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Honourable Senator Lee Rhiannon speaks about Jammu and Kashmir
Honourable Lee
Rhiannon is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for New South Wales
since being elected at the 2010 federal election, representing the Australian
Greens. Prior to her election to the Federal Parliament, Rhiannon was a Greens
NSW member of the New South Wales Legislative Council between 1999 and
2010.
Greens Senator Hon.Lee Rhiannon recently spoke in the Australian
Senate about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Senator Rhiannon’s speech
covered Australia’s responsibilities. She said “I believe Australia has a
special responsibility—as a candidate for the United Nations Human Rights
Council for 2018-20—to advocate for the protection of human rights of the
people of Kashmir and Jammu.”
Her speech is below.
Australian Senate
Tuesday, 22 November 2016
Senator RHIANNON (New South Wales)
(20:37): The people of
occupied Jammu and Kashmir are facing a humanitarian crisis that requires
urgent international attention. The people who live in this region have a right
to live in peace, with their fundamental human rights to self-determination
recognised and honoured. Kashmir has been subjected to centuries of foreign
rule. Today, Jammu and Kashmir are occupied and divided between India, Pakistan
and China. This situation is a product of British colonialism. Britain
partitioned the subcontinent. Nation states were created by drawing arbitrary
lines on maps at the close of the Second World War.
Whilst many of us
might associate Kashmir with pleasant holidays, the reality for locals is very
grim. Kilometres of barbed wire run across the landscape. There is mounting
evidence that war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed in
this region. These crimes should be investigated and steps should be taken to
end the human rights abuses. Tragically, the violence in this region is
escalating. There are worrying reports of blockades limiting supplies of
essential commodities to the people of this region. This is from the website of
Amnesty International:
Human rights defenders, journalists and
protesters continued to face arbitrary arrests and detentions. Over 3,200
people were being held in January under administrative detention on executive
orders without charge or trial. Authorities also continued to use 'anti-terror'
laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other state-specific
laws which do not meet international human rights standards.
Amnesty
International has also released a report called Denied: failures in
accountability for human rights violations by security force personnel in Jammu
and Kashmir. This report documents the difficulties involved in resolving human
rights violations. The report notes, at section 7, the Armed Forces (Jammu and
Kashmir) Special Powers Act grants virtual immunity to members of the security
forces from prosecution for alleged human rights violations.
So much of
the violence in occupied Jammu and Kashmir violates the Geneva Convention of
1949 and the follow-up additional protocols of 1977. The distinction between
civilian and non-civilian targets is not recognised. Indiscriminate attacks are
not prohibited and state forces violate international guidelines. A Human
Rights Watch report has identified mass graves of thousands of Kashmiris,
possibly as high as 8,000. The Human Rights Commission inquiry confirmed there
are thousands of bullet-ridden bodies buried in unmarked graves in Jammu and
Kashmir. I understand the majority are young men.
Amnesty International
recently called on the authorities in Kashmir to investigate alleged mass rapes
of over 30 women in North Kashmir, in 1991, in the villages of Kunan and
Poshpora. The women raped were aged between 13 and 70. Human Rights Watch has
reported that between 50 and 100 women were raped by Indian Army forces on the
night of 23 February 1991. At the time, Kashmir police stated that the case was
untraceable and stopped the investigation in October 1991.
In 2011
India's human rights commission requested that Kashmir authorities launch a
fresh investigation. In June 2013 Kashmir's Judicial Magistrate Court ordered
the reinvestigation of the case. In August this year Amnesty International
India temporarily closed its offices in India. The decision was taken shortly
after Amnesty had hosted a function on recent events in Kashmir. There were
concerns for the safety of Amnesty staff. Since July, Srinagar, the capital
city of Kashmir, has had its mobile phone networks shut down, many newspaper
offices have been raided and papers have been seized.
Tragically,
civilians are often the target of attacks. In August, staff at a hospital in
Srinagar covered their eyes with patches as an act of solidarity with the
children and adults hit with pellets. The doctors and nurses are treating the
civilians who are bearing the brunt of the war crimes. 'See our blindness' was
one of the slogans on the doctors' placards. The action garnered international
attention.
Australia has a strong connection with Kashmir. Successive
governments have been engaged in finding a solution to the dispute that has
been causing so much hardship since 1948, when the former coloniser of this
land, Britain, withdrew from the region. In 1950 an Australian officer, Major
General Robert Nimmo, was appointed Chief Military Observer. Australia held
this position until 1966. In 1951 Australia sent eight military observers to
UNMOGIP, the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan.
These Australian observers served in Kashmir until 1985. By that time, 150
Australians had served under UNMOGIP. I understand the Australian government
withdrew, as they thought the dispute had been resolved.
Also in 1950,
the United Nations Security Council appointed Sir Owen Dixon, the sixth Chief
Justice of Australia, as the UN representative to organise a plebiscite in
Jammu and Kashmir, but the plebiscite was never held. This is not a reflection
on Sir Owen Dixon. It was a failure of the international community. Australia
should renew its work to ensure that a plebiscite is now
held.
I believe
Australia has a special responsibility—as a candidate for the United Nations
Human Rights Council for 2018-20—to advocate for the protection of human rights
of the people of Kashmir and Jammu. The two nations associated with Kashmir and
Jammu are Pakistan and India. Both these countries are nuclear powers. If the
Turnbull government is responsible, it should be working to de-escalate the
current extreme situation. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop should be exploring
every avenue to resolve the current tensions and assist to promote peace and
justice in this region.
