Media Release April 22, 2010<\/p>\n
Nine Tamil asylum seekers are on their third day of a hunger strike protest against the threat of being deported to Sri Lanka. All of them have received letters stating they had been rejected at the so called independent merits review, the last avenue of formal appeal under the off-shore refugee determination procedure.<\/p>\n
Another Tamil man who has also been rejected at the review hearing was taken from stage 3 to stage 1 last night (Wednesday 21 April) \u2013 a move that is usually precedes deportation.<\/p>\n
The nine men on hunger strike since Monday night are maintaining their 24 hour protest on the basketball court of the stage 3 compound of the detention centre.<\/p>\n
A banner in English and Tamil reads, \u201cRefugees Deserve a Fair Go; Stop Using Us for Your Political Gain\u201d and \u201cMore than 88000 Tamils are in Internment Camps. Don\u2019t Deport to Death and Torture in Sri Lanka.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSri Lanka is not a safe place for us. There are many human rights problems,\u201d one of the hunger strikers told the Refugee Action Coalition.<\/p>\n
The hunger strikers have sent a letter (text below) to the immigration Minister urging him to review their cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Refugee Action Coalition is also urging the Minister to reconsider these cases. Australia has an obligation under the Refugee Convention not to return people to danger. Sri Lanka is not a safe place for Tamils. Chris Evans has the power to grant humanitarian visas. They have already been in detention almost eight months,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government issues travel warnings for Australian tourists but is willing to deport the people who are the victims of political repression by forces associated with the government,\u201d said Rintoul.<\/p>\n
The hunger strike also highlights the deficiencies of off-shore refugee processing which gives asylum seekers fewer rights that they would have if they landed on the mainland.<\/p>\n
\u201cOff shore processing maintains the adversarial approach to refugee determination. Other problems include lack of legal and at their first interview when people are most vulnerable. There are problems with translations and the use of questionable country background information. And there is judicial oversight at all. In fact the whole procedure rests on Ministerial discretion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government is aware that some asylum seekers returned to Sri Lanka have been arrested and beaten. There is no room for mistakes with deportations. The government is playing with people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are extremely concerned that the deportations are being driven by domestic and international political considerations. The government is more concerned with its relations with the Sri Lankan government than the rights of asylum seekers.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information contact Refugee Action Coalition: Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713<\/p>\n
Asylum Seekers Letter to Immigration Minister:<\/p>\n
Dear Mr. Evans,<\/p>\n
We Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers are seeking recognition as refugees and beginning a fast unto death if our request is not met. We fled persecution in Sri Lanka based on race and language. Where is the justice in sending us back to this country?<\/p>\n
Our requests:<\/p>\n
Reconsider our application for refugee status
\nNot be deported back to Sri Lanka
\nProvide us with a delegation that includes representatives from the
\nAustralian Government, UNHCR, our lawyers, and independent groups such as
\nhuman rights watch and amnesty international.<\/p>\n
This is a peaceful protest. This a protest for our rights. We never participated in any violence. We are making these requests to save our lives.<\/p>\n
Please accept our requests. It has been 8 months since we sought asylum in Australia. Please give us humanitarian visas on a humanitarian basis.<\/p>\n
Yours truly
\nSri Lankan Tamil Asylum Seekers
\nVillawood Detention Centre<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Media Release April 22, 2010 Nine Tamil asylum seekers are on their third day of a hunger strike protest against the threat of being deported to Sri Lanka. All of them have received letters stating they had been rejected at the so called independent merits review, the last avenue of formal appeal under the off-shore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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-120","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\/120","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=120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}