Around 150, more than half of the Afghan asylum seekers at Pontville detention centre, are now involved in a hunger strike. The asylum seekers have been in detention between 15 and 33 months.

“We have been a long time in detention with no result,” one Pontville asylum seeker told the Refugee Action Coalition on Monday night. “Immigration told us that we would get community detention and bridging visa to get us out, but there is nothing. We have been waiting too long.”

A smaller group of around 34 have been on hunger strike for seven days. So far, at least three of them have been hospitalised.

In the last two days, the hunger strike has been joined by over 100 other Hazara asylum seekers.

The Refugee Action Coalition (RAC) has been told that even more asylum seekers could join the hunger strike.

“The government has reneged everywhere on its promise to release detainees on bridging visas or community detention. The announcement was a cruel hoax,” said RAC spokesperson, Ian Rintoul, “There is nothing like 100 visas a month being issued and tensions are growing in all the detention centres.

“Darwin asylum seekers have been told there will be 30 visas by the end of the month, but so far there is no sign of that either. The Minister’s lies are coming back to bite him. The Pontville protest may just be the beginning. It is a disgrace that he can raise hopes and then smash them in this way. It is a form of mental torture. If there is a bigger wave of protests, the responsibility will be at the Minister’s feet.

“We are coming up to the anniversary of the protests on Christmas Island, you would think the Minister might have learned his lesson. The vast majority of detainees have indicated friends and relatives that are willing to assist them to live in the community. The only thing that is missing is the Minister’s willingness to act.”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul mob 0417 275 713.

The Australian government is currently attempting to deport Afghan Hazara asylum seeker, Ismail Mirza Jan, to Afghanistan. Never before has an Afghan national been forcibly removed from Australia to Afghanistan.

Ismail Mirza Jan

This would be a new low in Australia’s refugee policy, with the Labor Government sinking even further than the Howard Government in pursuing deporations to danger. Even high-ranking ministers in the Western-backed Afghan government have questioned Australia’s right to forcibly repatriate Afghan asylum seekers from Australia. If Ismail is deported, this will open the way for the deportation of scores of Afghan, and potentially other, asylum seekers – back to war torn countries, impending danger, or even a death sentence. Two Tamil asylum seekers, Emil and Vithuran, too were only saved from deportation by last minute legal action in December.

Recently Ismail received a temporary reprieve when the Federal Magistrates Court questioned whether he received “procedural fairness” by the Australian government in their attempts to deport him. Ismail’s deportation case will come back to the High Court on February 8. The refugee rights movement, and all those who oppose this move to forced deportations, have a short window of opportunity to build a broad campaign against the forced deportation of Ismail, and the terrible precedent it would provide for further deportations.

Speakers:

LES MURRAY
SBS soccer commentator who (with Dateline) recently returned to Hungary to find the people smuggler who helped his family flee the country in 1956

MIKE GREWCOCK (author of Border Crimes & UNSW Law lecturer)

EDWINA LLOYD (lawyer for Indonesian boat crew jailed on ‘people smuggling’ charges)

HADI HOSSEINI (Afghan Hazara detained on Christmas Island and in Darwin on his experience of being ‘smuggled’)

6pm-8pm Monday February 13
UTS Haymarket campus room B111, Quay St (opposite Paddy’s market)
Co-hosted by UTS Anti-racism club and Refugee Action Coalition

• Share the link to the event on Facebook here

• Download a poster to stick up at work or near where you live here

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.

“Julia Gillard should recall what she, as Shadow Immigration Minister, said in 2002: ‘The Pacific Solution is an expensive failure…Stay tuned for the removal of the multi-million-dollar a day naval blockade of asylum-seekers and the closure of the multi-million-dollar a day camps on Nauru and Manus Island.’

Ian Rintoul from RAC said: “It is completely mistaken to think that you can ultimately uphold the rights of refugees by systematically undermining them by sending asylum seekers to Malaysia or Nauru.

“During the years of John Howard’s Pacific Solution, asylum seekers still took boats to to Australia. The UNHCR estimates that around 1600 asylum seekers tried to get to Australia but were diverted to Nauru—plus another unknown number on boats were turned around or towed back.

“There has always been a humanitarian policy option, but Gillard and Abbott are too concerned with domestic politicking at refugees’ expense. A number of refugee advocacy groups, including the Refugee Action Coalition and Labor for Refugees and The Greens have advocated processing asylum seekers in Indonesia and guaranteeing refugee re-settlement from there. If this happened far fewer people would need to get on a boat.

“And if people-smuggling was decriminalised, 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.”

But the Australian government has turned its back on refugees in Indonesia. Shamefully, despite promises of resettlement, 40 Tamil refugees stranded in Indonesia since October 2009 have been rejected by Australia and will be holding a protest in Medan next week. “We are calling on the Minister to make good the Labor government’s promises to the Merak Tamils and bring them to Australia,” said Rintoul.

For more information, call Ian Rintoul 0417275713 or Mark Goudkamp 0422078376

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.

The Australian government’s rejection of the Tamil refugees is also a slap in the face of the Indonesian government which has repeatedly requested Australia’s assistance to resettle the Merak Tamils. The head of Indonesia’s Diplomatic Security, Dr Sujatmiko, told the media in April 2010, “We need Australian people, the Australian government to help them.”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713.

Interviews with representatives of the Merak Tamils can be arranged.

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.

One of the Kurdish asylum seekers who sewed his lips together in a protest in November, has again attempted suicide by overdosing tablets on Friday morning. Although, he has now been returned to the detention centre, he is extremely unwell.

Since the opening of Wickham Point in December 2011, Darwin has become the detention capital of Australia and will be the focus of a national convergence of refugee protest groups at Easter this year.

“2012 marks the twentieth anniversary of mandatory detention,” said Rintoul, “and it is still taking a terrible toll on the physical and mental health of asylum seekers. The Minister said that up to 100 people a month would be getting bridging visas, but there’s no sign that the Minister is serious about that. In any case, it is a long way short of what is necessary. There are hundreds – stateless and Iranian asylum seekers and others waiting for ASIO security clearances – presently rotting in detention who should be released immediately. ”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul, 0417 275 713.

“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.

“Chris Bowen says he wants to raise the humanitarian intake to 20,000 a year. So he should, without conditions. This number would easily accommodate all the Indonesian UNHCR mandated refugees and all those who have registered with UNHCR.

“Kevin Rudd had the opportunity to introduce a humanitarian policy in 2007 but opted to keep Howard’s policies of mandatory detention and off-shore processing in place. Now, Chris Bowen is begging Tony Abbott to join an unholy alliance to push asylum seekers to third countries.

“There are policies that will both save lives and uphold the rights of asylum seekers. But our politicians are too busy thinking about saving their own political skins. That is a seriously morally falwed endeavour and Robert Manne shouldn’t be helping them.”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713

“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.”

“According to reports earlier this year, there were 1462 civilian deaths in Afghanistan in the first half of 2011 alone – a 15% increase. May this year was the deadliest month of the war for civilians since 2007. It’s no surprise that people are willing to risk their lives on the trip to Australia.

“Sending people to Nauru or Malaysia will make no difference. People trying to escape war and persecution in Afghanistan or Iran are still going to try and come here because they have no other option. And any refugees who are prevented from coming to Australia by government policies will just undertake other dangerous journeys to Europe or America, with just as much risk to their lives.”

“Australia’s obligation is to welcome asylum seekers. We have resettled a minuscule number of refugees from our region.”

“If the government and opposition really had a concern for asylum seekers’ lives they would institute the humane refugee policy Australia has needed for so long. They’d massively increase our refugee intake from the region, they’d end mandatory detention, decriminalize people-smuggling, remove offshore processing as a policy option, and process and resettle refugees from Indonesia.”

More information: Ian Rintoul, 0417 275 713

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.

“The Federal Magistrates Court this week declared that at least one of the off-shore refugee assessors, Steve Karas, was biased. He is not the only biased assessor. But behind them is a biased and discriminatory system. We would expect that all off-shore assessments, not just those made by Karas, will now subject to a truly independent review, said Rintoul.

Meanwhile, the case of Ismail Mirza Jan, the first Afghan asylum seeker that the government attempted to deport since signing the Memorandum of Understanding with the Afghan government is back in court tomorrow, Wednesday 14 December.

For more information contact, Ian Rintoul, 0417 275 713

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.

“In May last year, the Edmund Rice Centre reported that the Sri Lankan government ‘takes the view that any Tamil who fled the country had to be a sympathiser of the defeated Tamil Tigers,’ and ‘all asylum seekers returned to Sri Lanka in recent months are handed over to the CID, the Sri Lankan police, and taken into custody.’

“In November 2009, Sujendran, a Tamil asylum seeker who returned from Indonesia to Sri Lanka was detained and tortured by Sri Lanka’s CID. In October 2009, Sri Lankan asylum seekers deported from Australia were detained, beaten and jailed by the Sri Lankan authorities. A year later Amnesty International issues an alert regarding the dangers being faced by three of those returned (http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/23625/). Sri Lanka is not safe. Australia has an obligation not to return asylum seekers to danger, but the government is turning a blind eye to the abuse of human rights in Sri Lanka,” said Rintoul.

For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713