The Federal Government insisted the UN Human Rights Council soften a resolution condemning violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar, which Human Rights Watch already identified as crimes against humanity.

Some member countries at the Council meeting in Geneva wanted a tough resolution because of the abuses suffered by the Rohingya, including killings and beatings by Myanmar security forces and nationalist mobs.  The most recent violence has driven some 400,000 of the Muslim minority from their homes in Rakhine state where the Myanmar government refuses to even consider them citizens.

Fairfax Media reports that Australia insisted that using the words "violence and abuses" to describe Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya is premature, because UN investigators won't deliver their findings on the matter until next March.  A source at the Council told Fairfax that Australia is being too cautious: "It is important the fact-finding mission does its valuable job but it should not become an excuse to not do anything ."

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said last week that Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi "has to be part of the solution, otherwise we will be going back decades in terms of Myanmar's growth and prosperity".  But Human Rights groups and her fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureates have roundly condemned Suu Kyi for failing to speak out more strongly against the violence against the Rohingya.

While Ms. Bishop defends Suu Kyi's position in a "complex" situation, human rights campaigners are criticizing Australia for being "all over the place on Myanmar".  Australia is donating $20 Million to aid agencies dealing with the Myanmar crisis; at the same time, Australia provides training and aid to the very same Myanmar military accused of ethnic cleansing; and the government has been revealed to have offered $25,000 to Rohingya refugees detained on Manus island to return to Myanmar.

"On the one hand it's great to see Australia raise the concerns about the violence in Rakhine state with the human rights council," said Emily Howie, Director of Legal Advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre.  "But that good work was seriously undercut by news at home that Australia is offering money to Rohingya refugees to return to that very same violence."