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Is Australia Betraying Its Past By Handing Over Would Be Refugees in Boats?
By Azadeh Dastyari Thursday, July 3, 2014
AUSTRALIA appears to have reached a new all-time low in its violation of international obligations and its treatment of vulnerable people seeking Australia's protection.
If widespread media reports are true, Australia is preparing to hand over to the Sri Lankan Navy a group of Tamil asylum seekers who fled Sri Lanka. The group reportedly includes 37 children and may include refugees and people at risk of torture.
The facts are sketchy and it is very difficult to work out the truth. The Australian government refuses to comment on ''on-water operational matters''. There have been contradictory statements from Sri Lankan officials.
Screening processes
It has been reported that Australia conducted rudimentary screening of the asylum seekers via teleconference to determine if they are refugees or at risk of torture.
It is believed that Australia asked asylum seekers their ''name, country of origin, where they had come from and why they had left''.
However, such screening is insufficient. It cannot adequately identify people whose life is in danger or who may need protection from torture and persecution.
People are often sick, confused and overwhelmed at sea. They are unlikely to be in a position to articulate their need for protection.
They may also be unaware of their rights or understand why they are being asked the questions they are being asked.
Importantly, a teleconference requires a person who may have been persecuted or even tortured by government officials in the past to speak about their fears to a government official they cannot see, do not know and may not trust.
There is little privacy on board sea vessels and there is no way of knowing if others on board the vessel will report what one is saying to the government one is fleeing.
It is for these reasons that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has previously called for the screening of asylum seekers intercepted at sea to be done on land.
Possible international law breaches
If Australia is in fact handing over Tamil refugees to the Sri Lankan government, the law being violated by Australia is very clear. Article 33 (1) of the UN Refugee Convention states:
No Contracting State shall expel or return (refouler) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
Article 33 (1) is arguably the most important provision in the Refugee Convention. The convention was adopted in part to ensure that the international community would never again turn its back on people fleeing persecution.
Many nations were committed to prevent the recurrence of what happened to Jewish refugees who were handed back to their persecutors during some of the darkest periods in Europe???s history.
Australia voluntarily signed on to the Refugee Convention and therefore has willingly adopted a legal obligation to refrain from returning refugees to harm. Many people of Tamil ethnicity may have a well-founded fear of being persecuted in Sri Lanka. Handing refugees back to their persecutors is a violation of this obligation.
Australia is also a party to the UN Convention Against Torture, which clearly states in Article 3(1) that:
No State Party shall expel, return (''refouler'') or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
Given the continuing allegations of the torture of Tamils in Sri Lanka, Australia may be in violation of its obligation to protect at least some of the asylum seekers from torture.
The asylum seekers being handed over to the Sri Lankan government may have travelled to Australia via India. This does not in any way diminish Australia's obligations to any of the asylum seekers who are refugees.
Australia became legally responsible to protect refugees from being returned to Sri Lanka the moment it intercepted them and transferred them to Australian vessels.
India is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention and refugees are not granted protection in India.
Reports that the asylum seekers may have had a satellite phone also does not diminish Australia's responsibility for the people intercepted.
Australia's legal obligation is to anyone it exercises power or control over who is at risk of torture or fears being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a group or political opinion.
What possessions refugees or people at risk of torture have or do not have is irrelevant to Australia's obligations to them.
Both Labor and Coalition governments in recent times have attempted to justify their harsh asylum policies on the grounds that they save lives.
This argument no longer holds when Australia places the lives of Tamil asylum seekers at risk by directly handing them over to a government they claim to be fleeing without first adequately assessing their safety.
theconversation.com
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Comments
Comments have been disabled for this article.
Many of these so called refugees are only in danger of torture and imprisonment until they get their permanent residence stamp in Australia.
After that many are on the first plane back to that very country that was going to torture and imprison them. Funny how the danger quickly disappears once that permanent residence stamp is gained.
I have a lot of Tamil friends, it's nonsense to say they are being tortured. Both sides committed evil deeds during the war. The war is over.
Many long term resident Tamils have made a lot of money in Australia and are re-investing it back in Sri Lanka.
These new boat people are economic migrants jumping the queue and should be sent back. A friend of mine was a fund raiser for the Tamils and sourced weapons from China for them. He is now a very very rich former refugee who visits Sri Lanka regularly. If anybody was going to get imprisoned it would be him but he doesn't.
Posted by
Arun Muruga
on
July 3, 2014 16:52
Editor Comment:
You better do some more talking to your ''Tamil friends,'' Arun. They'll probably be able to tell you that it's not possible to tell real refugees from pretenders until the boats land. This article, by the way, is all about why Australia's approach is not acceptable, although it also seems to have awakened all the regular bigots.
Better world if the boatpeople were taken in and the bigots were put in their place and pushed back.
As an Australian I am ashamed of this new and ever more inhumane policy
Posted by
Arthur
on
July 3, 2014 19:13
As an Australian I feel proud of this policy. They are about as much a refugee as I am.
Posted by
john
on
July 3, 2014 21:01
Editor Comment:
There are certainly more selfish, self-satisfied Aussies these days who wallow in materialism and forget social obligations, john. As the article points out, there is no way of knowing whether these people are genuine refugees or not. It's the era of the ugly Australian. And how extremely ugly they are.
Ed, I'll help anyone who is in need. But when someone jumps over my back fence, comes through my back door into my house and makes demands. It's not going to happen.
Posted by
john
on
July 3, 2014 23:56
Editor Comment:
There are laws governing fence-jumpers, john. When the occupants start taking the law into their own hands and put the fence-jumpers in harm's way, it becomes a crime. Australia's government has sold its soul. ''We were here first'' isn't much of a justification, as you know.
Enough of the Aussie-Bashing! - We have a right to protect our country and our sovreign borders. Any person can come to Australia through legitimate paths and - in almost all cases - "boat people" are economic migrants who are trying to queue-jump and, by the way - this costs far more than the legitimate path. People smugglers are making a fortune out of this illegal trade And we are trying to eliminate that.
I think Thailand should tidy up it's own back yard and look at itself as to what is happening to Rohingya people before claiming a right to criticise other countries.
This article was clearly biased and partly incorrect.
Posted by
LennyJ
on
July 4, 2014 02:28
Editor Comment:
You must be one of this policy's few supporters, LennyJ. It's only possible to sort the genuine refugees from the ''economic'' ones by interviewing them. Turning back everyone without asking questions is a heartless act, and that's the shame of modern Australia. Too much prosperity and selfishness, no social conscience.
australia has become a country for the elite ,its the most under populated continent on the planet ....look to the nth , Indonesia has a population of more than 200 million in a land mass a fraction of oz ..the current influx is nothing compared to what will happen in 20 years...why can we not take water from the nth of australia to the arid areas and introduce legitimate refugees , its been done in the past !!! i am an aussie , the son of an immigrant , 99% of these people just want a chance at a new life , dont let the 1% bad apples spoil it for all .... the only real aussies are aboriginals , the rest of us are just descendants of immigrants , why not allow a few million more ?
Posted by
chris
on
July 4, 2014 09:29
One could ask the question why so many migrants feel the need to leave their country ? The answer lies of course in our prejudice, our indifference, our inadequacies in treating our fellow human with such vile impunity. As with most, I have witnessed countless atrocities, which cannot be rationally explained.
All I will say, as a race, we still have a long way to go before we become truly civilized.
Posted by
reader
on
July 4, 2014 11:42
Look to be fair to Australia, the government sent out an order a few months back saying they don't want refugees, any type. So wise up and don't stop swimming till yer far past Oz. You ain't coming to our land, demanding your own way of life, your own religion and telling us how to run our country. So if you don't want us to pass you onto another country, I say don't come here to Oz, we don't want ya.Keep swimming.Harsh, no not at all.
Posted by
Duncan B
on
July 4, 2014 11:50
The issue is simple. Are these people fleeing torture and imprisonment like they claim, or are they just after a better life in a country with a welfare system and higher standard of living?
If they are lying by claiming persecution, they badly damage their own country's reputation with these false claims. They are entering Australia seeking sympathy over issues that don't exist by painting Sri Lanka as a country run by torturing tyrants.
The real issue is about people paying smugglers to ship them to Australia with a carefully scripted BS story about persecution.
The smugglers sell them a ticket with stories of a golden land with jobs and prosperity. Turning Australia into a third world country is not going to help anybody in the long run.
Another problem is the government gives preference to these people for public service jobs to try to keep the unemployment rates low for these groups.
This leads to unqualified people in jobs they don't deserve.
I had to pay tens of thousands of dollars then fight for years with the immigration department to get my Thai family members into Australia. One niece is currently a student, she is from a poor Muslim family in Phang-Nga but she has to pay full fees and have medical insurance to live in Australia. These boat people once onshore get everything for free from dental work to medical treatment to free education. It's just not fair for the people patiently waiting to migrate legally.
If having concerns about this makes me a bigot I guess I understand the word in a different context to the editor.
Posted by
Arun Muruga
on
July 4, 2014 12:23
Editor Comment:
The issue is whether the Australian government is behaving like an international renegade in the treatment of boatpeople, AM, nothing more. To treat people improperly without determining whether or not they have been abused is the problem.
Why are so many people still going to OZ. The UK let's anyone in. Australia is clever as having lived in both countries Brits are fed up with having their jobs taken by people who pay no tax, get free medical including operations and then go back to their country. Brits are kind to them even giving them housing the welfare system is more generous than Asutralia and then they do not care a dam once they have the mighty Sterling they leave having paid for a house to be built in their own country. What good does that do the UK? Now they are saying they want Sharia law! Australia was very generous to the Lebanese in the 80's war and look what happened the children of those immigrants caused the biggest riots in Australian history. The normal working man/lady in the UK cannot cut their quotes for work to the same low levels as they pay tax have a mortgage etc the immigrants do work for cash and pay not tax and in many cases live 5 men in a room. I do agree that proper methods should be established for true refugees but then look at the border control in Calais where even when they are caught, Afgans, Iraqis, Tamils, Iranians they are just released from the lorry to try again the same day if they wish. Australians made the country and do not need the bleeding hearted liberals to take over like they have in the UK. The UK used to be for most powerful stand up nation in the world (formed Australia) now they are so scared of not being politically correct and tied themselves in European legislation look how unhappy the true Brits are. That's the real world and any trulet elected government's job is too look after their populations contentment any other fact is second.
Posted by
Fiesty Farang
on
July 4, 2014 13:16
Editor Comment:
History of the world as seen through a very narrow pair of eyes, FF. Where are the Chinese explorers and Muslim architects? My, how closed your mind must be.
The real problem will be once they get to Australia they will soon realize that the grass is not always greener on the other side.
Like a lot of their so called 'refugee' opportunistic ilk, they will find that Australia isn't what it once was and will take the $10,000 on offer to return back to whence they came.
Posted by
It's too late
on
July 4, 2014 13:57
Hey give us a break. What about NewZealand, there's no one there as they all over here in australia. Plenty of room for the hard done by Refugee. Hehehe.
Posted by
john
on
July 4, 2014 15:03
You are correct. Many refugees end up exploited by their fellow countrymen who have been in country longer.
I know a Lao woman who targets struggling students or migrant women to work at her brothel.
Then there are the lawyers who make tens of thousands of dollars representing these people. It's one big gravy train for them all on the tax payers bill.
Posted by
Arun Muruga
on
July 4, 2014 15:57
Editor Comment:
That's just the negative side of the ledger, AM. Refugees down the years have supplied Australia with the best things about its culture, especially tolerance.
You need to back off editor - your information you are getting is incorrect and biased. The Australian Gov IS thoroughly checking out ALL "refugees" and the "Economic Migrants are being rejected and are being told to follow OUR rules - remember that - Our rules - Our country - I know you ar an ex=pat with a bias and just a little short of facts' I work in the game of trying to sort this mess out and know a hellava lot but I can only talk about what is public knowledge.
Soon I am going to retire in Thailand - Ilove the place like you but I'm not going to rubbish my parent home like you - Focus on local problems like the Rohingya atrocities and stop trying to peddle international issues - you don't have the recources
Posted by
LennyJ
on
July 4, 2014 16:11
Editor Comment:
Lenny, please stay right where you are. Thailand doesn't need you. Without your vote, this appalling government and its racist policies will probably disappear. Most right-thinking people certainly hope so.
I would like to quantify my earlier comment in that I do believe that refugees should have a right to move to a developed country. We are all human. The problem is much larger though I suspect is that if Australia is seen to take some refugees they will be flooded with literally millions. With a country with only a population of 22m this is a concern. With so many countries falling apart, Iraq, Syria etc this is now a major global issue. In this world we live in now in 2014 money seems to have the greatest priority people have become more materialistic in many countries and do not want that changed by paying for others with low work skills.
Posted by
Fiesty Farang
on
July 4, 2014 16:22
Editor Comment:
Australia was built by refugees of one kind or another, beginning with refugees from the British penal system. Selfish people just like to be as greedy as possible. Australa's governments have simply followed the example of Pauline Hanson. Shamefully, most Aussie voters are self-interested, not open and compassionate the way their grandparents were.
Have the "real" Aussies who are against immigration or refugees forgotten how the aboriginals have been treated for a very long time.
Posted by
FS
on
July 4, 2014 17:12
I fail to see why a genuine refugee cant walk into the a Australian Embassy and claim asylum no they pay thousands to a dubious character cross many frontier & borders with no papers without being detected into Indonesia and jump in a leaky boat that might not make it, and strangely the Indonesians don't catch any at the borders and their navy cant even catch a cold let alone people being smuggled no matter how much Australia gives them in foreign aid its obvious something is corrupt and we know about corruption we learnt from experts on Phuket, I repeat if your a genuine case walk into a embassy if not get on a leaky boat throw any papers overboard claim your a child when you look 30 with a receding hairline,if you see a Australian vessel punch a hole in your boat put out a mayday an when you get to Australia protest and burn down the refugee centre demand 5 star hotels and that your family second and third cousins be sent to Australia immediately that's the average behavior we have come to expect from them.
Posted by
slickmelb
on
July 4, 2014 22:23
Editor Comment:
That's a few years and a few refugees among thousands, slickmelb. We've met plenty of real refugees and to have them turned back without consideration would be, in our view, a crime. To have a whole nation committing a crime is not acceptable.
Australia helps schooling in Laos, Myanmar
13 minutes ago July 05, 2014 9:34AM
SCHOOL students in Myanmar (Burma) and Laos will get millions of dollars from the Australian government.
FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop announced the aid packages while in the two countries over the past week.
Australia will give Laos $86 million over four years to help about 450,000 children learn to read, write and improve numeracy skills.
It's hoped this will help the most disadvantaged children - girls, children from ethnic minority groups and students with disabilities - get a quality education.
At the moment only a quarter of girls in Laos finish primary school.
Another $27.8 million will boost services at 43,000 schools in Myanmar and strengthen teacher training.
This is on top of $24.6 million Australia is giving to promote economic growth, via the World Bank, and support community engagement with the peace process.
Ms Bishop is also looking at expanding the New Colombo Plan to give Australian university students an opportunity to study in Myanmar.
Originally published as Australia helps schooling in Laos, Myanmar
Posted by
LennyJ
on
July 5, 2014 06:50
Editor Comment:
Thanks, Lenny, but it has no relation to the treatment of refugees at sea. Just goes to show how mixed up the Australian government is, thinking it can cover up rights abuses by giving away a few dollars. Are you so easily fooled?
If the UN was not such a bunch of ineffectual, freeloading, hypocritical bureaucrats it would be setting up it's own screening processes and centres( ie THEY would be accountable and come under the scrutiny of public opinion)or even better addressing the worldwide refugee problems at source. Naah!! ...better make another frickin resolution,have a meeting, a few press releases tut tutting at naughty governments and take off on yet another fact finding boondoggle.
Posted by
david
on
July 5, 2014 09:15
Wow! - An editor who works with not enough info and when you do you chose to exercise censorship to strenthen your bias! - I give you FACTS in my last comment - prove you wrong and you choose not to post them.
Pathetic - - - -
Posted by
LennyJ
on
July 6, 2014 06:37
Editor Comment:
All your comments have been posted, Lenny. How little research you do on even the simplest topics, like your own posts. The fact is, Australia appears to be an international loose canon, an outlaw nation setting new low standards in dealing with asylum seekers. And spying on other governments. No wonder its now becoming poorly regarded in the neighborhood. No possibility of telling others to uphold human rights.
@LennyJ:
Some extracts from today's Sydney Morning Herald - they add credence to the Ed's comments.
''Employment Minister Eric Abetz has been forced to defend the Abbott government against allegations it ''disappears people'' during questioning over Australia's forcible return of asylum seekers to Sri Lanka.
Fairfax Media, Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Law Centre have all documented cases of returned asylum seekers being tortured by Sri Lankan authorities.
Malcolm Fraser commented on twitter this week that: ''Handing Asylum Seekers back to Sri Lanka redolent of handing Jews to Nazis in 1930s.''
Posted by
Pete
on
July 6, 2014 09:20
Shame, shame, shame!
Australians used to believe in the fair go. Now the majority view seems to be "I'm ok Jack; bugger anyone else (particularly anyone who is brown)."
The majority of the comments here are from people with no humanity, no compassion, no sense of what it must be like to have to flee their home for fear of persecution. They would prefer to spend billions of taxpayers dollars imprisoning men, women and children on no charge, with no trial, indefinitely (with the cynical claim they are saving lives).
Just as the Jewish refugees of the 1930s were refused asylum and forced to return to Europe where they were killed by the Nazis, the Tamil refugees are likely to be tortured or even killed by the Sri Lankan government. We can't pretend we don't know this. The Sri Lankan government is currently under investigation for war crimes. What the Australian government is doing is horrific and illegal. But what is more horrific is that so many Australians condone this crime.
In future years, teachers will have difficulty explaining to schoolchildren this shameful part of our history; why our government behaved in this way; why our people let it happen.
Shame on Australia.
Posted by
Jo Mead
on
July 6, 2014 09:38
Don't worry about teachers explaining refugees in a few years, they will have a bigger problem explaining how they high jacked the education systems, got everything they recommended and still produced a generation of semi literate pupils, brain washed in socialist values, unable to solve problems except find their way to the nearest government handout office.
Posted by
Manowar
on
July 6, 2014 14:25
Fact:
"The second suspected vessel, reported to be carrying 153 asylum seekers, thought to have set out from India, had also failed to make it into Australia's maritime territory despite claims it had.
All 41 asylum seekers aboard the confirmed vessel were processed at sea in an operation conducted under the enhanced screening policy first introduced by Labor in 2012 to process and return asylum seekers found to be economic refugees to their point of origin."
"The claim of just one person aboard the vessel was found to be credible. However, he asked to be returned home after being told he would be taken to Manus Island for processing."
Posted by
LennyJ
on
July 7, 2014 03:44
Editor Comment:
If you are quoting from a government handout based on the pirate interception of a boat in international waters, the hasty questions applied in an ''enhanced screening process'' and the instant judgement involved, it's probably best to wait to see what the independent bodies say. Australia has got it wrong at sea so often before (children overboard etc) that instant pronouncements cannot be accepted. Better to rely on international laws designed to protect the vulnerable, not governments with a policy to justify. Be brave, Lenny, rock the boat. Mind you, Sri Lanka will probably earn this week's lucky patrol ship giveaway.
"Honest John" Howard said all that really needs to be said on this topic when he made the point (I paraphrase from memory), "Australia will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances under which they do so". Anyone who pays a trafficker and puts to sea to try and make an illegal entry surely disqualifies himself from consideration.
Posted by
Kelvedon Dave
on
July 8, 2014 23:20
Editor Comment:
Yup, the ugly Australians first appeared under Howard. The people whose only interest is themselves and their material possessions.
Article 31 also includes:
"coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened "
If they first enter another country, whether signatory to the UN convention or not, then exited to another country of preference, they are automatically excluded from refugee status.
The UN refugee convention and protocol allows a person to flee their own country in fear of basic human rights violations but does not provide them with the right to choose which country to claim refugee status.
Posted by
Manowar
on
July 9, 2014 04:22
Whether a country is a signatory to the UN convention of not, a refugee seeking asylum still has rights under international laws. There are many reasons why a country won't be a signatory to the UN, one being that they are unable to fully comply with all obligations. That does not necessarily mean that refugees won't be treated according to international law, it may just mean that the conditions imposed are greater than the benefits available to the country's own residents or affordable to the government.
Those seeking refugee status or asylum also have obligations to the country which they intend to enter and the laws of that country.
Posted by
Manowar
on
July 9, 2014 05:51
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Many of these so called refugees are only in danger of torture and imprisonment until they get their permanent residence stamp in Australia.
After that many are on the first plane back to that very country that was going to torture and imprison them. Funny how the danger quickly disappears once that permanent residence stamp is gained.
I have a lot of Tamil friends, it's nonsense to say they are being tortured. Both sides committed evil deeds during the war. The war is over.
Many long term resident Tamils have made a lot of money in Australia and are re-investing it back in Sri Lanka.
These new boat people are economic migrants jumping the queue and should be sent back. A friend of mine was a fund raiser for the Tamils and sourced weapons from China for them. He is now a very very rich former refugee who visits Sri Lanka regularly. If anybody was going to get imprisoned it would be him but he doesn't.
Posted by Arun Muruga on July 3, 2014 16:52
Editor Comment:
You better do some more talking to your ''Tamil friends,'' Arun. They'll probably be able to tell you that it's not possible to tell real refugees from pretenders until the boats land. This article, by the way, is all about why Australia's approach is not acceptable, although it also seems to have awakened all the regular bigots.
Better world if the boatpeople were taken in and the bigots were put in their place and pushed back.