My best congratulations go to Dr Denis Mukwege and to Nadia Murad on being awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, it is hard to imagine two more worthy winners. This is richly deserved recognition of these two extraordinarily and effective campaigners against the sexual violence, and the use of rape as a weapon of war.

Nadia Murad gave voice to unspeakable abuse in Iraq when the violent extremists of Daesh brutally targeted the Yazidi people, especially women and girls. As a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime since 2016, she has pursued support for victims of human trafficking and sexual slavery and justice for perpetrators. Her powerful advocacy has touched people across the world and helped to establish a vitally important United Nations investigation of the harrowing crimes that she and so many others endured.

Dr Denis Mukwege has been a fearless champion for the rights of women caught up in armed conflict who have suffered rape, exploitation and other horrific abuses. Despite regular threats to his life, he made the Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo a haven from mistreatment. Dr Mukwege has been a strong voice calling the world’s attention to the shocking crimes committed against women in wartime.

Today the Nobel Committee recognized the efforts of Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege as vital tools for peace. By honouring you as human rights, this prize also recognizes countless victims around the world who have too often been stigmatized, hidden and forgotten. Thank you for everything you have done. We need more people to stand up the way you have stood up for the rights of women and against violence.

Today I have addressed UNGA Conference 2018 titled “Transforming Our World. Sustainable Development Goals to Ensure No One Is Left Behind” held in New York to coincide with a session of UN General Assembly and organised by Journalists and Writers Foundation and Alliance for Shared Values. It focuses on education to advance culture of peace, human rights and sustainable development.
I spoke about situation in Australia on a panel on “Populations at Risk: Human Rights, Migration and Refugees”. Great world wide representation and excellent speakers dealing with freedom of speech, conflict prevention and culture of human rights.

For my speech at UNGA Conference 2018 see:

https://twitter.com/jwfoundation_/status/1044631342204555265?s=12

Also, great interest shown in my 9th ICHRE – www.ichre2018.com.au

Affinity Intercultural Foundation invites you to an upcoming Affinity Evening Panel Discussion titled:

A Big Job: Community & Government Working Together to Advance Refugee Settlement in NSW.

This event is free and open to the public. Due to limited space, we request that everyone registers via the link below.
Date: Thursday, 11 October, 6:00-7:30 pm
Panellists: Esta Paschalidis-Chilas, Government Relations Manager and Professor Peter Shergold,  Chancellor of Western Sydney University
Facilitator: Dr Sev Ozdowski, Chair of Australian Multicultural Council
Registration required: Click here to register
Please call 02 8065 2502 if you have any questions.
Please feel free to share these events in your networks.

My best congratulations to Senator Marise Payne being appointed by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to serve as Minister for Foreign Affairs since 28 August 2018. Marise has been a Senator for New South Wales since 1997 and has demonstrated a commitment to Greater Western Sydney. Senator Payne, when the Coalition returned to power in 2013, was made Minister for Human Services in the Abbott Government. Payne was appointed Minister for Defence when Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Well done Marise!

On September 3, 2018, a court in Yangon sentenced Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, to seven years in prison under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act in an apparent response to their reporting on military abuses against Rohingya Muslims. The court convicted them under section 3(1)(c) of the 1923 Official Secrets Act, which carries a punishment for anyone who “obtains, collects, records or publishes or communicates to any other person any secret official … document or information” that may be “useful to an enemy.” These sentences mark a new low for press freedom and further backsliding on rights under Aung San Suu Kyi’s government.

The journalists have been detained in Insein Prison since being arrested in December 2017 in what witness accounts indicate was a police setup. In the months prior to their arrest, they were investigating a massacre of 10 Rohingya by Myanmar security forces in northern Rakhine State. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were investigating a September 2017 attack at Inn Din village, one of a number of massacres carried out by the Myanmar military during its campaign of ethnic cleansing in northern Rakhine State, which has driven more than 720,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh since August 2017. On August 27, 2018, the United Nations-mandated Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar issued a report on the abuses calling for top military generals to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide and crimes against humanity. Myanmar authorities have denied extensive evidence of mass atrocities and refused to allow independent investigators access to the region.

The reporters were arrested on December 12 after being invited to meet with police officials at a restaurant in Yangon, where they were handed rolled-up papers allegedly linked to the security force operations in Rakhine State. The Myanmar Police Force announced that the journalists were arrested for “illegally obtaining and possessing government documents,” with the intent “to send them to a foreign news agency.” In April, a police captain testified that Police Brig. Gen. Tin Ko Ko had ordered the officers to “entrap” the journalists by planting “secret” documents on them.

After their arrest, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were held incommunicado for two weeks, during which they were deprived of sleep and forced to kneel for hours during interrogation, according to the reporters and their lawyers. The prosecution’s case was marked by inconsistencies and irregularities, including conflicting official accounts and evidence of police misconduct, Human Rights Watch said. All of the defence team’s requests for bail and dismissal were denied.

Over the past two years, hopes tied to the country’s transition from military rule have fallen aside as the new civilian administration has intensified its attacks on free speech. Since de facto leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi took office, a slew of repressive laws have been increasingly used to silence journalists and activists for perceived criticism of the government or military.

There is an urgent need for international action to free these journalists. The sentences should be immediately quashed and Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo released. The ability of Aung San Suu Kyi to keep her Nobel Peace Prize needs to be questioned.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in its concluding observations from its review of China at a hearing last month in Geneva urged the Chinese government to review policies, laws and practices that discriminate against Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongols and other ethnic groups.

The committee issued a number of recommendations while highlighting torture and ill-treatment against ethnic groups, the use of anti-terror and anti-separatism laws to stifle dissent and the diminishing space for civil society in China.

The committee said that it is “concerned by reports that Tibetans are subjected to significant restrictions on movement within and beyond Tibet Autonomous Region, and that the issuance of passports for foreign travel is almost entirely banned in the region. It is also concerned by reports that Tibetan language teaching in schools in the Tibet Autonomous Region has not been placed on equal footing in law, policy and practice with Chinese, and that it has been significantly restricted; that Tibetan language advocacy has been punished; and that Tibetans do not have access to Tibetan language translations during court proceedings, which are held in Mandarin.”

It recommended that the Chinese government “preserve the Tibetan language” by “encouraging and promoting its use in the fields of education, the judicial system and the media.” The committee also expressed general concern regarding resettlement policies that affect Tibetans.

According to the committee, China should “strengthen measures to prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment committed against members of ethnic minorities,” the committee said, apparently dismissing claims by the Chinese government that reports of those acts being committed were “false.” The committee expressed its concern “that the broad definition of terrorism and vague references to extremism and unclear definition of separatism in Chinese legislation, could have the potential to criminalize peaceful civic and religious expression and facilitate criminal profiling of ethnic and ethno-religious minorities, including Muslim Uighurs and Buddhist Tibetans and Mongolians.”

The new Katter’s Australian Party Senator Fraser Anning’s divisive comments made last night in his maiden speech were condemned by the Government, the Opposition and all fair-minded Australians.
The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs reaffirmed that Australia will always maintain a non-discriminatory immigration program.
For me, because of my cultural heritage, the use of the Nazi era phrase “the final solution” in the Senator’s statement was particularly offensive and hurtful.
Senator Anning was elected with just 19 primary votes; let’s hope that his statement has a similarly low level of public support across Australia.

Below is my small contribution to the discussion about political correctness in Australia. This interview was recorded for Today Tonight,  Channel 7 Adelaide.

See:  https://www.todaytonightadelaide.com.au/stories/pc-wars

The link to the podcast is below:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6423396948203618304/