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- 30 November 2005
Sydney Peace Prize
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Mr PAUL LYNCH (Liverpool) [5.30 p.m.]: Tonight I draw to the attention of the House the awarding of the 2005 Sydney Peace Prize and the ceremony surrounding it. This is a matter of some interest to a number of my constituents. One of the reasons, although not the only reason, for this is that one of the members of the executive committee of the Sydney Peace Foundation is a constituent of mine, Mr Ab Quadan. Mr Quadan has been involved with the Sydney Peace Foundation for a number of years. Other members of the committee are Dr Tim Fitzpatrick, Lachlan Harris, David Hirsch, Mark Kelly, Dr Ken McNab, James McLachlan, Clare Petre, Lucy Robb, Maree Whybourne and Susan Wyndham. The chair of the foundation is Alan Cameron. The foundation director is Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees.
The recipient of the 2005 Sydney Peace Prize was Mr Olara Otunnu. Mr Otunnu is the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. Mr Otunnu delivered the City of Sydney Peace Prize lecture on 9 November. On the next night, 10 November, he officially received the peace prize award at the foundation's gala dinner, held in the Great Hall of the University of Sydney. This year Stuart Rees was not attacked by Piers Akerman or Gerard Henderson over the awarding of the peace prize. He certainly was attacked over prizes to Hanan Ashrawi in 2003 and Arundhati Roy in 2004.
I have said previously in speeches to this House that if Stuart is attacked by those sorts of commentators, it merely confirms that the peace prize for that year has been a success. However, despite not being attacked by them this year, the event was still a success. Mr Otunnu is a very impressive and significant figure. The citation from the peace prize jury referred to his "lifetime commitment to human rights, his ceaseless efforts to protect children in time of war, and his promotion of the healing and social reintegration of children in the aftermath of conflict". The foundation director, Stuart Rees, was quoted as saying:
The jury had been impressed by Mr Otunnu's passionate commitment, advocacy and initiatives to protect the most innocent and most vulnerable members of the community. Children.
Mr Otunnu's background and career is well set out in the following extract:
In the 1970's as President of the Students' Union in Makere University and as Secretary-General of Uganda Freedom Union, Mr Otunnu played a leading role in the resistance against the regime of Idi Amin. After the overthrow of that regime he was Uganda's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and in the mid 1980's was his country's foreign minister. From 1990 until 1998 he was President of the International Peace Academy. The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Mr Otunnu as his Special Envoy for the Protection of Children Exposed to Armed Conflict in 1997.
Mr Otunnu has been instrumental in placing the protection of war-affected children on the international peace and security agendas, developing the practice of naming and listing parties to conflicts that brutalise children, and developing a mechanism to monitor and report on compliance and violations of child soldiers. He has travelled the world negotiating to end the use of child soldiers and other violations against children. Nevertheless, his recent report entitled "Children and Armed Conflict" acknowledges that there is continued targeting and brutalisation of children in situations of armed conflict, including their killing, maiming, use as child soldiers, rape and abduction. The report refers to a "human made catastrophe of tsunami proportions". Mr Otunnu stated:
Those who destroy the children are destroying the future of our societies. We must stop this process of self destruction.
The Sydney Peace Prize is an important Australian institution. Recipients have made significant contributions to global peace. They include steps to eradicate poverty and other forms of structural violence. To quote from the foundation's rationale:
The need for dialogue to promote peace is urgent. This goal depends on the practice of non-violence, the advocacy of human rights and a determination to embrace principles of humanitarianism in all walks of life.
Peace requires initiatives to abolish the injustices of poverty, hunger, illiteracy, infant mortality and unemployment. The citation of the Sydney Peace Prize refers to peace with justice: the foundation of a civil society.
Prior to 2003 the recipients of the prize have been Professor Muhammed Yunus, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Xanana Gusmao, Sir William Deane and Mary Robinson. As I said, the recipient in 2003 was Hanan Ashrawi and in 2004 was Arundhati Roy. The 2005 prize was presented by Governor Marie Bashir. My only regret about her is that she is a monarchist head of State rather than a republican one, although that comment goes dangerously close to offending against the Federal Government's new sedition laws. The master of ceremonies on the evening was Jennifer Byrne. I congratulate Stuart Rees and the foundation for another successful peace prize and for continuing what is a quite internationally significant institution based in Sydney.
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