Refugee activists bring in the New Year with protest at Chris Bowen’s office
Neither Malaysia nor Nauru; Lift the refugee quota, without conditions
Tuesday 10 January, 1.00-2.30pm, 398 Hamilton Rd, Fairfield West
Speakers include: Ian Rintoul (RAC), Jenny Haines (Labor for Refugees), Senator Lee Rhiannon (Greens, NSW), Hadi Hosseini and Iraj Moghadam (recently arrived refugees)
The refugee rights movement is appalled that Immigration Minister Chris Bowen responded to the most recent boat tragedy that saw 200 people drown by escalating his relentless push for the failed policy of offshore processing.
“Not only is Mr Bowen continuing to flog the Gillard government’s ‘Malaysia Solution’ dead horse, he is bending over backwards to win the Liberals’ support in parliament for offshore processing”, said Mark Goudkamp from the Refugee Action Coalition.
“Yet even Labor’s offer to re-open detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island—hallmarks of John Howard’s ‘Pacific Solution’ which caused so much needless misery and suffering for people eventually found to be refugees—has been rejected by Tony Abbott. In the lead up to the re-opening of Parliament, one wonders how much lower Bowen can go in seeking the Liberals’ support for offshore processing.
“It’s incredible that Nauru is still being considered. The Nauruan government says that one of the former detention centres is now a primary school. Neither Abbott, nor now it seems Bowen, are perturbed by uprooting these Nauruan kids in so that Australia can again dump asylum seekers there. Read more 
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT REJECTS INDONESIAN UNHCR REFUGEES: HYPOCRITICAL POLICIES ARE PUSHING REFUGEES ONTO BOATS
A group of Tamil refugees in Indonesia, recognized as refugees by the UNHCR, but rejected by the Australian government now say they have little choice but to get on a boat to get to safety in Australia.
The Tamil refugees are part of the group of 254 taken to the port of Merak by the Indonesian navy at the request of then Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in October 2009. More than two years later, having spent a year in detention and being found to be genuine refugees, the Australian government has turned its back on 40 Merak Tamils despite being referred to Australia by the UNHCR.
Most of the refugees are now living in Medan, but out of 134 Merak Tamil refugees still in Indonesia, only three families have been accepted.
The rejection has angered the Tamil refugees. They are already boycotting English and computer classes in protest. A bigger protest in Medan is planned for next week.
“The refugees have been shamefully treated by the Australian government. Their plight makes a mockery of the Australian government supposed concern for the safety of refugees at sea. It is rank hypocrisy. Their policies are pushing people onto boats. There is no other way to get to safety in Australia. The Australian government should not feign surprise if more Merak Tamils get a boat to Australia, ” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.
Around 50 Merak Tamils took a boat to Christmas Island in 2010, and around 25 of them already have Australian protection visas.
“In 2009, then Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor, and other Ministers said that Australia would help resettle the Merak Tamils. Successive governments have reneged on that promise. They simply don’t care about the lives of refugees – neither those that are left in limbo in Indonesia nor those that lose their lives trying to get to Australia,” said Rintoul.
Two other Merak Tamils drowned attempting to get a boat to Australia in June 2010.
“There is no justice. We have been very patient for over two years, but we are losing patience. We were processed by the UNHCR,” Nimal, one of the Tamil refugees in Medan told the Refugee Action Coalition, “There is a big risk for us to get a boat to Australia. But are left with no choice. Is the Australian government is trying to kill us?”
“The UNHCR and the Australian government has let us down. We were promised that we would be resettled within a year. There is no future for us in Indonesia,” said Nimal. Read more
DARWIN ASYLUM TENSIONS GROW: NO HAPPY NEW YEAR FOR DETAINEES
Tensions inside Darwin’s detention centres are growing.
The were more reports of clashes inside DAL 1, the family compound of the Darwin Airport Lodge low security facilities this (Sunday) afternoon. The Refugee Action Coalition was told that ambulances had again been called to the compound.
Meanwhile in the main detention centre, NIDC, frustrations among long term asylum seekers are also growing. In particular, the frustrations are focused on the lack of progress with the granting of bridging visas, despite promises from the Immigration Minister. (Attached is a photo of an asylum seekers’ protest banner inside NIDC on New Year’s Eve)
All the asylum seekers in NIDC have been interviewed for eligibility for bridging visas, but only two people have been granted visas from North 1 and South 2 compounds.
“The Minister’s statement and the interviews raised peoples’ expectations but those hopes have been dashed,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee action Coalition.
“One of the asylum seekers in NIDC told me that immigration case officers had told them in December that 50 people would be receiving bridging visas. But only two people waiting for security clearances had got the bridging visas,” said Rintoul.
“This is not fair,” RAC was told from inside the detention centre, “They are playing with us. People have been waiting for too long.”
There are signs that the self-harm and suicide attempts that reached epidemic proportions in the NIDC during the second half of 2011 are on the rise again. Read more
WHAT’S RIGHT FOR REFUGEES? ROBERT MANNE GETS IT WRONG ON OFF-SHORE PROCESSING
“Robert Manne’s argument that the only alternative is off-shore processing in Nauru is simply wrong. Any policy that starts with the idea of stopping the boats can only lead to a conclusion that is morally and politically flawed.
“Robert Manne’s arguments are of a piece with those of Gillard and Abbott which both violate the rights of asylum seekers and foster anti-refugee sentiments in Australian society,” said Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition.
“Firstly, it is mistaken to think that you can ultimately uphold the rights of refugees by systematically undermining them by sending asylum seekers to Malaysia or Nauru.
“Secondly, for people to be processed in Nauru, they have to get on a boat and try to get to Australia. That much was obvious under Howard’s Pacific Solution. Manne himself is less than honest with the figures. The UNHCR estimates during the years of the Pacific Solution, around 1600 asylum seekers tried to get to Australia but were diverted to Nauru plus another unknown number on boats that were turned around or towed back.
“There has always been a humanitarian policy option, but neither Gillard nor Abbott is interested in that. They are too concerned with domestic politicking at refugees’ expense.
“A number of refugee advocate groups, including the Refugee Action Coalition and Labor for Refugees have advocated an obvious alternative solution: to process asylum seekers in Indonesia and guarantee re-settlement of refugees from Indonesia. If this happened far fewer people would need to get on a boat.
“If people-smuggling was decriminalized, boats could be prepared in the open. They could be equipped with life-jackets. They could inform the authorities when they were ready to sail, so they could be tracked or even escorted.
AUSTRALIA SHARES RESPONSIBILITY FOR ASYLUM SEEKERS’ DEATHS AT SEA
Australia cannot evade its share of the responsibility for yesterday’s tragic sinking of another asylum boat off Java, according to advocates from the Refugee Action Coalition. The boat is believed to have been carrying Afghan and Iranian refugees.
“Australia’s push for Indonesia to detain asylum seekers and to criminalize people smuggling directly leads to the kind of tragedy we’ve seen yet again today,” said Ian Rintoul, RAC spokesperson.
“There’s nothing inherently dangerous about the passage from Indonesia – if it’s in proper boats. If the government is worried about people losing their lives at sea, they should decriminalize people-smuggling so that the voyages can be planned in the open and seaworthy boats can come here without having to sneak into Australian waters in secret.”
“But the policy of detaining asylum seekers in Indonesia means asylum seekers risk imprisonment if they contact authorities if they are concerned about the seaworthiness of any boat. The fact that Australia impounds and destroys the vessels that bring asylum seekers here means boats used are more likely to be unseaworthy. The crossing from Indonesia is these boats’ last voyage.”
“This time we tragically have hundreds of people likely to be dead. No doubt we’ll hear a lot of hypocrisy from government and opposition about the tragedy of lost lives. They’ll say the sinking shows Australia has to deter people from undertaking boat trips. But talk of stopping the boats only makes the situation worse. It doesn’t matter how unsafe the boat is, refugees will try to get to Australia because that is often the only place where they can be safe.” Read more
SECOND TAMIL DEPORTATION AVERTED BY LEGAL ACTION – REFUGEE ADVOCATES SAY DON’T DEPORT TO DANGER
A second attempted removal of a Tamil asylum seeker has been averted after the government gave an undertaking not to remove him until the determination of a High Court case in February 2012.
The undertaking follows the last minute injunction issued by the High Court yesterday (ie Monday 12 December) restraining the Immigration Minister or the Department of Immigration removing another Tamil asylum seeker, 37 year-old, Emil.
In one of closest legal actions to avert a deportation, yesterday’s High Court injunction came only two hours before the Singapore Airlines flight was due to remove Emil from Australia.
Yesterday’s High Court action was the first time an off-shore asylum seeker had been joined to the land mark case scheduled to be heard in February next year. There is now the potential to join any other asylum seekers threatened with deportation to the High Court case.
The High Court decision is another small step for justice for all asylum seekers and for off-shore asylum seekers in particular.
“The High Court case has the potential to be as significant for refugee processing as the M61 case last year that allowed off-shore asylum seekers access to the Australian courts. It will open up even more of the determination process, previously kept behind the scenes, to legal scrutiny. But there will be no real justice until the government desists from forcibly deporting people to danger,” said spokesperson for Refugee Action Coalition, Ian Rintoul.
“The government has been handed another opportunity by the courts to reconsider its dangerous policy of deporting asylum seekers to Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Neither country is a safe place to return asylum seekers. Nor will they be safe in February next year.
“It also needs to view the cases of all asylum seekers processed under the discriminatory off-shore determination process. Read more
LEGAL EFFORTS UNDERWAY TO STOP GOVERNMENT DEPORTING TAMIL ASYLUM SEEKERS
Documents have been lodged in the Melbourne Federal Magistrates Court this morning (Thursday) seeking an injunction to prevent the government removing a Tamil asylum seeker from Australia. The case has been set for hearing at 10.15am, 9 December 2011, before Federal Magistrate Burchardt.
The asylum seeker is scheduled to be removed from the Perth detention centre to Colombo on Monday, 12 December. He is one of two Tamil asylum seekers threatened with being forcibly deported. Last minute legal action is also being considered for the other asylum seeker scheduled for removal on 13 December.
The 37 year-old Tamil arrived in Australian in March 2010, and his wife and child are still living in Sri Lanka.
“We have grave fears for the safety of both the men threatened with deportation. Sri Lanka remains a very dangerous place with thousands of Tamils detained, without trial, in internment camps,” said Ian Rintoul of the Refugee Action Coalition.
“The area around Mannar, where this man is from, is under heavy military occupation. Many Tamils in the area have been displaced either because villages have been destroyed or land is being appropriated under transmigration programs driven by the Sri Lankan government.
“His family has been pushed off their land and his wife has been regularly harassed by the military, as recently as 27 November. The army accused her husband of being associated with the Tamil Tigers and questioned her regarding his whereabouts. A statement from the local priest refers to disappearances happening daily in the area.
“The man actually came to Australia from a Tamil refugee camp in India and is registered in that camp, but the government has refused to send him to India, insisting on deporting him to danger in Sri Lanka.
“The Australian government knows it is not safe to send anyone to Sri Lanka. The President of Sri Lanka, who Julia Gillard welcomed as a friend at the recent CHOGM conference, is accused of war crimes by the UN. Read more
NATIONAL MEETING OF REFUGEE GROUPS REJECT LABOR CONFERENCE RESOLUTION, PLANS CAMPAIGN
A national meeting of refugee groups from around Australia, yesterday afternoon rejected amendments to the Labor Party platform that will re-open the door to the Malaysia Agreement.
“The amendments are a step backwards for the Labor Party and the Labor government. The move to increase the refugee intake only on condition of the government implementing the Malaysia Agreement was an shabby piece of domestic politicking,” said Ian Rintoul, speaking on behalf of the national refugee campaign meeting.
“Any plan to expel asylum seekers to Malaysia, or any other third country is a fundamental Australia’s obligation to provide protection for who arrive on our shores fleeing persecution. But Chris Bowen is locked in an anti-refugee race to the bottom with Tony Abbott. Abbott says ‘Nauru’, while Bowen says, ‘Malaysia,’ ” he said.
Representatives of 10 groups from across the country met in the wake of the conference decision to discuss a campaign framework to escalate the campaign to free the refugees over the coming year.
Next year, 2012, is the twentieth anniversary of mandatory detention first introduced by the Keating Labor government.
“Mandatory detention has been law for twenty years too long. Instead of releasing asylum seekers and refugees from detention, the government is expanding the detention regime. That is unacceptable. Equally unacceptable is the government’s move to deport asylum seekers to danger in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka,” said Rintoul.
The refugee campaign meeting decided to focus on mandatory detention, the issue of deportations and to highlight the plight of refugees given an adverse security assessment by ASIO.
The national Easter 2012 convergence will be in Darwin, soon to be the detention capital of Australia, with the opening of Wickham Point detention centre expected next week.
For more information contact Ian Rintoul, mob 0417 275 713
The national meeting had representatives from: Refugee Action Collectives in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Wollongong; Refugee Action Coalition, NSW, Refugee Rights Action Network Perth, Refugee Rights Action Network UWA, USYD Anti-Racism Collective, the Cross Border Collective and Darwin Asylum Seekers Support and Advocacy Network
BOWEN’S TALK OF RAISING HUMANITARIAN INTAKE NO MORE THAN CYNICAL POLITICKING AHEAD OF ALP CONFERENCE
The Refugee Action Coalition (RAC) has dismissed Chris Bowen’s call for an increase in Australia’s humanitarian intake as nothing more than a shabby political ploy.
“Bowen knows there’ll be pressure on him from Labor for Refugees at the National Conference this weekend,” said Ian Rintoul, RAC spokesperson. “If this announcement was anything other than a smokescreen, he’d have presented a real timeline for the increase. But he’s done nothing of the sort.
“Bowen’s offer of an increased humanitarian intake is wholly conditional on support for the Malaysia agreement”, Rintoul continued. “No supporter of a humanitarian refugee policy should allow themselves to be taken in. You can’t consistently defend human rights if you are willing to trade the rights of one group for those of another. Malaysia is just the most vicious and inexcusable element in Bowen’s punishment of refugees.
“His talk of the need to save lives at sea is hypocrisy pure and simple,” Rintoul continued. “How many times does it have to be pointed out? Any refugees prevented from coming to Australia by government policies will just undertake other dangerous journeys to Europe or America, with just as much tragic loss of life. If the government cared about human lives as Bowen pretends, it’d put real solutions in place to process and bring refugees from Indonesia. And it wouldn’t be letting people rot in detention in Australia.”
“Mr Bowen says we have an obligation to people waiting in refugee camps. But we also have an obligation to the people who risk everything to ask Australia for help directly. What could be more obvious than the obligation we have to help people who are asking us for help? There’s no “either–or” here. We should be taking more people from the camps, AND welcoming refugees who have no choice but to come here by boat.”
“Bowen and Gillard’s determination to pit the boats against the camps is contemptible. People’s suffering and misery are the same whether they’re watching their life slip away in a camp or risking it on a boat.”
‘Bowen and Gillard should listen to the majority of the public, which, as polls indicate, is against the Malaysia deal. They should listen to Melissa Parke and Anna Burke in the ALP itself calling for the humane refugee policy that Australia, and refugees, so desperately need.’ Read more
STATELESS ASYLUM LIP STITCH PROTESTERS DECLARE HUNGER STRIKE
The three Faili Kurd asylum seekers who have had their lips stitched together since last Monday are continuing their protest and have now declared a hunger strike.
On Saturday, 26 November, the three told the Immigration department and the Red Cross that they would now be on hunger strike.
Until Saturday, they had been taking some sweet tea and juice.
At least one other Faili Kurd in the Darwin detention centre has been on hunger strike for over a week. Two other Faili Kurds in Curtin were hospitalised last week after self harm incidents.
The Immigration department already offered to move them to another detention centre if they unstitched their lips, but the protesters have rejected that as not offering them any solution. Yesterday (Saturday), the department offered to negotiate their return if they unstitched their lips but said that the arrangements would take them at least ten months.
“The offer to return in unbelievable,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition, “At least one of the Kurds applied to be returned five months ago, but they were told then that as they are stateless, the government could not send them anywhere.
“The government knows it is unable to send them anywhere, but is keeping them in indefinite detention
“An urgent review of all the stateless asylum seeker cases is needed. It is estimated that there are around 600 stateless asylum seekers presently in immigration detention. They should be released. We don’t want any more Peter Kasims,” said Rintoul.
Peter Kasim, was a stateless asylum seeker, that the Howard government kept in detention for seven years (until 2005), although he applied for residency to 80 countries.
“The bridging visas announced recently are not about to solve the problems of long term detention. Three of the Kurds in Darwin have been in detention between 17 and 21 months already. The Minister has the power to release them, he should use it.”
For more information contact Refugee Action Coalition, Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713
