18/4/06:AUSRALIAN GOVT AND RACIST INSTINCT





18-Apr-2006

[After having been humiliated at Iraq/Wheat-for-Weapon scandal
Inquiry and having to make U-turn on Papua-Asylum posturings over
Indonesia the government of John Howards look like trying to create
some form of public respectability.

Here come the "Racist Rats" instinct of this government: when out
there nothing else is in for public distraction, simply poked around
refugees and asylum issues.

Of course, there is a case to be argued against 'excising Australia'
for the purpose of boat people seeking asylum. Certainly, any human
rights activists will felt disgusted about such posturing by the
government. But I doubt anybody will waste their time arguing in
public debate -- especially when there's not significant number of
asylum seekers in off-shore detentions.

Things can change, of course, only if there are proper refugee
subjects and it's in greater numbers to be concerned with. There are
potential refugee trouble spots even throughout Southeast Asia: Has
this Australian government 'really' looking out for one such refugee
crisis ? I certainly am not!

-- U Ne Oo.]


Prime Minister slams door on boatpeople
Patrick Walters and David Nason
13apr06, The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,18801565,00.html


ASYLUM-SEEKERS who land on the Australian mainland will face
deportation to offshore processing centres under tough new rules to be
announced by the Howard Government today.

Expanding its controversial regulations that allow islands to be
excised from Australia's migration zone, John Howard has decided that
even those asylum-seekers who make it undetected to the mainland will
be denied generous review process under Australian law.

The new rules, signed off by cabinet's National Security Committee
yesterday, mean that any claim for asylum will be processed as if the
applicant were in an overseas UN refugee camp, joining the worldwide
queue.

The move is designed to stem the flow of asylum-seekers from Papua and
mend relations with Jakarta.

Under current arrangements - brought in during the 2001 wave of Middle
Eastern and south Asian asylum-seekers - if an asylum-seeker reaches
an island it is not regarded as Australian territory for the purposes
of migration law.

Future asylum-seekers could be sent to Australia's Christmas Island or
the Australian-funded centre on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island for
processing.

Until now if an asylum-seeker reached the mainland - as the 43 Papuans
who arrived in January did - the law deemed them to be in Australia
and the Government had to hear their claim according to Australian
rules.

Last month, using these rules, the Department of Immigration issued
temporary protection visas to 42 of the Papuans, sparking a diplomatic
crisis between Australia and Indonesia.

Cabinet is believed to have gone for the idea because it is simple,
will work effectively in the Papuan case and does not contravene
Australia's international treaty obligations.

The change is likely to placate Indonesian concerns that Australia is
treating Papuans more sympathetically than asylum-seekers from other
nations.

Last month's decision to grant temporary protection visas to the
Papuans sparked a diplomatic row with Jakarta, with Indonesian
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono calling the move "inappropriate and
unrealistic".

He said last week relations with Canberra were entering a "difficult
phase" and called for serious discussions on the future of the
bilateral relationship.

The Howard Government has already tightened maritime surveillance of
Australia's northern waters,. involving defence and customs aircraft
and ships with a sharper focus on the Torres Strait.

Jennifer Pagonis, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees in Geneva said last night that any changes by Canberra to its
asylum-seeker processes should accord with international treaty
obligations.

"The bottom line for us is that they uphold their international
obligations," Ms Pagonis said. "We have to see what the review is
going to entail and then we'll have a look at it."

Ms Pagonis said UNHCR representatives in Canberra would continue
talking to the Government on refugee policy

In Washington, human rights advocacy group Refugees International
warned that Australia's asylum-seeker review was threatening to
violate the intent of the UN Refugee Convention and all the basic
tenets of international refugee law.

"You just can't go around consulting countries of origin about whether
asylum-seekers should be granted refugee status," said the group's
Joel Charny. "Countries like Australia need to stand for the rule of
law. If Australia and others are not willing to stand for the rule of
law, even in the context of the war on terror, then we're all in big
trouble."

Mr Charny predicted the Indonesian position on future Papuan
asylum-seekers would be the same as it was in East Timor and the
Indonesian province of Aceh.

"They would argue the situation in West Papua is calm and they are
governing the province appropriately," he said.

"They would say there is nothing going on and if there is something
going on, they're fighting terrorism."

Mr Charny said Australia's security interest in ensuring Jakarta
remained committed to rooting out Indonesian-based terrorists could
not justify the concessions being contemplated.

"I know the Australian-Indonesian relationship has been tension-filled
over time, but we're at a low point if we have to violate
international refugee law to maintain a common stance on the war on
terror," he said.

"This is a pattern we are seeing. The war of terror in the US is being
used to justify all kinds of things. The Attorney-General has even
said we don't have to pay attention to the Geneva Convention in the
context of the war on terror."

--
http://netipr.org/~uneoo/ (Burma HR Activity)
http://netipr.org/saorg/ (Refugee Rights Activity)
emails: uneoo@xxxxxxxxxx druneoo@xxxxxxxxxxx
POST: Dr U Ne Oo, 18 Shannon Place,Adelaide SA5000,AUSTRALIA


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Relevant Pages

  • 18/4/06:AUSRALIAN GOVT AND RACIST INSTINCT
    ... Indonesia the government of John Howards look like trying to create ... there is a case to be argued against 'excising Australia' ... potential refugee trouble spots even throughout Southeast Asia: ... ASYLUM-SEEKERS who land on the Australian mainland will face ...
    (soc.culture.asean)
  • 18/4/06:AUSRALIAN GOVT AND RACIST INSTINCT
    ... Indonesia the government of John Howards look like trying to create ... there is a case to be argued against 'excising Australia' ... potential refugee trouble spots even throughout Southeast Asia: ... ASYLUM-SEEKERS who land on the Australian mainland will face ...
    (soc.culture.australian)