UN Commissioner condemns Australia's refugee swap

thescotsman

AUSTRALIA and Malaysia's agreement to swap asylum seekers for refugees jeopardised asylum seekers' rights and was part of a racist and inhumane Australian policy, a United Nations human rights official has said.

Under the arrangement, Malaysia would accept 800 asylum seekers who entered Australia illegally by sea and in return Australia would settle 4,000 registered refugees living in Malaysia.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, discussed the agreement yesterday with Australian prime minister Julia Gillard at the end of a six-day visit to the country to examine major human rights issues.

Ms Pillay criticised Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, including the policy of holding them in immigration detention centres for months while their applications for refugee visas are assessed.

This arbitrary policy was partially explained by the backgrounds of asylum seekers who invariably are not white, western or European, said Ms Pillay, a South African lawyer.

She called on Australian lawmakers to "break this ingrained political habit of demonising asylum seekers".

She said: "There is a racial discriminatory element here which I see as rather inhumane treatment of people judged by their differences in colour, religion and so on."

Australian immigration minister Chris Bowen said later that he had "a very productive discussion" with Ms Pillay and remained committed to finalising details of the pact with Malaysia.

Ms Pillay said Australia should process refugee applications rather than transporting asylum seekers to Malaysia, which has not ratified the UN Refugee Convention or Convention Against Torture. She said she was not satisfied by Ms Gillard saying that Malaysia would provide written assurances that asylum seekers' rights would be protected.

Ms Pillay said: "In my view and as international jurisprudence has shown, assurances are not sufficient protection."

Richard Towle, regional representative of the UN High Commission for Refugees, which would judge the applications of asylum seekers sent to Malaysia, said that the deal had the potential to improve protections for refugees in the Asia-Pacific region.

Australia plans to pay Malaysia to agree to the deal in an effort to deter asylum seekers from using people smugglers to bring them to Australia by boat.

Australia has long attracted people from poor, often war-ravaged countries hoping to start a new life, with more than 6,200 asylum seekers arriving by boat last year.

Most are currently coming from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iran and Iraq, and use Malaysia or Indonesia as a starting point for the often dangerous sea journey to Australia.

Last month, detainees at an Australian immigration centre set fire to several buildings, climbed on to roof tops and hurled tiles at officials.

Up to 100 people at Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre were involved in the riot, which began when two detainees climbed on to a roof.

Around 400 people are held at the Villawood facility. Many of them are asylum seekers, but the facility also houses people who have overstayed their visas.

Some of the people involved in the protest were asylum seekers who had their visa applications rejected, Mr Bowen said. Officials last night refused to release any details of the protesters' nationalities.

Australia has seen a surge of asylum seekers fleeing Sri Lanka, Iraq and Afghanistan, and protests at detention centres have become relatively common.

The influx has led to a heated political debate as opposition politicians blame the flow on a relaxation of immigration policies by the ruling Labour Party.

Press Statement By Tenaganita - ASYLUM SWAP CANNOT BE THE FRAMEWORK FOR ADDRESSING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

TENAGANITA

Press Statement.

May 18, 2011

ASYLUM SWAP CANNOT BE THE FRAMEWORK FOR ADDRESSING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

The Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein, in his statement on the asylum swap, reported today (Start N10 Nation 18 May 2011) between Malaysia and Australia is a pioneering and cutting edge solution to tackle people smuggling. He further added that this new approach would confidently combat human trafficking.

Tenaganita, an organization that has worked for the last 15 years on human trafficking and on refugees cannot understand nor recognize how an asylum swap framework of agreement will combat human trafficking.  The Home Minister seems to put all issues into one basket.  Asylum seekers and refugees are different.  Refugees are people fleeing for safety to protect their lives resulting from persecution. 

While it is true that they can be vulnerable to being “smuggled” or be trafficked at some stage but we cannot deny them their right to land and be protected. However, the asylum swap talks is about refugees who are already in Australia and who will be deported to Malaysia which is seen as a country that is hostile to refugees and treats them as illegal immigrants with no right to work, education and open to arrest and detention.

This deportation of 800 refugees is a gross violation of their rights and the principle of non refoulemont guaranteed under the UN Convention on Refugees to which Australia is a signatory.  Central to the issue is protection of rights of refugees that cannot be compromised.  It is the rights approach that the Home Minister does not address nor recognize at all in the deal. And Australia must hold to its state obligations and ensure the protection of rights of refugees and their integration into Australian society.

The Minister’s position can be further argued as we look into Malaysia’s human rights record.  Malaysia holds a very weak record of its commitment to protection of rights is clear. It has not ratified basic Conventions like against Torture and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ( ICCPR and ECOSOC). It is not a signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees and many more international instruments. Thus the Malaysian government is not obligated to protect rights nor can be it be made accountable by the international community nor by Australia.  Diplomatic assurances do not provide any confidence especially when legal measures for rights protection are not in place in Malaysia while its environment being a dangerous condition to life even life threatening situation for refugees.

The agreement seems to turn Malaysia into a processing centre and an interceptor for boats thus barring refugees from landing in Australian territory.   Australia on the other hand is passing its internal problems of refugee protection and growing xenophobic reactions to Malaysia.  If this is what the deal will be, how can the Home Minister argue it will address human trafficking?

The incidence of human trafficking in the country is extremely high with investigations being weak.  The rights of the victims or survivors of human trafficking are still unrecognized and civil society does not have access to victims after they are rescued.  The legal framework and policies for migrant workers continue to place them in highly exploitative conditions that result in human trafficking.  We would like to remind the Home Minister to begin the change in our backyard and ensure the root cause of human trafficking in the country is addressed before becoming an interceptor for another country.

We call on the Home Minister to stop pulling wool over our eyes and demand transparency into the agreement and the implications for Malaysia. Even if it addresses the issue of human trafficking, central to it, is the protection of rights of refugees and asylum seekers. The rights framework is absent and thus it is totally rejected as a “good” initiative.

 Before any such initiative or agreements are made, Malaysia must change the legal framework, ratify the Convention on Refugees and show its commitment to rights protection with humanitarian support for asylum seekers and refugees.

END.

.

Signed:

Dr. Irene Fernandez

Executive Director

TENAGANITA (Women’s Force )

NO 38, Jalan Gasing, 46000, Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan

Tel: (603) 7770 3691 / 7770 3671  Fax: (603) 7770 3681

Email: http://ca.mc657.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=general@tenaganita.net

Malaysian refugee deal condemned from all sides

theaustralian.com.au

THE Gillard government's controversial refugee swap with Malaysia has been slammed by all sides of politics, with Tony Abbott labelling it a "tragedy" and the Greens calling it an "appalling deal".

As the Greens tabled a motion in the Senate condemning the plan to trade 800 asylum-seekers for 4000 humanitarian refugees, the opposition hurled a bevy of questions at the government.

The Opposition Leader questioned why Julia Gillard would not pick up the phone to the President of Nauru, with his deputy, Julie Bishop, asking if children would be sent back as part of the deal.

"East Timor is clearly dead and PNG won't happen," Mr Abbott said.

The Prime Minister refused to buy into Ms Bishop's question on children, saying she would "not take lessons" from the opposition on compassion.

"I'm not going to take lessons on compassion from people who soiled themselves, soiled themselves in government with a track record," Ms Gillard said.

"The fact is this is all a political game for them."

Mr Abbott moved to suspend standing orders in the House of Representatives to "hold the Prime Minister to account" for her failed border protection policies.

"This is a tragedy for our country and it is damaging the national interest," Mr Abbott said.

"This is a problem (boat arrivals) going from bad to worse and it's simply because of this government's incompetence . . . it is another example of a weak and indecisive Prime Minister."

Under the agreement with Malaysia, which is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention, Australia will take five refugees for every one it sends away.

Mr Abbott accused the government of "unravelling" - seizing on suggestions that Malaysia would vet which asylum-seekers it wished to take.

The Malaysian high commissioner, Salman Ahmad, has said the deal might not apply to all the asylum-seekers Canberra proposes to transfer, and that Malaysia wants a say in who is sent.

"What that means is that the government's claim that the next 800 boatpeople who arrive in Australia will end up in Malaysia is simply false," Mr Abbott told reporters in Canberra. Stopping boats was the only way to test the policy, he said.

Greens immigration spokesman Sarah Hanson-Young tabled a motion yesterday condemning the deal. ""If there'll be no legislation then how we can give the parliament the opportunity to have their voice heard," she said.