The government\u2019s assurances of dignity and respect for asylum seekers transferred to Malaysia are meaningless, according to the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC).<\/p>\n
Australia and Malaysia \u201cpartners in crime\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n RAC spokesperson Ian Rintoul described Australia and Malaysia as \u201cpartners in crime\u201d. \u201cIt\u2019s not people smugglers\u2019 business model that\u2019s getting smashed by this deal,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the 800 asylum seekers who have done nothing more than ask Australia for protection.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe core purpose of this deal is to outsource our human rights violations to one of South East Asia\u2019s most infamous rights abusers. This is a \u2018groundbreaking\u2019 new low for Australia. We\u2019re almost four years into a Labor government, and we\u2019re still waiting for a humane \u2018Australian solution\u2019 that will actually respect human lives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis Malaysian deal is nothing less than brutal people trafficking,\u201d Rintoul continued. \u201cPeople, perhaps including unaccompanied minors, will be abandoned to appalling privation and suffering in Malaysia. Australia is engaging in a form of collective punishment of people who have committed no crime.\u201d<\/p>\n Bowen \u201cmustn\u2019t have read his own agreement\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not a single concrete proposal in the agreement to enforce guarantees that refugees will be properly treated,\u201d said Nick Riemer, also from RAC. \u201cBowen\u2019s and Gillard\u2019s assurances aren\u2019t even worth the paper they\u2019re not written on. It\u2019s laughable to think people will accept their word that protection safeguards will be enforced in Malaysia.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMr Bowen has stated that the deal will be overseen by the UNHCR. He mustn\u2019t have read his own agreement,\u201d Riemer continued. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing in it confirming UNHCR participation. The UNHCR aren\u2019t even signatories.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMr Bowen has also explicitly spoken of the health and education opportunities available to refugees in Malaysia. This is duplicitous in the extreme. Anyone who has watched Go back to where you came from<\/em> knows what conditions are really like for refugees in Malaysia. There is not a single clause in the agreement that suggests anything will be different for the 800 deportees from Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n Malaysian legal system never on refugees\u2019 side<\/strong><\/p>\n Malaysian human rights groups, as well as human rights groups in Australia, have strongly condemned the deal. \u201cMalaysian civil society has received numerous assurances from the government concerning refugees,\u201d said Renuka Balasubramaniam, Director of the Malaysian NGO Lawyers for Liberty, in June.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, when an affected refugee requires redress, no Malaysian court or government agency is willing to look beyond the letter of existing laws in order to deliver justice.\u201d<\/p>\n The Refugee Action Coalition rejects the arguments of those who welcome the deal on the grounds that it improves the conditions for 4000 Malaysian refugees. Australia\u2019s present humanitarian refugee intake is at an historic low.<\/p>\n Australia should do everything it can to find new homes for refugees currently suffering in Malaysia. But this must not be at the cost of the wholesale undermining of Australia\u2019s basic humanitarian obligation to welcome refugees in this country.<\/p>\n For more information, contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713 or Nick Riemer 0435 533 027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The government\u2019s assurances of dignity and respect for asylum seekers transferred to Malaysia are meaningless, according to the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC). Australia and Malaysia \u201cpartners in crime\u201d RAC spokesperson Ian Rintoul described Australia and Malaysia as \u201cpartners in crime\u201d. \u201cIt\u2019s not people smugglers\u2019 business model that\u2019s getting smashed by this deal,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-press-releases"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/311091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}