Refugee activist groups around the country have produced this statement to distribute to delegates to this weekend’s Labor Party national conference
A humanitarian refugee policy cannot be achieved by lessening or trading off the recognised rights of refugees and asylum seekers.
Ending the interception and turn-back of boats carrying asylum seekers, closing the detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island, as well as ensuring that all asylum seekers are brought to Australia to reside in the community while their claims for protection are assessed are essential pillars of a just and humane refugee policy. Sacrificing these on pragmatic grounds will further erode community expectations about the proper treatment of the world’s most vulnerable people.
The view being put forward in some quarters that refugee supporters should pragmatically accept offshore processing and the turn-back of asylum boats as a necessary evil in order to gain political concessions on the treatment of asylum seekers in Australia is misguided and mistaken. There has also been repeated reference to the “closure of the ocean route between Java and Christmas Island”, without regard for the consequences of such a decision.
The interception and turn-back of boats have resulted in fires, sinkings, disappearances and drownings – and jailing of those intercepted. Turn-backs prevent asylum seekers from exercising their right to seek protection in Australia. They are also a direct violation of non-refoulement obligations that are the cornerstone of refugee rights.
Similarly, offshore processing also represents a fundamental breach of Australia’s international obligations to those seeking asylum. Neither Nauru nor Papua New Guinea has a resettlement arrangement for refugees. The conditions of detention on Manus Island and Nauru have been repeatedly condemned by international human rights organisations. In 2013, Amnesty International described the conditions on Manus Island as “cruel, inhuman, degrading and violating prohibitions against torture”. The government’s own Moss review and the current “Senate Inquiry into Allegations of Abuse on Nauru” have revealed an appalling history of abuse of children and asylum seekers there.
Compromising on turn-backs or offshore processing would be a victory for the policies of fear, demonisation and deterrence over those of hope, compassion and justice.
Any decision by delegates at the Labor Conference to adopt a refugee policy that incorporated turn-backs or support for offshore processing would compound the bipartisan mainstream political support for the violation of asylum seekers’ human rights.
We call on all delegates to the National Conference of the Australian Labor Party to uphold the rights of asylum seekers and refugees and to support resolutions:
(i) to end offshore processing;
(ii) to unequivocally oppose the turn-back of asylum boats;
(iii) to end policies of mandatory detention.
Endorsed by:
Organisations: Tasmanian Asylum Seeker Support; Hunter Asylum Seeker Advocacy; Refugee Rights Action Network (Fremantle); Students for refugees WA; Refugee Action Collective (Victoria); Refugee Action Collective (Queensland); Refugee Action Coalition (Sydney); Combined Refugee Action Group Geelong; Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project; Refugee Action Committee (Canberra); Buddies Refugee Support Group; Pax Christi Australia, MUA Sydney branch
Individuals (personal capacity): Jeannie Rea National President NTEU; Michael Thomson National Vice-President (General Staff) NTEU; Grahame McCulloch General Secretary NTEU; Matthew McGowan National Assistant Secretary NTEU; Terry Mason Chair Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy Committee NTEU; Andrew Bonnell, Vice-President (Academic) NTEU; Warren Smith, Assistant National Secretary, MUA; Linda Carruthers; Julie Kimber, NTEU member; Ned Cutcher, ASU member
