Disappointment as Malaysia deal goes ahead
Amnesty International is extremely disappointed at the news the Australian Government will sign the Malaysia deal on Monday. The organisation has consistently condemned the plan to send 800 people to Malaysia as a flagrant violation of refugee human rights.
As Amnesty International has documented in its report Abused and Abandoned, refugees in Malaysia are frequently caged in appalling conditions, exploited and caned. Australians are compassionate people and do not wish to see innocent asylum seekers treated in this way. More than 90% of asylum seekers who arrive by boat are found to be genuine refugees fleeing violence and terror. Compounding their trauma and distress is not the decent, fair thing to do, nor is it in line with our international legal obligations.
Amnesty International is calling on the Government to immediately provide details on how safeguards included in this deal can be guaranteed to work on the ground. As past experience in Malaysia demonstrates that an ID card from the UN High Commission for Refugees is no guarantee that a person will not be detained, Amnesty International is concerned that the 800 asylum seekers will still be exposed to danger. The Government must ensure that families are not being separated by this deal, and that unaccompanied children are not sent to Malaysia.
Amnesty International hopes that the Australian Government is serious in its efforts to help provide refugees in the region with genuine alternatives to making dangerous boat journeys. The arrival of two more asylum seeker boats in recent days has demonstrated that desperate people fleeing conflict, persecution and torture often have little choice but to try to seek asylum in countries which have signed the UN Refugee Convention. Amnesty International believes the Malaysia deal may do little to stop the boats, but a considerable amount to undermine the fundamental right to seek asylum from persecution.
Comments
JULIAN PAPWORTH | Posted on 3 August 2011, 03:35PM | Report comment
if we all just realized that at any given moment we in this country could be catching a boat to another country it does not take much for this to happen like if the drought never stopped crop failures no livestock people starving in the main cities infastructure can fail major climate events can happen to developed nations so put your feet in other peoples shoes stop this we are all indigious to this planet so we should take care of one another put yourself in their position like the show on SBS
Andrew J S | Posted on 25 July 2011, 01:03PM | Report comment
Michael, You grant Julia a lot more fairness than perhaps deserved. The Malaysia deal is entirely an ALP solution, The libs own flawed solution was Naru which ALP could not adopt for reasons of pride only. The Greens are also allowing this awful deal through because it was the trade off for getting the carbon tax. So yes the refugees are being treatred like a political football - with the issue of the Malaysia swap deal been seen as important enough by Julia and the ALP that they are willing to cop flack over a Carbon Tax to push it through, Whilst the Greens themselves see the refugee issue less important than a carbon tax - so much so that they will allow the Malaysia swap deal to happen just so they can get their precious tax. EVERY political party is as guilty as one another of using the refugee issue as a political football - there are no saints here - it has been extraodinarily hypocritical of the Greens especially but also the ALP to seek to use the refugee issue as trading chip for different political goals.
Michael Wild | Posted on 22 July 2011, 11:59PM | Report comment
I agree with you, Anne and Ella, but the realities are that there’s a lot more votes in being hard on boat people (who are unfairly seen as “queue jumpers” and uninvited “gate crashers”) than being sympathetic. Part of it is lots of Australians don’t really believe or want to believe things are that bad in the world to cause the refugees. In fairness to Julia Gillard they are not her “political football”; they belong to the other team. She almost certainly wishes this ball wasn’t on the ground but that would be for political rather than moral reasons. Still, I’ve seen many popular/tolerated injustices unexpectedly become unpopular (remember David Hicks?). So I guess we have just got to keep on working as long as it takes on this one.
Anne Robinson | Posted on 22 July 2011, 03:24PM | Report comment
The opinions of the general public towards refugees will never change for the better while the government continues to treat them like animals. The government is committing a crime against these people. What happened to basic human rights? I have no idea how something like this is going ahead.
Ella Whitelaw | Posted on 22 July 2011, 02:28PM | Report comment
Refugees are people too. I think it is about time Julia Gillard realises that they aren’t a political football that can be used for political gain. It is time that the government leads and is guided by human rights principles.