Refugee Week Opening Speech By Saw Lwin Oo.

Our Keynote speaker the Hon. Mr. Laurie Ferguson, Parliamentary Secretary for
Multicultural affairs and Settlement Services, and the Co-convener of the Australian
Parliamentarians for Democracy in Burma.

Mr. Justin States-Representative of the Hon. Julie Bishop MP-Deputy Leader of the
Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs;

Ms Mark Lack –Councillor and Manager Community Relations for the Australian Migrant
English Program AMEP and Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Scheme IHSS
Program of the Australian Center for Languages ACL;

Dr.Kyaw Myint- the president of the Burma Campaign Sydney BCS;

Distinguish guests; Ladies and gentlemen:

Welcome to the Refugee Week Celebration here today.

The Refugee week is Australia’s peak annual activity to inform the public about
refugees and celebrate positive contribution made by refugees to the Australian society.
The event has been celebrated in Australia since 1986 and the Refugee Council of
Australia has been responsible for the coordination of Refugee Week in NSW since
2005.

The Refugee Week provides a platform where positive images of refugees can be
promoted in order to create a culture of welcome throughout the country. The ultimate
aim of the celebration is to create better understanding between different communities
and to encourage successful integration enabling refugees to live in safety and to
continue making a valuable contribution to Australia.

The aims of Refugee Week are:

• to educate the Australian public about who refugees are and why they have
come to Australia;
• to help people understand the many challenges refugees face coming to
Australia;
• to celebrate the contribution refugees make to our community;
• to focus on how the community can provide a safe and welcoming environment
for refugees;
• for community groups and individuals to do something positive for refugees,
asylum seekers and displaced people, within Australia but also around the world;
• for service providers to reflect on whether they are providing the best possible
services to refugees.

The theme for the Refugee Week Program this year is “Freedom from Fear”. We
refugee origin and consider ourselves we have freedom from fear and live a life full of
opportunities in democratic country Australia. Today we are dedicated to those the
remaining thousands of internally displaced people left back home and they are living
every day of their life in fear and oppression of the most brutal Burmese military regime.

The first refugee week celebration organized by the Australian Karen Organisation was
on the 21 June 2008 and raised fund for the Cyclone Nargis victims of delta regime of
Burma. The natural disaster Cyclone Nargis resulted over 100,000 deaths and over
200,000 were slowly dying of communicable deceases arised. Two million civilians were
also left homeless.

The Burmese military regime has consistently shown, in its initial response to the
Cyclone victims in the past and their so called 2010 election will only increase the
refugees crossing into neighboring countries and putting more strain on neighboring
countries.

As the man-made disaster, the people of eastern Burma have been suffering under one
of the most brutal military regime for many years. Since 2006, the Burmese army has
been carrying out an offensive operation in eastern Burma, which has led to the
massive displacement of the Karen civilians who have fled to Thailand and regions
within eastern Burma. More than 3500 villages in eastern Burma have been destroyed
since 1996, and a least a million people displaced. Forced labour, rape and torture are
widespread and systematic.

The UN Special Rapporteur (Tomas Qjea Quintana) on Human Right in Burma

concluded last month that this “pattern of gross and systematic violation of human rights
“was” the result of a state policy that involves authorities in the executive, military and
judiciary at all levels”. The rapporteur argues that the Burmese regime may be guilty of
crimes against humanity and war crimes, and says the UN should establish a
commission of inquiry to investigate.

Australia, Britain and the Czech Republic have agreed in principle with the rapporteur’s
call for an investigation. Now they need to work to achieve it.

Since 2003, the Australian Government has provided over 7 million for essential food
and shelter to refugees living in camps in Thailand through Act for Peace and the Thai-
Burma Border Consortium. In 2009-10 Australia has committed approximately $29
million to provide humanitarian support for people across Burma, including $10.5 million
is to assist those communities affected by Cyclone Nargis.

Thank you and May God continue to bless the nation Australia.

On this occasion of 2010 refugee week, I would like to make some recommendations
that: The Security Council should:

Declare that the situation in Burma constitutes a threat to international peace and
security and initiate a formal investigation through a Commission of Inquiry to
investigate crimes committed in Burma;
The international community, particularly the member countries of United
Nations, should make it clear to the Security Council that action is needed.

Further, the Security Council should be prepared to act upon findings and
recommendations made by such a Commission, including a potential referral to
the International Criminal Court.

I hope this information will help you to understand about Burma’s massive
problem..and please… continue to support every way of you can.

Thank you for joining with us to celebrate this refugee week today.

Finally… I hope you will enjoy the rest of the program of speeches, cultural
performances, refugee experience sharing and many of entertainment items.

Good evening and thank you again.