Sky News Australia
July 9,2013
Few ethnic groups
would have as strong a claim to Australian assistance than the oppressed
Rohingya minority of Myanmar, but the solution isn't to resettle them in
Australia, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says.
Senator Carr said
the Rohingya, some 800,000 stateless Muslim settlers originally from
Bangladesh, were by any test enormously oppressed, suffering routine
discrimination and violence.
'If you look at all
the people suffering in our region, there would be few who'd have a stronger
claim than the Rohingya to our assistance,' he told Sky News.
Senator Carr said
Australia provided significant aid to the Rohingya people.
But he said they
would not be resettled in Australia.
'No, we rule that
out. We say that in line with the United Nations High Commission on Refugee
priorities, we need a durable solution within Myanmar. We haven't got the
capacity to take asylum seekers from Myanmar,' he said.
Senator Carr said
the focus would be on encouraging the Myanmar government to achieve a durable
political solution.
'Reconciliation
within these countries, encouraged by Australia, sensible Australian aid
programs where it can make a difference, this is an alternative to the fantasy
that somehow we can take the pressure off the world's trouble spots simply by
resettling in Australia,' he said.
Few ethnic groups
would have as strong a claim to Australian assistance than the oppressed
Rohingya minority of Myanmar, but the solution isn't to resettle them in
Australia, Foreign Minister Bob Carr says.
Senator Carr said
the Rohingya, some 800,000 stateless Muslim settlers originally from
Bangladesh, were by any test enormously oppressed, suffering routine
discrimination and violence.
'If you look at all
the people suffering in our region, there would be few who'd have a stronger
claim than the Rohingya to our assistance,' he told Sky News.
Senator Carr said
Australia provided significant aid to the Rohingya people.
But he said they
would not be resettled in Australia.
'No, we rule that
out. We say that in line with the United Nations High Commission on Refugee
priorities, we need a durable solution within Myanmar. We haven't got the
capacity to take asylum seekers from Myanmar,' he said.
Senator Carr said
the focus would be on encouraging the Myanmar government to achieve a durable
political solution.
'Reconciliation
within these countries, encouraged by Australia, sensible Australian aid
programs where it can make a difference, this is an alternative to the fantasy
that somehow we can take the pressure off the world's trouble spots simply by
resettling in Australia,' he said.
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