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email the perth indmedia mob...
Secret deals with Indonesia/Australia over Sri Lankan Asylum Seekers |
| by Elliot K - Perth Indymedia |
2007-02-24 2:00 PM +0900 |
| February 24, 2007 - Saturday, 24 February 2007: A secret deal is being struck between the Australian and Indonesian government to return 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers back to Indonesia and then to Sri Lanka - without processing their Inernationally recognised human rights to claim asylum. Refugee advocacy groups had called on the Government to bring the asylum seekers to mainland Australia or provide access to lawyers for advice on their rights... |
Greens Leader Bob Brown said the Howard government is completely irresponsible.
"To send asylum seekers back without assessing their refugee status is a bald-faced breach of Australia's international responsibilities to the Geneva Convention," Senator Brown said. "The deal John Howard has engineered with the Indonesians breaches Australia's responsibilities under the Geneva Conventions and tramples on the human rights of the 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers."
The Federal government is in secret talks with Indonesia for an even more radical version of John Howard's Pacific Solution. Howard's new plan is to deport 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers home via Indonesia in an outright breach of international refugee conventions.
The asylum seekers were intercepted by the Australian navy near Christmas Island on Wednesday. The group are set to be taken to Indonesia and back to Sri Lanka after secret talks between the three countries in Jakarta yesterday, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The 85, all men reportedly from Sri Lanka although some may be Indonesian, were taken aboard the supply ship HMAS Success late Wednesday when their boat was deemed to be unseaworthy.
Its is suspected that the recent escalations in "extra-judicial" killing and abductions by Sri Lankan armed forces has made those 83 boat arrivals in Christmas Island to flee the country, an analyst said. "It has been reported by local and international human rights organisations that a person is abducted every five hours. Kidnapping, abductions, killings have now become common incidents. No matter who does it, as a government we are responsible for it," said Mangala Samaraweera, Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Port and Aviation Minister on 23 January 2007.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention. Australia would be free of any responsibility towards them, and the asylum seekers would almost certainly be their human right to lodge an asylum claim under international law.
Sri Lanka's ambassador to Indonesia, Janaka Perera, confirmed last night that Australian and Indonesian officials had told him the 83 men would be returned to Jakarta, then sent home. He expected the men to arrive in Sri Lanka within days.
"Sri Lanka's position is that they have travelled illegally to another country and they should be returned to Sri Lanka." Both Australia and Indonesia had said they would assist with the repatriation, he said.
Democrats senator Andrew Bartlett urged the Government not to send the men back to Sri Lanka, where civil war rages between the military and Tamil Tiger rebels based in the country's north. Senator Bartlett said the group of men could include Tamil people whose lives could be in danger if they were returned to Sri Lanka. "Tamil people (are) at great risk of harassment, intimidation, arrest, detention, torture, abduction and killing," he said. "The fact that the Government could even contemplate sending asylum seekers back without proper assessment is a complete and utter disgrace."
It is understood that Australian and Indonesian law enforcement and immigration officials discussed the radical plan in Jakarta yesterday. The SM Herald understands the meeting "was told Australia feared it would face a flood of asylum seekers if tough action was not taken against the new arrivals..."
The boat carried the largest single load of asylum seekers to approach Australia since 2001, the year of the Tampa crisis that spawned the Pacific Solution, under which asylum seekers were refused access to the Australian mainland.
Yesterday's meeting discussed directly shipping the asylum seekers back to Java, or flying them to Jakarta. Returning them on their boat was rejected for safety reasons. Indonesia could justify returning them to Sri Lanka as they had arrived in Indonesia illegally.
Project SafeCom, a West Australian refugee advocacy group, today said the deal would see Prime Minister John Howard ride roughshod over Australia's international obligations.
"Australia's secret deal with Indonesia, reportedly sealed yesterday, under which the 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers are forcibly returned to Indonesia with the intent to send them home to Sri Lanka, could well make John Howard into The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Most Wanted Criminal, if breaches against the United Nations Refugee Convention had criminal charges attached to them," said Project Safecom's Jack Smit.
"John Howard seems to be clearly desperate to relive in his olden days, his past glory with his wanting to win another TAMPA election, and we will help him, if we must. We will make Mr Howard into Australia's Least Wanted Man by the time he announces the 2007 Federal election," said Mr Smit.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees senior officer responsible for asylum seekers in Indonesia, Shinji Kubo, said his organisation had not been informed of the moves. "We are very keen to know what will happen to them," he said.
Other international officials, speaking anonymously, said it would be legally dubious for Australia not to deal with the refugees itself or to return them to Indonesia, and could create an international test case.
The Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, denied reports that the navy had tried to turn the vessel back to sea when HMAS Success intercepted it. But he said the Government wanted to ensure the asylum seekers did not reach the mainland. "I think it is quite irresponsible to be sending a boatload of people on a small vessel, which is proven one way or the other to be unseaworthy."
Senator Bartlett says: "the trouble with this government is their record clearly shows that anything is possible. Normally you'd think, as it used to be, if people were found at sea, asylum seekers or even people just in distress at sea, then they'd be brought to land and to safety as soon as possible and given health checks and a good meal."
"[We] have the same old pattern of just this information blackout while the Government skulks around trying to figure out what it wants to do, and perhaps figuring out what might be to its political advantage, rather than just dealing with the immediate human situation of these people," Senator Bartlett told the ABC.
SOURCES: |
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Deal to send boat people packing - SMH
The Age
Outcry over secret refugee deal - Sunday Times
Tamil Sydney News
tamilnation.org
ABC - AM
Govt may send asylum seekers to Indonesia - ABC
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Urgent Action: Sri Lankan Asylum Seekers |
| by Perth Indy Inbox |
2007-02-24 2:08 PM +0900 |
In a massive contravention of customary international law, human rights law, humanitarian law and Australia' self-assumed treaty obligations, the Howard government has made secret arrangements with Indonesia to send the asylum seekers immediately back to Indonesia, from whence they will be sent back to Sri Lanka.
(Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/deal-to-send-boat-people-packing/2007/02/23/1171734021096.html)
Howard has categorically refused to let the men so much as lodge their applications for asylum in Australia, which is their rights under the law of Australia AND international law.
Remember: Arriving in Australia unauthorised, by boat, even with no papers, is NOT illegal!
Sending people back to a place where they may suffer persecution is called 'refoulement', and it is strictly and unambiguously prohibited under international law as a fundamental principle aimed at protecting the rights and the lives of the world's most vulnerable people.
Let's also remember that the Government has just completed work on an 800-bed $360 million detention facility on Christmas Island. It is ready and waiting to receive these asylum seekers, and although i abhor the existence of such a facility, it is vastly preferable that it should be put to use while these men's claims are processed, rather than sending them back to a situation of grave danger.
It is a serious concern that our Government has decided that this kind of behaviour is OK, especially in light of the fact that it has been proven that at least 9 men and 3 children have been killed upon return from Australia to their homelands in recent years.
PLEASE TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO SEND A BRIEF EMAIL TO PEOPLE WHO ARE MAKING THESE DECISIONS.
Here are a few points you may like to make:
* "Everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution" Article 14, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
* Article 33 of the 1951 Refugees Convention *ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITS* sending people back to a country or territory where they may face danger. This is exactly what we're about to do!
* These 83 people are the first asylum seekers to arrive by boat in Australia in over a year. Some areas in Europe get 1500 asylum seekers A DAY!
* Some of the poorest countries in the world are the most generous hosts of asylum seekers. Ethiopia, Eritrea etc... Iran and Pakistan both hold over 2 million refugees each. Australia takes 0.05% of the world's refugee burden.
* Historically, asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia are found to be genuine refugees in 92% of cases.
Think about it like this:
people don't uproot their lives, leave their families and get in a leaky boat for 10 days to travel to a strange country unless they are SERIOUS about the dangers that face them at home.
The Government:
PM John Howard - you'll have to contact him using this form:
http://www.pm.gov.au/contact/index.cfm
Kevin.Andrews.MP@aph.gov.au - Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews.
AND your local member of the Liberal Party using this form:
http://www.aec.gov.au/esearch/main.htm
And Labor:
Kevin.Rudd.MP@aph.gov.au - (Labor) Leader.
Let him know that you do not support Howard's approach, and you'd be interested to see what his approach would be. Encourage him to OPPOSE this stunt and provide a strong, principled alternative.
Julia.Gillard.MP@aph.gov.au - (Labor) co-leader of Labor party.
Tony.Burke.MP@aph.gov.au - (Labor) Shadow Immigration Spokesman. Would be immigration minister if Labor wins the election. He is generally very open to dialogue and reasonableness but we have yet to see what happens when the rubber hits the road! Encourage him, as well, to take a strong, vocal stand against this awful behaviour.
THANKYOU
Link here
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Secret deals with Indonesia/Australia over Sri Lankan Asylum Seekers |
| by Asder10 |
2007-02-24 5:03 PM +0900 |
I am a Sri Lankan living in Australia, very peacefully. While i see the humanitarian side of it i also see the threat to Australia from such boatload people. In the history we have seen not only civil disruptions in our society but growing trends of religious and ethnic cults. These things never help us. I give less to my own cultural background and adopted to this culture very well.Why I left my own country is because of the civil war which both Sinhalese and Tamil extremists do not want to end. It has become their business. I blame both politicians and people from both sides. I certainly do not want to see that happening here again!
Link here
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Bullshit |
| by 01Redsa |
2007-02-24 5:21 PM +0900 |
"threat to Australia from such boatload people"
What threat? Where is the threat?
Link here
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The Horror of Howard |
| by Final Solution? |
2007-02-24 5:25 PM +0900 |
Sending people back to a place where they may suffer persecution is called refoulement, and it is strictly and unambiguously prohibited under international law as a fundamental principle aimed at protecting the rights and the lives of the world's most vulnerable people.
John Howard has taken this issue too far. I am shocked and disgusted at this new plan.
He wants to kill people now.
Link here
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Refugees 'will not make it to Australia' |
| by Refugee Rights Media Net |
2007-02-24 6:24 PM +0900 |
The Australian: February 24, 2007 - AUSTRALIA has asked the Indonesian Government to accept a boatload of Sri Lankan refugees who were found at sea this week. The 83 Sri Lankan men and two Indonesian men were rescued by an Australian navy ship in international waters near Christmas Island on Wednesday after they sabotaged their fishing boat.
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said the men were being taken to Christmas Island today where officials would conduct health and identity checks. He said the men would be regarded as "offshore entry persons", and would be managed offshore and not brought to the Australian mainland.
"The Australian Government is in discussions with the governments of both Indonesia and Nauru as to the possibility of them going to either Indonesia or Nauru," Mr Andrews said. "These discussions are preliminary at the moment but I can say that they won't come to Australia. We will meet our international obligation and any suggestion that they will be sent to a country where they would face persecution is simply wrong."
If the asylum seekers are sent back to Indonesia it will be the first time an Australian Government has taken such action. "As far as I'm aware, people haven't been sent back to Indonesia before," Mr Andrews said. He said the decision on whether to accept the asylum seekers was ultimately one for the Indonesian Government. The men would still be able to apply for asylum from Indonesia, Mr Andrews said.
"Indonesia has agreements in place where the UN High Commission for Refugees processes people in the country who have made a refugee or asylum claim," he said. "People can apply for asylum. As to whether or not we would accept them in Australia is another matter.
"Our position is very clear and it's this: we will determine who comes to Australia. That's been our border protection policy for some time and this is an example of this border protection policy actually working."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21280603-29277,00.html
Link here
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Breaking the international law |
| by S.LOGAN |
2007-02-24 7:33 PM +0900 |
Sending the people back to Indonesia or Srilanka is absolutely terrible because these people have suffered a lot in home and came to Australia to save their lives but Australian goverment trying to send them back to Srilanka is showing to the world they arwe treating refugee unfairly and trying to kill them by hand this men to Srilankan goverment. One side Australia going to Iraq and Afganisthan to save people from terrorism but other side trying to kill people by handing them to where they escaped to save their lives
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