Christmas Island ‘pressure cooker’ could explode after UN review
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Christmas Island is a “pressure cooker”, according to one recently-returned refugee advocate. And the situation will blow up completely if the federal government is allowed to deport asylum seekers back to strife-torn Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. As more boats arrive at the offshore immigration processing centre — and more accommodation is hastily built for the more than 2000 residents — the federal government will come under more pressure to deny visas after a review of international protection guidelines by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The agency has hinted at revising its rulings on Sri Lanka. Regional representative Richard Towle told the ABC the humanitarian situation in the country is “moving in the right direction and we think any review of the guidelines needs to reflect these positive changes”. That could be devastating to those languishing on Christmas Island, according to Sonia Caton. The former director and principal solicitor at the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service is concerned by the possibility of “refugee politics” within donor countries influencing the guidelines anticipated by the UNHCR, potentially putting asylum seeker’s lives at risk. “The government is doing the job we signed up to do under the Refugee Convention and it is doing it well. But people need to be brought on-shore –- the place is a pressure cooker,” Caton told Crikey last week after returning from the island. “It is currently only working because the largely Hazara asylum seeker population see people receive visas, so they sit and wait in crowded conditions because they have hope. Take that hope away and the management of the detention centre will change overnight.” Caton says she knows of no illegitimate refugee claimants — “maybe there are a few opportunists, but I didn’t come across any” — and hopes the UNHCR will take into account current information from NGOs in Afghanistan to arrive at an accurate assessment of a very volatile and dangerous situation. “Most of the 2000 asylum seekers in detention are Hazaras,” Caton said. “Those I represented were mostly farmers from the Ghazni Province. The Taliban are increasingly active there and have co-opted the Kuchi and Pashtuns to target ‘infidel’ Hazaras. Hazaras are starving and cannot access medical help because travelling on Taliban controlled roads is a dice with death or serious harm — hence the outflow of asylum seekers fleeing Refugee Convention persecution.” Caton praised Immigration Minister Chris Evans for greatly improving the conditions of refugees in mandatory detention since 2008 though she still despairs at the increasingly long periods in detention offshore and presence of children in detention, despite departmental denials. UNHCR does constantly update its country assessments. The last thorough examination of Sri Lanka was nearly one year ago, before the end of the 26-year-long civil war. But a number of other refugee experts have told Crikey it is highly unlikely the UNHCR will recommend the cessation of all refugee claims from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, allowing neither the Rudd government nor Liberal opposition to make credible claims of vastly improved security situations in both countries. Caton said that the relatively few refugees reaching our shores is insignificant compared to the Iraqi and Afghan refugees sitting in countries like Jordan, Syria, Iran and Lebanon: “The [Australian] migration program has literally exploded over the past six to eight years, yet the humanitarian intake remains static year in and year out at a pathetic 14,000 a year, give or take 500…” In 2002 Australia contributed more than $19 million to UNHCR and was its 12th largest donor. In 2008 this increased to $28 million but the ranking dropped to 13th. The Immigration Department says about 660 asylum seekers detained on Christmas Island have been given refugee status so far this year — more than half of the total 1,130 offered visas in 2009. Antony Loewenstein is a freelance journalist and author of My Israel Question and The Blogging Revolution |
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13 Comments
Crikey, did it occur to you to seek a comment from the other side of the story here?
You quote “Sonia Caton. The former director and principal solicitor at the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service” but where was the other side of the story?
I also found it interesting that the UNHCR is suggested to be reviewing the current sitation for Sri Lanka based on ‘positive change’s”, however your sole source states “That could be devastating to those languishing on Christmas Island” according to Sonia Caton.
Wuldn’t the ideal outcome in this case be that the situation in the refugee’s country of origin improves so that they can return to familiar cultural surrounds of their homes and family, rather than having to try and make a new life amongst a strange new society?
Why exactly is it that a United Nations report which might indicate an improvement in the situation in Sri Lanka which caused these people to flee in the first place be seen as a bad thing?
Is it because that might be encouragement for the Australian government to assist them to return home to Sri Lanka, rather than let them permanently settle in Australia?
These mythical “other refugee experts” that Crikey have spoken to can say whatever they want, but the fact is the situation in northern Sri Lanka (where the refugees come from) is now in a more stable situation that it has been for decades; and things will only get better in the period ahead. I am a Australian citizen of Sri Lankan Tamil background and recently went to Sri Lanka and visited these parts. I did not believe that I would see the day when Lankan Tamils could live in freedom and democracy, and have the ability to rebuild their native land and have power over their destiny as a people. And yet, with the end of the 26-year oppressive rebel occupation, that is exactly what I saw. Many Tamil people I spoke to over there were very enthusiastic about the upcoming General Elections there next month; in particular, about electing Tamil Members of Parliament who reflect their views and aspirations rather than those of their ethnicity in the Western hemisphere (a priviledge previously denied by the rebels, whose operations were bankrolled by Western Tamils). Despite Tamils of other nationalities pushing Lankan Tamils towards a non-democratic mono-ethnic country, most Lankan Tamils prefer democracy and multiculturalism, and now feel that they can achieve that in the period ahead. In my view, Sri Lanka’s is one of the feel good stories of the devloping world, of a nation overcoming it’s internal conflicts and peoples coming together in the mutual interests of creating a better future for themselves. I just cannot understand why they keep mentioning Sri Lanka in the same breath as Afganistan and Iraq.
The article states the following: “The last thorough examination of Sri Lanka was nearly one year ago, before the end of the 26-year-long civil war”. The first thing I would suggest, is that depends on what the author means by “thorough”, because United Nation have, to my understaning, assessed the situation in Sri Lanka several times since the end of the war in May 2009. Despite having kept a close eye out for these things in the news, I am not aware of the UN having found anything to suggest that Tamil lives are at threat in Sri Lanka (and I can say from pesonal experience that I saw nothing and heard nothing from my Tamil relatives in Sri Lanka to suggest that was the case). As I say above, there seems to be an mutual understanding between those that were on both sides of the conflict that they can only develop their country and prosper if they work for each other rather than against.
Secondly, not only have the UN investigated Sri Lanka, so have neighbouring India. New Delhi has conducted severalinspections of northern Sri Lanka (one as recently as last week, I understand). In addition, the southern Tamil state of India also sent a team (headed by the Tamil State Premier’s own daughter) to northern Sri Lanka to investigate. That none of these investigations teams found adversly against the Sri Lankan state is very telling. As a Tamil person, I have full confidence in the findings (particularly of the Indian Tamils officials) and I understand they were well recieved and allowed access to all the areas of the island and all information they wanted to see by Sri Lankan officials.
Therfore, in my view, all this nonsense about Sri Lanka’s political and social instability is a media beat-up. Some sections of the media want the government to relax immigration laws and allow in the forreign masses regardless of their ability and/or willingness to contribute positively to Australia (I certainly don’t want people like that in the Australian Tamil community - there are already far too many such people - and I know that many others don’t want them in Australia at all - and that’s fair enough in my view). These medias know it’s unpopular with the public, and so they hide behind these cock and bull stories about foreign countires that most Australians know very little about. You don’t like it when the Indian media is excessive about violence in Australia. As a naturalised Sri Lankan, I feel the same way about my former country and the way it is portrayed unfairly.
If you’ve got something to say about immigration policy, come out and say it. Don’t defame forreign countries to get what you want.
Why is Antony defaming anyone? Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US state department and many others have done reviews of Sri Lanka and Afghanistan and found them to be very dangerous indeed.
It was only the media who said that any assessment might mean refusals, and not one of our media have published the latest results from the state department about conditions being worse than ever in Afghanistan for minority groups like the Hazara.
Now Hazara have been persecuted and killed by the pashtuns for 200 years, the Karzai mob and the taliban are all pashtuns.
And rebel if the corruption in Sri Lanka is so bad that even the former opposition leader is on trial on bogus charges what on earth do you think will be happening to Tamils.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/7465833/Terrorist-members-can-claim-asylum-in-Britain.html
Yet Australia bravely keeps two small kids and their mum locked up for life after they have never had a lawyer, never had an appeal, have never been shown to have committed a crime and Australia has not even banned the LTTE.
If those who fought with the LTTE are not exempt in a nation that allows legal rights for asylum seekers why are they denied here?
Senator Evans, you need to fix this and fix it right now or those children could be locked up for the rest of their lives without ever knowing why.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/sca/136084.htm
How the hell do the media make the leap from “a review of the human rights situation” by UNHCR to send them home?
God almighty the ignorance of our media is unbelievable still.
Now I do wish the media would report only news instead of their preconceived drivel.
shepherdmarilyn: “Australia has not even banned the LTTE”
Just because Australia has not banned the LTTE (or Tamil Tiger rebels) does not mean that it is appropriate for members of this rebels group to be allowed into this country. The Somali rebel group called al-Shabaab was not banned in Australia until last year, when a group Somali expatriats were arrested in relation to terrorism-related charges in Melbourne.
That the LTTE is not banned in Australia reflects the fact that the group has so far not attempted violence in Australia or people in Australia. However, there have been several incidents of Tamil people in Australia (who are at least admirers of the rebel group) assaulting members of Australia’s Sinhalese community (consisting of about 100 000 or so people). There was a surge of such anti-Sinhalese Tamil violence right accross the Western world immediately after developments of May 2009 in Sri Lanka upon the instruciton of rebels’ leader Velupillai Prabakaran who ordered Tamils people the world over to show their partiotism for the Tamils’ cause and exact revenge for their plight by acting in this manner.
One of the most shocking incident was in the suburbs of Sydney, where two Sinhalese men were doused in toxic acid in an incident that local police believe was carried out by professionals (quite possibly former Tamil Tiger rebels and now accepted refugees in Australia).
Do you want these sorts of people in Australia? Let’s just understand what we are dealing with.
The Tamil Tiger rebels are banned and listed as a terrorist organisatin in in Western countries where there are large Tamil communities, where the rebels supposedly have the capacity to carry out a terrorist attack. These include Canda, Great Britain and the European Union. They are also listed as terrorists in the United States. It is clear that very many former rebels have been awarded refugee staus (after having commited unspeakable attrocities against Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka such as murder, torture and rape) in other countries. This is particularly the case in Canada, where Tamils are over-represented in criminal activitues such as gang-related violence. That’s right, Merak refugee leader “Alex” certainly was not the only one.
To the extent that the rebel group does not have a significant presence in Australia to carry out terrorist attacks, we can afford to not ban them but if we continue to have a relaxed attitude about refugee migration of suspected extremeist Tamil rebels from Sri Lanka, it will become our problem, just like it did for Canada, the U.K., and for some continental European countries.
shepherdmarilyn, how do you know that the charges against the “opposition leader” (he is not, by the way; but if that’s what you want to call him…) are “bogus”?
For those who do not know, the “opposition leader” as he is somitimes called in General Fonseka, the former leader of the Sri Lanka army. After retiring from the army last year, Gen. Fonseka ran for president in the Presidential Elections last January. He finished a distant second behind the incumbent Mahinda Rajapakse. This does not make the Leader of the Opposition. That title belongs to Ranil Wicramasinghe, leader of the Sinhalese conservatives: the United National Party, who are the main opposition in parliament.
It is a highly contentious comment to say that charges against General Fonseka are “bogus”. There is credible evidence to suggest that Fonseka conducted illegal deals during his time as army chief, when he awarded contracts for buying weapons to a U.S. based firm run by his son-in-law (thus, securing millions of dollars for himself and his relatives). Other charges relate to his engagement in politics before retiring from the armed forces. As the Sri Lankan President has recently comment, the rule of law must apply to all people.
In my view, the only contentious issue here is that Fonseka has been investigated for corruption, while several government officials have not, despite widespread speculation. If the President in sincere about the rule of law applying to all, some of his his cabinet members certainly could be investigated also.
Fonseka would receive a maximum of 5 years prison if found guily of this offence. Sri Lanka’s legal system is one of the best in Asia, and historically speaking, has never been influenced by the government. Despite much speculation, there is no evidence that the current administration has done so. It is expected that General Fonseka will get a fair trial and be released if found innocent of all charges.
sinha, I am not interested in your propaganda. I am more interested in reading unbiased reports and yours are bullshit from start to finish.
I have no problem with Tamils being in Australia, there are thousands of them and not one of them has ever done anything terrible.
So go away and peddle you tripe somewhere else.
If you had been watching the news after May 2009, you would know that rebel-admiring Tamils assaulted Sinhalese people in Australia. There were several incidents. People could have lost their lives.
I’ve got no problem with Tamils migrating to Australia in the same way that I’m sure you’ve got no problem with Muslims migrating to Australia. I don’t care of there are 1000’s of Tamil of 100 000’s of Tamils in Australia; I just want tham to be decent people. As long as they are not terrorists. I do not wish to deride the Tamil people of the world or create a vulgar stereotype of them. My only intention is to ensure the interests of the Australian Sinhalese and broader Australian community are adhered to in this discussion about immigration. I am not talking about the average Tamil person in India or Sri Lanka. Those people migrate to Australia in the conventional manner and I know some that have become valuable members of Australia. However, the Tamils that come on boats are not those people.
As long as they respect us and do not pose a threat to us with violent acts, I have no problem Tamils. The harsh reality is that there are already too many extremist people in the Aus Tamil community who pose a threat to Sinhalese Australians. If such people are allowed to accumulate in the Tamil community here, the impact will eventually be felt by the broader Australian community. Just ask the Canadians, the Brits or the Scandinavians what happened over there.
In fact there is another group that is adversely effected - ordinary Tamil people who have migrated to the Western hemishpere ligitimately in search of a better life; unlike the extremists, whose goal is to spread anti-Sinhalese propaganda and generate agitation for a mono-ethnic Tamil state in Sri Lanka. The moderate Tamils are often forgotten, and their voices drowned out by the extremist refugee based section of their communities. We should remember that they do not endorse the rebels or their vulgar practices against the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, or their propaganda. They are victims of the rebels as much as the Sinhalese. In some cases it does not end with migration to the West, since extremists control many of the Tamil communities in the West.
Those who have well-informed compassion in their hearts, for the victims of the Sinhalese and Tamil communities of Australia, will know that turning these sorts of people back is just the right thing to do. It’s just the right thing to do by Australia and all it’s people.
Sorry Marilyn, you have your point of view, Sinha_view has his, the validity of your points of view are up to readers to determine.
Given your previous position on the subject of illegal immigrants / political-cultural-economic refugees, Sinha_view’s provide an interesting alternative viewpoint to yours.
The problem with that Michael is that Sinha is writing from the point of view of a Sri Lankan from the winning party, I am writing purely from the point of view of human rights reports and the law.
Two entirely different things.
Unless of course you want the Taliban having their say about the persecution of Hazaras or the Chinese to have their little propaganda rave about Falun Gong followers or the Mullahs their say about dissident Iranians.
The notion that we turn anyone back if they have a claim to our protection as stated in the last paragraph is repulsive especially when we consider that even some Sinhala sent back by us have been disappeared, jailed or persecuted by the government simply for daring to leave Sri Lanka.
Marilyn, I’d love to leave your comments out there, in the interests of a balanced debate, but I just can’t. Clearly, you are towing the line of these clowns in the media, trying to trash the name of a good and honest democracy. You claim that boat people sent back “have been disappeared, jailed or persecuted by the government simply for daring to leave Sri Lanka”. You’ve given reference links for some of your other comments, why don’t you back that one up?
No one in the Australian Sinhalese community made any noise for those 10 Sinhalese boat people, and I’m proud of that. Our community leader are moderates, most Sinhalese Australians are moderates. We appreciate the value of skilled migration and are well aware of the corrupting value of refugee migration (both on the country and the particular ethic community). I love seing more Sinhalese, Sri Lankans and Asians in general migrate to Australia, but quality is more important than quantity sometimes.
You are trying to make out that Sri Lanka is a secretive, oppressive place like Iran or China. The fact is, Sri Lanka is one of the oldest democracies in Asia and continues to functions well and serve the people. Most Sri Lankans (particuarly Sinhalese and Muslims) migrate to other countries the old fashioned way - skilled migration. That is how most of the 2 million Sri Lankan expatriats left their homeland, not by hopping on a boat.
Look, I’m not ging to lie. Minority people are discriminated by people of my ethnicity in Sri Lanka. No doubt. However, it does not end for Sri Lankan Tamils and Muslims when they move to the West (in fact, in my view as a fellow minority Westerner, there is little difference - and that’s not to say that Australia or the West has appaling standards of race relations). Tamil propaganda usually focusses on race relations in Sri Lanka up until the early 1980’s and ignores the significant steps that Sri Lanka have taken in this area since. Lankan government policies in the late 1980’s encouraged Tamils and Muslims to move to the more prosperous Sinhalese majority cities in the south and west of the island, eventually resulting in greater prosperity for Tamils and greater social interaction and cohesion between the ethnic groups. Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims worked side by side in offices in Colombo (even though Sinhalese and Muslims endured savagery from the Tamil rebels in majority Tamil areas in the island’s north and east during this period). Also in the late 1980’s the minorites were given democratic powers (exeeding that afforded to them by racial demographic representaions of 12% for Tamils and 9% for Muslims in Sri Lanka) with a new quota system allowing more Tamil and Muslim officials to be elected in General Elections (I can’t imagine Anglo-centric Australia ever making such a concession for the collective Asiatic Australian community, for example, despite being it being roughly the same proportion of the population here as Tamils are in Sri Lanka).
In some ways there is greater equality in Australia, in other ways it is on Sri Lanka. People on these boats know that, but they still desire the more affordable standard of living and greater opportunities in Australia; while others are Tamil rebels’ agents, out the create anti-Sinhalese sentiment and separatist agitation in the West. That’s why they come. So as long as some medias and people like you keep making noise on their behalf, they are going to keep coming, and you will keep trashing Sri Lanka to extend your political agenda, and they will keep making the Sinhalese out to be villains, when they are no different to ethnic majorities like the one here, having put past bigotry behind them and become a better society.
Oh dear Sinha. Try reading the report from the UN, the state department, Amnesty and others. You see dear I have no axe to grind here at all except on human rights and herding 300,000 men, women and kids into a series of concentration camps after demolishing their towns and villages is not the sign of decency.
Murdering “rebels” in cold blood is not democratic, it is murder.
Do give over now.
Marylin, I have read the state department report. It basically sets out a series of evidenceless allegations concocted by sympathisers of the Tamil rebels who dominate groups like Amnesty and other NGO’s on the ground in Sri Lanka. And I don’t appreciate you pretending to give a stuff about Sinahlese or Tamils in Australia, let alone in Sri Lanka. You only care about your ambition of changin Australia’s immigration policy. Political groups that you no doubt support, expected to have it changed the way you wanted after the change of federal government in 2007; but it didn’t happen. Humane treatment of refugees in camps wasn’t what you were after, and banning TPV’s didn’t go far enough. You want Australia to open the floodgates and let them all in.
But most Australians disagree with you and say that you’re crazy. Just when all seems lost, a bunch of people turn up from a place called Sri Lanka with claims of discrimination. HOORAY! you all cried. We can use these Tamils, or whoever they are - who really cares - as emotional blackmail to get the Australian public to agree to an immigration policy that they don’t want. We can use this compassionate and innocent looking fellow called Alex and young children to recite our crazy political ambitions on the evening news. Then our stupid fellow Australians will think that this is about saving these forreigners rather than about groups with elitist political views getting their way.
On a more serious note, for those readers who care about the facts, the state department report cites a lack of evidence and concludes that crimes such as those you have mentioned may or may not have occured in May 2009 and requests that an offcial investigation and inquiry take place. As a United Nations member state, Sri Lanka has the right to investigate these claims themselves first. They are doing so now. It is possible for a higher world authority such as the U.N. to conduct another investigation if that conducted by Sri Lanka is not sufficient. The Sri Lankan state may or may not have acted with reckless disregard for civilian lives in order to finish of the rebels towards the end of what was a very expensive war that was threatening to cripple Sri Lanka’s economy after three years of intense military battle. How does that change the positive outlook for the future for the Sinhalese, the 2.5 million Tamils and approximatley 2 million Muslims in Sri Lanka? For the first time in nearly four decades, democracy reigns in all of Sri Lanka, all it’s citizens can express their political views at the ballot box with our fear of rebel resprisals, all can elect officials freely to represent them and to guide them in the colossal task of rebuild their lands (left broken by the negligent and opressive regime of the rebels). Democratic, multicultural, stable. Sri Lanka is better off, with better prospects for the future, now than at any stage since independance in 1948.