Rescued Indonesians off Australia must not be detained
22 November 2007, 04:11PM
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Navy personnel with the rescued boat passengers
© Australian Defence Force
The welfare of a group of 16 Indonesians found in a leaking 10 meter boat in the Indian Ocean, off the West Australian coast on Wednesday, should be top priority. The group, which includes 10 children (among them a six month old baby) were intercepted, 650km west of Darwin by the Australian Navy.
It is important this group believed to be asylum seekers from the small island of Roti - are given access to independent advice as quickly as possible so they are aware of their rights. If they do decide to apply for protection in Australia, their applications should be processed as promptly as possible.
We are concerned this group will be held in mandatory remote detention ֖ which we oppose and which is a contradiction to the Australian Governments 2005 and 2006 commitments to not detain children.
We have consistently raised concerns about the housing and treatment, along with the lack of access to legal representation, community support and media coverage for detainees on Nauru and Chistmas Island.
The Australian Government has tried to prevent asylum seekers from arriving by boat, diverting many to offshore detention facilities. Asylum seekers have ended up detained in these centres for years under the GovernmentҒs so-called 'Pacific Solution'.
Preventing people who are intercepted in this way from entering Australian territory so that they can apply for refugee status goes against our obligations under the Refugee Convention. Those seeking asylum should only be detained when it is absolutely necessary, and not for an indefinite period of time.
If asylum seekers, after proper assessment, are found to be of no risk to the public then they should be allowed to live and work in the Australian, to financially support themselves, while their applications are being processed.
A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews has said the Indonesians will be taken to Christmas Island, 500km south of Jakarta, where Australia has an immigration processing centre.
The group of 16 who media reports say were sailing from the West Timor island of Roti headed for Darwin - was expected to arrive at Christmas Island for immigration checks late yesterday or early today (22 November).
The Roti Islanders are the first group to come from Indonesia, since 43 Papuans landed in far north Queensland almost two years ago seeking political asylum.
The eastern Indonesian island of Roti (which can also be spelt Rote) is16 km southwest of Timor.
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Comments
Comments are submitted by members of the public and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Amnesty International Australia. If you find a comment objectionable please contact the web editor.
Clytie
28 November 2007, 07:44PM
The question isn’t whether these people deserve to be classified as refugees or not. It’s whether they should be imprisoned for long periods offshore without resolving their refugee status. Most of all, it’s about keeping children behind bars. It’s not only illegal, it’s immoral.
Jiao Li
27 November 2007, 10:56AM
You can’t have very high an expectation from Kevin Rudd, he said, we can’t let asylum seekers roam free in Australia. The only thing that’s likely to change is the temporary protection visa category. As for now, none of us could speak either for or against these Indonesians, because we don’t know if they have a valid claim; we don’t even know if they have suffered or are likely to suffer persecution because of any one of the 5 conventional reasons. We have to wait and watch, and see what happens next, and if they truly have a well founded fear of persecution, we will then definitely advocate for them.
Geoffrey Hilliard
25 November 2007, 04:21PM
Now we have a new government in Canberra, I am hoping for a more humane approach to this matter.
Joy Dixon
24 November 2007, 07:41AM
The current governments treatment of asylum seekers goes against all humanitarian principles and makes me ashamed of being Australian. Time to get out their and vote and change the chances these refugees are given.
Marian Ruth Giles
23 November 2007, 10:36PM
Please treat these people with the compassion and respect that they deserve.To detain them for any length of time and especially off shore is quite inhumane.
Katie Peterson
23 November 2007, 01:12PM
All asylum seekers should be treated in the same way as we would like to be treated if needing to seek asylum. They take a huge risk approaching us for help and we need to respect this. Humanitarian concerns should have higher priority alongside national security concerns.
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