Media Release November 25
\nRefugee advocates in touch with the asylum seekers on the boat at Merak, Indonesia, have refuted media claims that there has been a fight between those who want to stay on the boat and those who want to get off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere seems to be a concerted effort to discredit the asylum seekers at Merak,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition. A story in today\u2019s (Wednesday) edition of The Australian quotes \u201cWestern aid officials\u201d saying there was a fight on the boat that resulted in 15 Tamils disembarking.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there are no Western aid officials monitoring the boat. The Indonesian authorities have restricted access to the port since the IOM left a week ago. No media or aid officials are allowed to visit the boat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe report claims that the 15 were staying in a tent on the dock, \u2018protected by the Indonesian navy personnel\u2019. This is far from the truth. The tent was being used to give some of the children from the boat better shelter from the heavy rains,\u201d said Ian Rintoul.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday the tent was actually taken away by the Indonesian navy. So we have even less shelter for the children,\u201d Alex, the Tamil representative at Merak told the Refugee Action Coalition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe false stories come as the Indonesian government seems to be stepping up the pressure on the asylum seekers to come off the boat,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the withdrawal of the International Organisation of Migration from the port at Merak, the asylum seekers have been left without badly needed medical attention. The IOM, and the Australian government who pays them, has so far ignored calls to re-establish humanitarian support for the asylum seekers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe asylum seekers resorted to telephone advice from a Brisbane-based doctor when a number of people became sick and dehydrated two days ago.<\/p>\n
The Merak boat people have now issued a plea to the International Committee of the Red Cross and its Indonesian affiliate to come to the aid of the asylum seekers. Text of the appeal that has been faxed to the Geneva and Indonesian offices of the Red Cross is shown below.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urgently need assistance, particularly medical assistance,\u201d said Alex. \u201cWe are appealing to the UNHCR to come to the boat so processing can begin. We are still waiting for officials from the Australian government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that the Tamils on the Oceanic Viking are being re-settled in Australia. We are the same as them,\u201d said \u201cAlex\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Refugee Action Coalition is holding a \u201cWelcome Refugees\u201d rally in Sydney Town Hall, 2pm, Sunday 2 November. Speakers include Green Senator Sarah Hanson Young.<\/p>\n
For more information, contact Refugee Action Coalition, Ian Rintoul 0417
\n275 713<\/p>\n
To: International Committee Red Cross, Geneva
\nand Indonesian Red Cross<\/p>\n
Attn: Indonesian Secretary General: Mr Iyang D. SUKANDAR<\/p>\n
Appeal For Assistance From Asylum Seekers At Merak, Indonesia<\/p>\n
We, the 250 Tamil Sri Lankans on the refugee boat in Merak Indonesia request the international community to hear our appeal for help.<\/p>\n
We need urgent assistance from the international aid agencies and the Indonesian Red Cross.<\/p>\n
When we first arrived in Merak in early October, the International Organisation of Migration provided support, but the IOM constantly tried to push us into leaving the boat. Now the IOM has withdrawn from the port area and no longer assists us.<\/p>\n
We are without any medical care in particular, which is why we are calling on the Red Cross for help. Conditions on the boat are getting more difficult. We need better shelter and medical attention. There have been urgent cases of people collapsing and requiring hospitalisation but we could not get an ambulance. People have fevers and suffer from vomiting and diarrhea but there is no medical care.<\/p>\n
International doctors have sometimes been able to give us medical advice over the phone But this is not much when people seem seriously ill and their lives at risk<\/p>\n
Please assist us before more people become sick or we face a life-threatening situation. Today, the Indonesian navy removed a tent that was providing shelter for children from the dock near the boat.<\/p>\n
We are refugees. All we are asking is that we are treated as human beings. We urgently need medical and humanitarian assistance. We want the Red Cross to take over responsibility for providing assistance to us.<\/p>\n
Please contact us urgently \u2013 call + 6281387780889<\/p>\n
Signed: 250 Tamil refugees at Merak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Media Release November 25<\/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-28","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\/28","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=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}