{"id":3999,"date":"2015-04-21T13:23:34","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T03:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/?p=3999"},"modified":"2015-04-21T13:25:57","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T03:25:57","slug":"australias-turn-back-policy-adds-to-drowning-risk-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/?p=3999","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s turn-back policy adds to drowning risk in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAustralia\u2019s turn back policy may be directly contributing to deaths at sea in Europe,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Coalition\u2019s \u2018stop the boats\u2019 slogan was just an ultimatum to asylum seekers to \u2018die somewhere else\u2019 backed up by the military \u2013 and ‘dying somewhere else’ may be exactly what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n

\"med\"<\/a>
Up to 900 are feared drowned in the latest asylum seeker boat disaster in Europe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“There are many asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa languishing in Australian detention centres and on Nauru and Manus Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Coalition has not stopped the boats; the boats have only been intercepted or displaced. At least 17 boats have attempted to get to Australia since Operation Sovereign Borders began. The navy ship that is returning Vietnamese asylum seekers could just as easily have brought them safely to Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy denying safe passage for people to come to Indonesia and then to Australia, African and Middle Eastern asylum seekers may have no alternative but to try to get to Europe to find safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbbott thinks he can grandstand and lecture Europe about ‘stopping the boats’. But, the Australian government\u2019s policy is part of the problem, not part of the solution. Talk of implementing an Australian turn back policy in Europe is folly and would only increase the dangers for asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNor is retired Major-General Molan in any position to be lecturing European leaders about saving lives. The tragedy in the Mediterranean is not a people-smuggling disaster; it is a humanitarian disaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe increase in deaths at sea in the Mediterranean is directly attributable to European governments ending the funding for Italy’s \u2018Mare Nostrum\u2019 rescue operation, last year. Until it was wound back, \u2018Mare Nostrum\u2019 had rescued around 130,000 people in 2014 alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cEurope needs to urgently re-instate funding for rescue operations in the Mediterranean, and allow safe passage for asylum seekers. If the Australian government was seriously interested in saving lives, it would end Operation Sovereign Borders, fund an effective search and rescue program, and guarantee that refugees in Indonesia would be quickly resettled in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAustralia\u2019s turn back policy may be directly contributing to deaths at sea in Europe,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition. \u201cThe Coalition\u2019s \u2018stop the boats\u2019 slogan was just an ultimatum to asylum seekers to \u2018die somewhere else\u2019 backed up by the military \u2013 and ‘dying somewhere else’ may be exactly what\u2019s happening. […]<\/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-3999","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\/3999","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=3999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3999\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refugeeaction.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}