Project SafeCom News and Updates 18 April 2006 (2)
Project SafeCom
jackhsmit at wn.com.au
Tue Apr 18 07:35:26 WST 2006
Project SafeCom News and Updates 18 April 2006 (2)
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¤ - In this Edition - ¤
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1. Refugee child ignites Indonesia tensions
2. Papuan mother 'was coerced'
3. Georgiou puts career on line for boatpeople
4. Sedition behind bars
5. Easter bunny in refugee rights protest
6. Churches slam PM on human rights record
7. Australia leader in trashing refugee rights
8. Criticism swells over new refugee processing laws
9. Countries look to our asylum lead
10. New asylum policy sneaked through: Labor
11. Refugee activists: Press release from Easter conference
12. Visit to Baxter Easter Sunday 2006
13. Letter to the Editor: Dangerous Times
14. Refugee advocates reject Howard’s “Iron Curtain”
15. Victims pay to appease the persecutors
16. Changes to Australia's Migration Act a travesty of justice
17. More asylum seekers for Nauru?
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===============================
1. Refugee child ignites Indonesia tensions
===============================
The Age
By Michael Gordon
April 18, 2006
Explosive new claims surrounding a four-year old Papuan girl granted
refugee status in Australia are set to further strain relations between
Canberra and Jakarta, and to test the Howard Government's new, harder-line
border protection policy.
The girl's mother, who is in hiding in Papua New Guinea, claims she was
coerced by Indonesia into making a false appeal for the return of her
daughter to West Papua.
The girl, Anike Wanggai, and her father were among 42 Papuans recently
granted refugee status in Australia.
The mother, Siti Pandera Wanggai, claims she was pressured into appealing
to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to help secure her
daughter's return.
In a written statement, Ms Wanggai alleged that an Indonesian army
intelligence officer and two members of her own family had pushed her into
falsely claiming that her daughter was taken without her permission. "I was
taken away by them and told to agree to the entire contents of the
statement that was made by the three of them," she said.
Ms Wanggai says she fears for her own safety if she is forced to return to
West Papua from PNG. "Don't leave me here too long because I'm afraid," she
told The Age yesterday by telephone.
Ms Wanggai's initial statements seeking the return of her daughter were
widely reported in the Indonesian and Australian media, and seized on by
the Indonesia Government.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda stated that, as signatories to a
convention on child protection, Australia and Indonesia were obliged to
secure the girl's return.
He also warned that Indonesia could institute court proceedings. "It is the
mother who has the natural right to take care of her child," he said.
But David Manne, the lawyer representing the woman's husband and daughter,
and the 40 other Papuans who were also found to have well-founded fears of
persecution, said it was now clear there was involvement "at a high
political level" to discredit, intimidate and harass those who had
successfully lodged claims for protection in Australia.
"It's difficult to imagine anything more pernicious," he told The Age.
Mr Manne said he was concerned for the woman's safety and would ask the
United Nations and other organisations to give her protection.
The allegations coincide with signs that Indonesia is not satisfied with
tough new measures aimed at deterring Papuans from seeking asylum in
Australia. "Our stance is very clear that we have to review our
co-operation and relations with Australia until we clearly have fair
ground," Dr Yudhoyono said yesterday.
The new measures, which could mean future Papuan asylum seekers being
processed on Nauru, denied access to lawyers and refused resettlement in
Australia if they are found to be in need of protection, will be outlined
to Mr Wirayuda this week by Foreign Affairs and Trade Department head
Michael L'Estrange.
The woman's husband, Yunus Wanggai, has appealed to the Australian
Government to grant his wife asylum, saying he had not had the opportunity
to let her know that the boat was leaving West Papua in January "because I
was being chased".
Under the Howard Government's policy, it is unlikely Mr Wanggai could seek
to sponsor his wife to Australia until after he is granted permanent
protection - which could be three years away.
Moreover, any move to reunite the family in Australia would further
antagonise Indonesia, which is still seething over the granting of
temporary protection to the 42 Papuans.
The couple had not lived together for two years, with Mr Wanggai caring for
Anike while his wife lived with her mother. Ms Wanggai, 40, has two
children from an earlier marriage.
Both insisted yesterday that, despite the two-year estrangement, they
wanted to live together with Anike. "Because I love her and she loves me,
if I'd had the opportunity, I would have taken her (on the boat to
Australia)," he told The Age.
A fisherman and mechanic, Mr Wanggai, 36, has admitted to participating in
peaceful demonstrations supporting independence for West Papua since 1987
and to helping people flee to PNG when they were being pur sued by
Indonesian authorities. He insists he would be arrested and killed if he
tried to return to West Papua.
He was present yesterday when The Age heardMsWanggai recant her earlier
statements and plead for asylum in Australia as she described her own
escape from Papua, saying her overwhelming reason for fleeing was that she
feared for her safety.
Ms Wanggai disappeared in Jayapura on Tuesday, just before she says she was
due to fly to Jakarta to meet President Yudhoyono.
She spent two days in hiding before leaving with two others in a small boat
for PNG. Speaking through an interpreter, Ms Wanggai said she had only the
clothes she was wearing and a photograph of her daughter with her when she
f led her home.
Asked why her grandmother and others described as her friends had
corroborated her initial remarks, she said they, too, had been put under
pressure and were now concerned for their own safety.
She also described how the approach from the intelligence officer and two
family members was followed by a meal with seven other intelligence
officers in which she was pressured to make the statements seeking her
daughter’s return and to sign letters to the local governor, as well as Dr
Yudhoyono and the Australian Government.
While she had been angry with her husband at the time for not telling her
he was leaving with Anike, she said she had since understood and agreed
with his actions. She was pleased they were safe in Australia and did not
want Anike to return to West Papua.
Mr Wanggai said he had felt responsible for his wife but had no chance to
tell her the boat was leaving. "I’ve been given protection. She also needs
to be given protection," he said. Attempting to reassure her over the
phone, he said: "Don’t worry about anything. We’ll figure it out."
HOW IT UNFOLDED
Jan 13: 43 asylum seekers, including four children, leave Indonesian
province of West Papua in small boat.
Jan 18: Boat found on Cape York, making its passengers eligible to apply
for refugee status.
Jan 19: RAAF Hercules flies group to Christmas Island to be processed.
Mar 23: Immigration Department grants refugee status to 42 of the asylum
seekers (ruling on 43rd pending). Indonesia protests; recalls its
ambassador from Canberra.
April 3: The 42 arrive in Melbourne.
April 10: Siti Pandera Wanggai tells Indonesian media she wants Indonesian
Government to secure return of her daughter, one of the 42.
April 14: Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone announces border protection
improvements.
April 15: Jakarta Post reports Siti Pandera Wanggai has disappeared.
April 17: Siti Pandera Wanggai accuses Indonesia of forcing her to make
false claims.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/refugee-child-ignites-indonesia-tensions/2006/04/17/1145126055980.html
========================
2. Papuan mother 'was coerced'
========================
news.com.au
From: AAP
April 18, 2006
THE mother of a four-year-old Papuan girl granted refugee status in
Australia now says she was coerced by Indonesian authorities into saying
the girl was taken from Indonesia without her permission.
The revelations could further strain the already tense relationship between
Australia and Indonesia over the Papuan affair.
The child, Anike Wanggai, and her father were among a group of 42 Papuans
who arrived in Melbourne recently after being granted refugee status in
Australia following a trip from Papua by boat.
The girl's mother, Siti Pandera Wanggai, is now in hiding in Papua New
Guinea. She initially said her daughter was taken without permission, but
told Fairfax newspapers today she was coerced into making a false appeal
for the return of Anike.
Mrs Wanggai said an Indonesian army intelligence officer and two members of
her own family had forced her to tell the president, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, her daughter was taken without her permission.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirayuda, said court action may be
taken to have Anike returned to her mother.
As signatories to a convention on child protection, Australia and Indonesia
were obliged to ensure the girl was returned home, Wirayuda said.
Mrs Wanggai said she feared for her safety if she was forced to return to
Papua.
"Don't leave me here too long because I'm afraid," she told Fairfax.
Her husband, Yunus, who separated from his wife two years ago, has appealed
to the Australian Government to grant her asylum.
He said the couple now wanted to live together and raise their daughter.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18847015-29277,00.html
=================================
3. Georgiou puts career on line for boatpeople
=================================
The Australian
Samantha Maiden, Political correspondent
April 18, 2006
PETRO Georgiou is back in the fight to ensure women and children are not
forced into detention under new arrangements to send all boatpeople to
offshore processing centres.
Despite facing a bitter preselection fight in his blue-ribbon Melbourne
seat of Kooyong this Sunday, the Liberal MP vowed yesterday to carefully
consider any legislation that could force women and children back into
detention camps.
And the Labor Party offered support to Mr Georgiou if he proposed any
amendments to the legislation to ensure that women and children were
protected, urging Coalition MPs to lodge objections to the new regime.
Supporters have raised concerns the new arrangements could breach John
Howard's pledge last year, following a backbench revolt led by Mr Georgiou,
that children would be held only as a "last resort".
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has defended the new arrangements on
the grounds that children would be free to roam Nauru during the day but
would be locked up at night.
Victorian Liberal MP Judith Troeth warned yesterday there would be serious
concerns if the new rules breached the Prime Minister's pledge to keep
children out of detention.
"We've achieved a great deal so far and I don't want to go backwards," she
said.
Despite being effectively gagged from making any public comment as a result
of his looming preselection challenge from Joshua Frydenberg, a former
staffer to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, Mr Georgiou is risking his
political future to ensure the legislation protects women and children.
A spokesman for Mr Georgiou said: "If any legislation is brought forward,
he will consider it carefully at that time."
Given his challenge to Mr Howard on mandatory detention last year,
Victorian Liberals said there was now strong support for Mr Georgiou's
current stance.
Liberal MP Bruce Baird and NSW Liberal senator Marise Payne have also
raised concerns about the new arrangements and are seeking further
information about how women and children will be treated.
Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said the Labor Party would
oppose the legislation, and support any amendments by rebel Liberal MPs to
protect women and children. "I genuinely hope they can get some
concessions," he said.
"Locking up children is wrong - it's wrong to do it in Australia, and it's
wrong to facilitate it overseas.
"If there are Liberal backbenchers who can move amendments to make John
Howard's proposal less harmful, we would be minded to support those."
But Liberal MP Mal Washer said he was comfortable with the new regime if
children were locked up only at night.
"I would think that because they are island situations you wouldn't have
kids locked up during the day," he said. "I would think they would get more
freedom that way."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,18845658-2702,00.html
=================
4. Sedition behind bars
=================
The Age
April 17, 2006
The inaugural Golden Guy Fawkes Award hopes to raise more than a few
laughs, writes Michael Dwyer.
ASIO and the Australian Federal Police will be staking out the Old
Melbourne Gaol next Monday night. That’s if they bother reading and
responding to cables — or at least invitations — sent to them by concerned
monitor of seditious activities, Rod Quantock.
He’s the host of the inaugural Golden Guy Fawkes Award, "for the comedian
voted most likely to blow up Parliament". The show will be held in the
shadow of Ned Kelly’s gallows to highlight the most subversive and
"un-Australian" actsin the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Quantock says he can’t recall every detail of the Howard Government’s
anti-terrorism legislation passed in December — "a bit like Alexander
Downer, I’m too busy to read relevant, important things" — but he’s pretty
certain that actionable sedition is likely on the night.
"We’re inviting people who we know to be seditious, like Wil Anderson and
Eddie Perfect, and also a couple of people who probably haven’t had a
seditious bone in their body previously, hoping that this will encourage
them to lift their game," he says.
"I’m not exactly sure what each performer will be doing, but I’m hoping
they will push those (antiterrorism) laws beyond their limits. I mean,
they’re already in jail, so there’s nowhere further for them to go."
The symbolism of free speech under lock and key is unlikely to be
overlooked by Wendy Little (above), whose one-woman show, Limited Sedition,
opens at the Fad Gallery in Chinatown tonight.
"I could be put in jail for what I’m going to do in the show," says Little,
founding member of musical comedy trio the Sheryls. She’s had a good look
at the new legislation and intends to perform seven bona fide acts of
sedition in 50 minutes, sometimes in the robes of Jesus Christ, Genghis
Khan and Princess Mary of Denmark.
Urging disaffection for the sovereign is high on her list of priorities,
she says, "and I have burnt a flag, which is not against the legislation
yet, but Bronwyn Bishop is working on that". "If I disappear," she says,
"you’ll know it’s either because I’ve been arrested or the show’s just
shit. But I’m taking precautions. I’ve had a map of the Metropolitan
Women’s Correctional Centre tattooed on my back."
If she did find herself locked up for seven years, first prize at the
Golden Guy Fawkes Awards would come in handy: it’s a sack of fertiliser,
with the plans of Parliament House thrown in.
Little is yet to receive an invitation to testify before the GGF judges,
who include comedian and occasional critic for The Age, Fiona Scott-Norman,
and renowned social justice advocate Julian Burnside QC. Quantock believes
the panel will balance the necessary combination of legal and performance
evaluation.
"There is some very clumsy sedition out there," he says. "There’s the
equivalent of a suicide bomber comedian and that kind of clumsiness we
don’t encourage. We like the more finessed sedition."
Asked whether he expects any federal intervention on the night, he’s
dejectedly negative. "I think the Government and the law-enforcement
agencies would be very foolish to prosecute any comedian or performer under
these laws," he says.
"They’re foolish enough as it is without (bringing) that sort of
observation to it all. The publicity would be great, though. You could
probably do a tour of Hamas-held territories and be a star."
Wendy Little’s Limited Sedition is at Fad Gallery, city, on
Tuesdays,Thursdays and Fridays at 8.30pm until May 7.The Golden Guy Fawkes
Award night is at the Old Melbourne Gaol next Monday. Details:
comedyfestival.com.au
http://www.theage.com.au/news/arts/sedition-behind-bars/2006/04/17/1145126051358.html
=============================
5. Easter bunny in refugee rights protest
=============================
Nine News
Monday Apr 17 12:15 AEST
The Easter bunny swapped chocolate eggs for placards in central Melbourne
in support of the rights of refugees.
The rabbit - caged inside a chicken wire fence - was the focus of a
demonstration organised by the Refugee Action Collective Victoria (RAC)
outside St Paul's Cathedral.
The demonstration was part of a day of action, with supporters protesting
against the mandatory detention of asylum seekers and Australia's new
hardline regime of processing asylum seekers offshore.
The federal government announced last week asylum seekers who arrive by
boat illegally in Australia will be sent to detention centres outside the
country for processing.
RAC Victoria spokesman Tim Petterson denounced the government's immigration
policy, saying Australia had breached its international responsibility by
abandoning Papuans fleeing the troubled Indonesian province.
Mr Petterson called for detention centres to be shut down and for
Australians to open their hearts to asylum seekers.
"Most Australians understand that West Papuans are being brutalised by the
Indonesian military but (Prime Minister) John Howard is so desperate to
appease Indonesia that he's prepared to turn his back on these desperate
people and lock them up in these hell holes," he said.
"The problems have not disappeared, in fact John Howard is creating a whole
new generation of asylum seekers who are being brutalised by Australia's
detention centres.
"We are absolutely horrified and dismayed by that recent (immigration
policy) announcement and we do believe they put us in contravention of
international laws under the International Refugee Committee."
The government has said the new immigration policy - approved by cabinet's
national security committee last week - will speed up the processing of
asylum seekers.
Mr Howard has denied the policy is an attempt to appease Indonesia
following a diplomatic fallout over Australia's granting of temporary
protection visas last month to 42 Papuan asylum seekers.
Protests supporting the rights of refugees are also due to take place in
Sydney and Perth and in a number of other countries including Britain.
©AAP 2006
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=96038
=================================
6. Churches slam PM on human rights record
=================================
Sydney Morning Herald
By Frank Walker
April 16, 2006
Religious leaders have chosen Easter to attack the Howard Government for
its record on human rights and aid for the less fortunate.
Several prominent church leaders from various denominations said the
message of Easter was in sharp contrast to the actions of the Federal
Government, particularly in relation to asylum seekers.
Uniting Church president Dean Drayton said the Government's latest decision
to deport asylum seekers showed it was willing to allow human decency to
drop off the political agenda.
Dr Drayton said that to refuse to process asylum seekers under Australian
law was a breach of international obligations and might breach Article 14
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that every
person has a right to seek asylum in another country.
"The decision shows the Government's commitment to human rights will now
run, at best, a poor second to foreign policy considerations," he said.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said on Thursday that boat people who
reached the mainland would now be processed offshore and sent to other
countries for settlement, even if they were judged to be genuine refugees.
The move came after Indonesia reacted angrily to the granting of asylum to
42 Papuan independence activists.
Baptist Union of Australia president Ross Clifford said the Government
should not turn its back on the situation of the people of West Papua.
In his Easter message, Dr Clifford urged Australians not to follow Pontius
Pilate, who washed his hands of Jesus's fate, but to protect people's need
for dignity, justice and protection.
"I am alarmed by reports from our Baptist leaders in West Papua of
continuing persecution," he said. "There seems a real need for the Federal
Government to more seriously engage in exploring the rights of West Papuans
to some form of self-government.
"These are complex issues, but we have to ensure our leaders don't wash
their hands of their responsibilities," Dr Clifford said.
The Anglican Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Brian Farran, said
there was an atmosphere of hopelessness in Australian society.
"We hear comments such as 'close down borders' and 'shut down emotions',
and that shut-down approach is being led by the Prime Minister. There is a
sense of hopelessness about him.
"The mood needs a huge injection of hope and this is the revelation of Easter."
Australian Catholic Social Justice Council chairman Bishop Christopher
Saunders called on the Government to do more for Guantanamo Bay detainee
David Hicks.
"This situation has gone on for far too long," Bishop Saunders said.
"Concerns about conditions at Guantanamo, the indefinite detention and the
deficiencies of military trials should be a basis for action on behalf of
Mr Hicks."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/churches-slam-pm-on-human-rights-record/2006/04/15/1144521542067.html
================================
7. Australia leader in trashing refugee rights
================================
The Age
April 15, 2006
Trying to placate Indonesia means ditching decency, writes Mark Baker.
Australia's immigration policy has turned full circle. A country that shed
the xenophobic beginnings of an isolated European outpost to become a model
of multicultural diversity is retreating again into the presumed comfort
zone of the closed shop.
The Howard Government's decision this week to deny resettlement to any more
boat people - however desperate their plight and however certain their
status as genuine refugees - is as damaging, unprincipled and needless as
the nation's embrace of the old White Australia policy last century.
In less than three decades, we have gone from being a place that welcomed
tens of thousands of Indo-Chinese boat people - a flight from war that
enriched and broadened Australian society as surely as the great waves of
postwar European migration - to one that prefers to shelter behind the
picket fence when times get tough.
The latest move to abandon Australia's commitments to internationally
accepted principles is transparently a panicked manoeuvre to defuse the
growing tensions with Indonesia over West Papua - despite John Howard's
efforts to persuade us that black is white.
But while the decision might buy a little breathing space in relations with
Jakarta, it will only compound the growing conviction around our region
that Australia is an arrogant and increasingly exclusive enclave that pays
lip service to human rights conventions while presuming a place on the
moral high ground in international affairs.
Tampa, children overboard, Christmas Island, Woomera, Baxter, Manus and
Nauru are the roll call of our shameful descent over recent years into
crude and selfish expedience. Now West Papua is to be added to the list.
Back in the early 1950s, Australia was one of the prime movers in the
drafting of the United Nations Refugee Convention, with its promise of
sanctuary for those in "genuine fear of persecution" in an uncertain
postwar world. We proudly joined the first 26 nations to sign the accord.
Today, Australia is again at the forefront of refugee policy-making. This
time with the dubious distinction of being the first Western signatory to
subvert one of the fundamental tenets of the convention: the right to
asylum of all refugees who reach the shores of a signatory state.
Under Pacific Solution I we bent the rules - intercepting asylum seekers
before they reached Australian territory, packing them off to regional
camps beyond the letter of the refugee law and, even when legitimate
refugee status was determined, granting only temporary protection visas.
Under Pacific Solution II we are tearing up the rule book: sending offshore
everyone who arrives in Australia "illegally" by boat, denying them legal
assistance and refusing to accept any for settlement, even if they are
found to be genuine refugees.
While it is appropriate for the Government to defend the immigration
program against fraud, and to stop opportunistic illegal entry, there is no
evidence that the latest upheaval over West Papua justifies such a
draconian policy shift as the Government has unveiled.
At the time of Tampa, the Government at least had the fig leaf of the
involvement of smuggling syndicates bringing paid passengers - many of them
Afghans and Iraqis fleeing countries with governments sufficiently
loathsome for Australia to help invade even if those escaping the same
regimes were unworthy of sanctuary.
This time there is no evidence that Australia risks being swamped by
thousands of arrivals and ample evidence that the territory of origin has
an appalling record of torture, rape and killings by the military, as the
tribunal that promptly granted asylum to the 42 West Papuans who arrived in
January acknowledged.
Despite all the hyped warnings of a new exodus following the arrival of
that group, only one other boat is reported to have embarked for Australia
since then.
This rushed policy overkill is driven entirely by the angry reaction of
Indonesia to the proper decision granting temporary protection visas to the
42 Papuans, individuals who had demonstrably good reason to fear a return
to their troubled homeland.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley is quite correct that this decision sends a
clear message that Australia is susceptible to diplomatic blackmail. It
sends an even louder message, to both the corrupt security forces that
reign in West Papua and those working within Indonesia to build democracy
after years of dictatorship, that Australia has no intention of taking a
stand against the worsening human rights situation in the province.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is quite correct to say that Australia
needs to preserve a good working relationship with Indonesia. It is equally
true that Indonesia needs Australia's co-operation as much as we need
theirs in fighting terrorism and other transnational crime and in building
regional stability.
But a decent relationship with Jakarta can only be built on mutual respect.
By signalling that it is prepared to junk a 55-year commitment to a key
international human rights standard to defuse a short-term diplomatic
crisis, the Howard Government risks losing not only the respect of the
neighbour it is so anxious to placate but also that of the rest of the
region and the world.
Mark Baker is diplomatic editor.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/australia-leader-in-trashing-refugee-rights/2006/04/14/1144521502050.html
======================================
8. Criticism swells over new refugee processing laws
======================================
AM - Saturday 15 April 2006
Reporter: Jean Kennedy
ELIZABETH JACKSON: There's widespread criticism of the Federal Government's
tough new immigration regime, which will see all asylum seekers arriving by
boat sent offshore.
This Easter weekend church leaders, refugee advocates and human rights
groups all claim the radical policy shift puts Australia in breach of its
international obligations.
The Government has also indicated that Nauru is the most likely place
people will be sent while their refugee claims are being processed.
But a prominent refugee lawyer has told Saturday AM that such a move
appears to be a deliberate tactic to deny asylum seekers proper access to
the Australian legal system.
The row over the Government's immigration policy has already lead to angry
protests, and mass demonstrations are expected to continue today, as Jean
Kennedy reports.
(sound of protestors chanting with drums)
JEAN KENNEDY: Some of the 100 or so protestors shook the gates at the
Holsworthy army barracks in Sydney's southwest, demanding the release of
160 detainees who were relocated there from the Villawood Detention Centre,
because of asbestos contamination.
(sound of protestors chanting "open the borders, close the camps, free the
refugees
")
But while this Easter weekend rally had been planned months ago, resentment
was topped up by Thursday's announcement by the Federal Government that it
was tightening its rules on asylum seekers.
In Melbourne, a special Good Friday church service was held to welcome to
Australia the 42 Papuan asylum seekers who've been granted temporary
protection visas, prompting outrage from Indonesia.
(sound of choir singing)
The Federal Opposition has accused the Government of toughening its asylum
regime in an effort to appease the Indonesian Government, a claim Prime
Minister John Howard denies.
Under the policy anyone entering Australia by boat, whether they make it to
the mainland or not, will be sent to one of three offshore immigration
centres for processing.
And those found to be genuine refugees will be sent to a "third country",
which may mean Australia but only as a last resort.
The Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone has signalled that Nauru is the
most likely place where asylum seekers will be sent to while their claims
are processed.
But David Manne, Coordinator of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre,
and head lawyer for the West Papuan refugees, claims the Government has an
obvious agenda in doing so.
DAVID MANNE: If people are dragged off to Nauru they'll be subject to a
system of fundamental unfairness where they'll completely be denied access
to due legal processes in Australia. They won't be able to put their case
for protection under Australian law; they'll be denied any advice for
assistance to apply for asylum and they'll be denied access to a proper
independent review or scrutiny of their case.
This in a system which is riddled with errors, where a significant
proportion of cases are actually overturned on independent review. They'll
also be denied any access to Australian courts.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: Refugee lawyer, David Manne, ending Jean Kennedy's report.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1616632.htm
==========================
9. Countries look to our asylum lead
==========================
The Australian
Joseph Kerr
April 15, 2006
AUSTRALIA isn't the only country considering forcing asylum-seekers
offshore for processing.
The number of asylum-seekers coming to this country has dropped
dramatically and is now dwarfed by the number making claims in other
countries.
Only 3210 claims were made in Australia last year, compared with 19,740 in
Canada, 28,910 in Germany, 30,460 in Britain, 48,770 in the US and 50,050
in France, UNHCR figures show.
Australia's policy of using Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island to
process refugees - a policy the Government believes has deterred boatpeople
since September 2001 - has been watched around the world.
Susan Kneebone, of Monash University's law faculty, said the Australian
policy had drawn on US interdiction laws, which discriminate between
nationals from different countries and according to the method of arrival.
The Australian policy had influenced European nations, Associate Professor
Kneebone said.
"The British really have used us as a model," she said.
In Britain, a proposal to deport all asylum-seekers to Albania was
considered in 2003, she said, and Croatia was also discussed.
The plan was not adopted, but it was revived in 2004 by the then German
interior minister, who proposed establishing processing camps in Tunisia.
But while EU states were planning to direct aid to help the source
countries of asylum-seekers economically, Professor Kneebone said Australia
was merely acting out of self-interest. "It's a very bad example for Europe
to follow."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,18818505-601,00.html
==================================
10. New asylum policy sneaked through: Labor
==================================
The Age
April 14, 2006 - 11:51AM
The federal government's tough new immigration laws were deliberately
announced while the nation was focused on Prime Minister John Howard's
appearance at the AWB inquiry, Labor says.
Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said while the laws were
designed to defuse a diplomatic crisis with Jakarta over the granting of
temporary protection visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers, the timing was
cleverly planned.
When asked if the announcement had deliberately been made while people were
preoccupied with John Howard's questioning at the Cole inquiry, Mr Burke
said it was difficult not to be cynical.
"The Papuans arrived at the beginning of the year, Indonesia made (its)
disquiet known immediately," Mr Burke said.
"To leave it right up until the day John Howard fronts the AWB inquiry is a
long way from a coincidence."
Under the hardline immigration policy announced on Thursday, people
arriving illegally by boat will now have their asylum claim processed at
one of three offshore detention centres.
The government says those found to be genuine refugees will then be sent to
a third country.
"Yesterday we had one of the most radical changes imaginable to our
immigration policy where the government seriously proposed effectively
excising not one more island but the entirety of Australia from the
immigration zone," Mr Burke said.
"Our immigration policy is not being run by Canberra. It's being run by
Jakarta."
Mr Burke said while the new laws effectively handed control of Australia's
immigration to another country, they would also cost taxpayers millions of
dollars a month.
The Pacific Solution, under which asylum seekers are transferred to Nauru
and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, is maintained at a cost of about $4
million a month, he said.
"That's only going to go up if we move all the processing offshore," he said.
The new laws are an extension of the Pacific Solution, which was introduced
in 2001.
Any illegal entrant to Australia will be shipped to Nauru, Manus Island or
Christmas Island, where they will stay until their visa applications have
been processed.
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has indicated the government wants all
boat people to be sent to a country other than Australia after their claims
for asylum are processed.
Meanwhile, Australia could breach its international obligations if it sends
all asylum seekers arriving by boat offshore, Amnesty International says.
Amnesty International said Australia could be in breach of its
international obligations to refugees if it had one policy for asylum
seekers arriving by boat, and another for those who arrived by plane.
"All asylum seekers must be treated equally.
"Australia's commitment under the international refugee convention ... is
that it will not penalise refugees based on their method of arrival," the
human rights group said in a statement.
"The continued use of offshore processing for boat arrivals does not meet
Australia's international obligations."
© 2006 AAP
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/New-asylum-policy-sneaked-through-Labor/2006/04/14/1144521492753.html
===========================================
11. Refugee activists: Press release from Easter conference
===========================================
MEDIA RELEASE
Monday April 17, 2006
Refugee convergence calls for further action against government
anti-refugee policy
Refugee activists, representing groups from every mainland state, have
called for an on-going campaign of action against the Howard government
move to keep asylum seekers out of mainland Australia.
The call came from a conference of activists gathered in Sydney for the
Easter weekend of protest activities aimed at the federal government’s
refugee policies.
“We are totally opposed to the governments to establish off-shore
processing for all asylum seekers and to the proposal that any successful
refugee will be settled in ‘third countries’. We will continue to campaign
for permanent protection and for the closure of the detention centres, but,
we have adopted a new banner demand for our campaign activities ‘Open the
borders to refugees, let them land, let them stay,’ “ said Ian Rintoul, a
spokesperson for the refugee conference.
The conference discussion placed an immediate focus on the issue of West
Papua and building for major rallies to mark World Refugee Day in June.
“The plight of the West Papuans has struck a chord in the Australian
community. Under the government’s new laws, the asylum seekers who arrived
in January, recognised by the government as refugees, would never be
settled in Australia,” Ian Rintoul said.
“The Howard government, since the days of Philip Ruddock as Immigration
minister, has tried to set international benchmarks for defining
obligations under the refugee convention, out of existence. But this has
gone one step further. No other country in the world maintains camps for
asylum seekers in third countries. Australia is set once again to be an
international pariah on refugees.
“We are calling on the Labor Party to establish a unequivocal commitment to
reverse the Howard government’s policy. We welcome the announcement that
the Labor Party will vote against the latest proposed amendments, but
believe it is time for a full review of their policy. The issue of refugees
has nothing to do with border security.
The conference will also initiate discussions with other refugee groups
such as ChilOut and Rural Australians for Refugees to call a conference
later this year to cohere a national movement to campaign against the
Howard government and for a welcome refugee policy.
After a successful weekend of highlighting the disgraceful moves by the
government including protest action at the door of the Prime Minister,
activists will today (Monday) visit detainees presently being held in
Holsworthy army base.
“Activists are returning to their home states to continue the campaign,”
said Ian Rintoul. A demonstration is planned in Brisbane this Thursday, 20
April when the Prime Minister opens renovation to a Brisbane cathedral.
For more information, contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713.
============================
12. Visit to Baxter Easter Sunday 2006
============================
Easter seems to be particularly significant for asylum seekers and those
who love and look out for them. It has become traditionally an opportunity
for protest against the cruel policy of mandatory, indefinite detention, a
chance for escape to freedom for some refugees and the anouncement of the
government's intention to process all claims outside Australia is
particularly appropriate at this Easter time when the suffering, death and
resurrection of Jesus is remembered.
The visit to Baxter today, relating to the pain of each person detained was
sharpened by the memory of the visual commemoration on Good Friday at Saint
John's Whyalla of the crucifixion of Jesus. "Jesus" was a slim young man
with ripped T shirt and jeans and could easily have been any of the
refugees. The crucifixion and Australia's treatment of refugees became
inseparable.
I want to say many things to John Howard and the gutless members of his
government with this latest outrageous plot. It is like living a nightmare
and part of it is that "normal" life continues, John Howard is photographed
attending an Easter Service and the sky has not fallen in and crushed
government house like it should have. It's like our nation is just watching
a movie in which the director introduces any twisted rotten outcome and no
one objects as if it is not happening to us right in front of our eyes.
You don’t give a damn when somebody dies,
As long as you don’t see the blood,
You couldn’t care less if somebody lies,
As long as you don’t feel the flood.
Of tears that are shed by the victim’s friends,
Let alone his father’s and mother’s,
As long as you don’t see the blood where it ends,
On the floor along with the other’s.
Yet your hands are stained just as sure as those,
Who torture and maim and kill,
You gave them the victim to taunt and tease,
To the bent of the torturer’s will.
What are we going to do? Statements from Churches, the Opposition
(thankfully), demonstrations just don't seem to be enough.
Allan Nield
Whyalla, SA
==============================
13. Letter to the Editor: Dangerous Times
==============================
Fri, 14 Apr 2006
To the Editor,
DANGEROUS TIMES
For those who are privileged, or blighted, to understand the danger we are
in from the Howard government, this Easter 2006 is particularly
significant. Just before Good Friday when Jesus' enemies were plotting his
crucifixion, John Howard and followers announced their plot to send asylum
seekers to remote islands outside Australia for mental torture and child
abuse. It is fitting that their dark deeds were announced at Easter when
the suffering of Jesus is remembered.
John Howard's staged public appearances, his popularity, the cheering and
flag waving and the persecution of minorities should bring a dark shadow to
those who lived in Germany in the 1930's and South Africa when the police
began their crackdown on protest against the Government.
The greatest present threats to the safety of every decent person in
Australia are John Howard, Philip Ruddock, Amanda Vanstone, Peter Costello
and others who support their attacks on human rights including the multi
million dollar campaign of cruelty to refugees. The evil of government
sanctioned absolute power over the lives of refugees has already been
misused to assault and humiliate and increase the mental terror of innocent
children, women and men in detention. Many genuine refugees still suffer
the trauma of prolonged detention and abuse.
Australia under Howard is heading towards a loss of the national conscience
and inevitable threats to the lives of people of conscience who are caught
up in defending the human rights of others, just as in 1930's Germany and
apartheid South Africa. We simply cannot afford to allow John Howard and
his mindless followers to push us further towards an armed force state
without justice or mercy. To maintain justice for each of us it is
essential to have justice for everybody.
Allan Nield
Whyalla Norrie SA
======================================
14. Refugee advocates reject Howard’s “Iron Curtain”
======================================
MEDIA RELEASE
Thu, 13 Apr 2006
Refugee advocates reject Howard’s “Iron Curtain” - Christmas Island is the
government’s gulag
Refugee supporters today accused the Howard government of creating a
refugee “iron curtain” around Australia.
“Today’s announcement that refugees will be processed offshore and sent to
third countries is the final nail in the coffin of the government’s refugee
policy. The Howard government today embraced full-blown Hansonism.
“It has been an aim of the government for a long time. They have used the
excuse of the crisis over West Papuans to put their preferred policy in
place. It is now clear why the government has been building such a large
detention centre on Christmas Island
“Howard’s claim that Australia belongs to the ‘free world’ is a sham.
“It is ironic that the country that played such a large role in forging the
Refugee Convention to provide asylum to those fleeing persecution in the
aftermath of World War II, has now torn it up, and created an iron curtain
in its place. The government has excised Australia from any commitment to
providing safe haven to those fleeing persecution.
“It also puts the lie to the government’s claims of a change of heart over
refugees that headed off the Moylan/Georgiou backbench revolt last year.
“We look forward to the Liberal backbenchers rising in revolt over this
disgraceful policy. It has placed renewed reason for the protests over the
Easter weekend and increased the determination of the refugee movement to
throw the Howard government overboard.
“We also want an unequivocal commitment from the Labor opposition that they
reject the government’s ‘Indian ocean solution’ and will close Christmas
Island and return all Australian territory to the operation of the
Migration Act.”
For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
================================
15. Victims pay to appease the persecutors
================================
The Age
EDITORIAL
April 15, 2006
For an all-too-brief time it looked as though the Australian Government had
come to its senses on asylum seekers. The long suffering of those on Nauru
had to end. The last detainee on Manus Island could not be left in limbo.
The "Pacific Solution" devised in the election-driven frenzy of 2001 had
served its political purpose - albeit at the cost of hundreds of millions
of dollars and untold human suffering.
The asylum seekers, whose refugee claims had finally been upheld, were
brought to Australia. When a group of West Papuans landed and it was
promptly established that they had a well-founded fear of persecution, they
too were granted refuge in Australia. Indonesia took umbrage, but Australia
had done its legal and moral duty. This country had stood up to be counted
in the constant global fight for human rights.
This week, though, the Howard Government opened a new chapter of shame in
its treatment of the victims of persecution. Immigration Minister Amanda
Vanstone announced that the excision of islands from the migration zone
would be taken a step further: all asylum seekers who reach the mainland
would be deemed never to have reached Australia. Such a Kafkaesque denial
of reality is bad law. Even worse, Senator Vanstone confirmed the policy's
brutal conclusion: "People found to be refugees will remain offshore till
resettlement to a third country is arranged." They will again be locked up
away from scrutiny, sentenced to terrible uncertainty: has nothing been
learnt from the recent, well-documented past?
The Government claims to be acting in the national interest to preserve
good relations with Indonesia, while complying with the 1951 Refugee
Convention. In fact, it utterly undermines the convention by denying the
practical obligation for countries, not offshore processing centres, to
give refuge to the persecuted. Indonesia will be happy, but there is a name
for this kind of legally and morally bankrupt policy: appeasement. History
will judge Australia's conduct harshly.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/editorial/victims-pay-to-appease-the-persecutors/2006/04/14/1144521501926.html
============================================
16. Changes to Australia's Migration Act a travesty of justice
============================================
Amnesty International Australia
Press Statement
13 April 2006
Amnesty International Australia strongly condemned the Australian
Government’s proposed changes to the Migration Act, announced today by the
Minister for Immigration, Senator Amanda Vanstone.
"In spite of the exposed human suffering under Australia’s mandatory
detention regime in recent years, through for example the Palmer Inquiry,
the Government is now proposing to send asylum seekers to remote and
isolated detention centres, rather than address the many shortfalls of its
immigration detention regime in Australia”, said Amnesty International
Australia’s Refugee Coordinator, Dr Graham Thom.
"Today's announcement is nothing short of a travesty of justice and a
flagrant disregard both for the strong community support across Australia
for legitimate refugees and for Australia's international obligations”.
"The Australian Government is now prepared to penalise people who seek to
exercise a fundamental right to seek asylum - by taking individuals to a
remote location and placing them in detention, and denying them legal
assistance and the right to an independent appeals process".
Australia already has a well established Refugee Status Determination
system and all asylum seekers, regardless of their mode of arrival, must be
entitled to access this system. All asylum seekers must be treated equally.
Australia's commitment under the International Refugee Convention Australia
is that it will not penalise refugees based on their method of arrival.
Article 31 of this Convention requires that States do not impose such
penalties - the continued use of offshore processing for boat arrivals does
not meet Australia's international obligations.
"Following the Palmer Inquiry, Australia introduced a number of important
and necessary reforms to its detention policy – we ask the Government do
these reforms apply to asylum seekers detained offshore? What will the
independent oversight be of these people turned away from Australia, yet
who need our protection? Can we receive guarantees that we will not see
another Cornelia Rau situation, only this time to be detained in remote
Baxter but an offshore island?
"Once people are recognised as refugees, Australia must not detain them
under international law and as such, we have serious concerns for anyone
recognised under this process, given the delays that will occur, if indeed,
any third country is willing to accept them".
Amnesty International is concerned that legislative changes such as those
proposed today by the Australian Government represent an approach to
stemming the flow of asylum seekers without addressing the human rights
abuses which cause these people to flee.
Media contact : Karen Trentini 0422 869 439 or (02) 9217 7620
http://www.amnesty.org.au/news_features/news/refugee/australia_changes_to_australias_migration_act_a_travesty_of_justice
===========================
17. More asylum seekers for Nauru?
===========================
Letter to The Editor
17 April 2006
What is the hidden agenda of the Australian Government when it proposes to
send all new asylum seekers to isolated Nauru for processing in conditions
we all know are damaging to people and expect other countries to offer them
resettlement places if their claims of persecution are genuine? Is it not
true that two young Iraqi refugees – fully adjudicated and found to have
well founded fears of persecution- are still detained on the small island
after more than four long years because no “third country” will take them?
If this is how we observe human rights, maybe Australia should withdraw
from the UN Convention on Refugees.
Frederika Steen
Chapel Hill Qld
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