capacity I am also involved with several other refugee



support groups in South Australia. Our organisation is disturbed by



the Australian government's continuing inhuman treatment of asylum



seekers and refugees. Over the years we have seen the Australian



government carry out misinformation campaigns about asylum seekers and



refugees in this country. Day after day the government ministers



regurgitate untruths about asylum seekers so as to dehumanise asylum



seekers. The children overboard scandal was one such example./







As the senators may understand, refugees in any society are



marginalised and powerless. It is so unfair of the government to



launch misinformation campaign about refugees, because refugees have



no capacity whatsoever to conquer such campaigns. This current



amendment bill, just like many of other government initiatives on the



so-called border protection, is just poking around the refugee issue



whenever the Australian government desires popular attention or wishes



to create political distraction. It is immoral for Australian



government to use refugees and asylum seekers as pawns to further its



political aganda. Our organisation is greatly concerned that the



Australian government is heading towards the old apartheid system of



south African and will be shunned by the rest of the world.







Mr Chairman and committee members, you no doubt find it disturbing



when you hear about the behaviour of human smugglers. You are



disturbed when human smugglers exploit refugees and asylum



seekers. Your are distressed when human smugglers make money out of



these vulnerable people. You feel outraged when humam smugglers show



callous disrespect for the wellbeing of their human cargo. You find



human smugglers despicable because they make a profit out of



vulnerable people, such as refugees. Now, here in this parliament,



your very own government is using refugees and asylum seekers as pawns



in its political agenda. The government exploited refugees and border



protection issues to win the election. The government shows callous



disregard for the lives of asylum seekers by intercepting and turning



away refugee boats on the high seas. And, most importantly, the



government has demonised and given inhuman treatment to refugees in



order to sustain its political power. This is inhuman conduct



committed on a grand scale by the Australian government, and it is



much worse than what any human smugglers have done. I ask: don't you



find that disturbing ? I certainly find the Australian government's



conduct inhuman, despicable and disturbing.







I would like to complete my statement by highlighting our



organisation's recommendations. Our organisation, the Network for



International Protection of Refugees, calls on the Australian



government and the Prime Minister to:







-- Apologise to the refugees who were being wrongly accused of



   throwing their children overboard







-- conduct an independent inquiry into the death of two women asylum



   seekers in November 2001







-- Carry out speedy processing and resettlement of asylum-seekers who



   are held in off-shore detention centers







-- Cease the interception of refugee boats on the high seas and put a



   halt to the Pacific Solution







-- Repeal Temporary Protection Visa legislation of October 1999







-- Remove existing excision bill of September 2001 and withdraw



   current amendments.







CHAIR -- Dr Oo, you have given us a press statement from December 1998



in which you mention office-holders: patron, Sister Janet Mead, and



chairperson, Reverend Martin Chittleborough and so on. Are they still



your office-holders ?







Dr Oo -- Yes. The only change is in the executive committee



members. This is the original document that was out out in 1998.







CHAIR -- On page 2 of your submission you say that an analysis of



unauthorised arrivals shows an increase in the percentage of women and



children since the introduction of the temporary protection visa



legislation in October 1999. Could you provide us with the sources of



information that you relied on for that statement ?







Dr Oo -- I cannot give you out of hand which source I got that from,



but I have been interested in these issues over the years, so I



sourced this fact from somewhere. If the committee wants it, I will



provide it to you.







Would you take that question away with you to find the source of the



information and give it to the committee ?







Dr Oo -- Yes.







You also state that the policies are not well thought out in a legal



and constitutional sense. Are you saying that there are some



constitutional problems with the legislation ?







Dr Oo -- I am not a lawyer. That certainly does not help my capacity



to fully comprehend all those legal and constitutional



implications. But, as graduate activists and a refugee advocacy group,



we take data from reliable sources like Amnesty International, Human



Rights Watch and human rights committees.







CHAIR --If you could take that question away and find the source of



that constitutional concern, you could come back to us with it.







Senator STEPHENS -- Regarding your organisation's experience, perhaps



you would comment on the impact of the restriction that refugees



currently in Australia on temporary protection visas granted after 27



September 2001, who spent more than seven days in a safe country en



route to Australia, will not be eligible for a permanent protection



visa. This means that although the person may be recognised as refugee,



they will not be able to bring their family out to Australia, they



will not be able to leave the country without their TPV being



cancelled and, if they try to re-enter Australia, they will be deemend



an illegal arrival. Has that been the experience of your organisation



?







Dr Oo -- Our organisation has more of an advocacy role, and I do not



have a direct involvement with refugees and resettlement issues. I



only look at the policy and policy implications of those refugees.







Senator PAYNE -- There are number rof statements you have made with



which not every member of the committee would agree. I am probably



going to indicate that there are number of statements that I do not



agree with, but I am interested in a number of points that you make in



your submission. In considering that document and some of the aspects



that you have raised today, what is your organisation's view of people



who, some might say, in their role as people smugglers extort from,



but most certainly exploit, vulnerable individuals and make them pay



extortionate amounts of money to transport them around the world and



bring them to places like Australia in pretty average circumstances --



of transport at least ? What do you think about people smugglers at



your organisation ?







Dr Oo -- The people smugglers do break the laws and they are not good



people, but, as an organisation and human rights activist, we are more



concerned about the government implicating the refugees in association



with the human smugglers.







Senator PAYNE -- I understand that that is your concern. Do you think



governments, of any colour, who are in a position to do so, should



make any efforts to deter people smugglers from doing what they try to



do ?







Dr Oo -- I did not quite hear you. What did you say ?







Senator PAYNE -- I was wondering whether youthought governments in any



context should take steps to deter people smugglers from doing what



they do. Should we just let it go on all around us with little regard



for the consequences either for the individuals being smuggled or for



the people smugglers or the recipient countries ?







Dr Oo--If governments try to make refugees less exploitable, that



would be a welcome initiative. But to my knowledge, Australia's human



smuggling law and penalties are so tough already that if Oscar



Schindler were still alive, even he would not be able to smuggle into



Australia.







CHAIR --Thank you, Doctor. I think we can leave it there. The



committee looks forward to receiving the information we have sought



from you. Thank you and your organisation for your submission.







Proceeding suspended from 3.11 pm to 3:30pm.

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