Any One of These Boat People Could Be a Terrorist for All We Know!
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Immigration Detention in Nauru
Immigration Detention in Nauru March 2016 The Republic of Nauru, a tiny South Pacific island nation that has a total area of 21 square kilometres, is renowned for being one of the smallest countries in the world, having a devastated natural environment due to phosphate strip-mining, and operating a controversial offshore processing centre for Australia that has confined asylum seeking men, women, and children. Considered an Australian “client state” by observers, Nauru reported in 2015 that “the major source of revenue for the Government now comes from the operation of the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru.”1 Pointing to the numerous alleged abuses that have occurred to detainees on the island, a writer for the Guardian opined in October 2015 that the country had “become the symbol of the calculated cruelty, of the contradictions, and of the unsustainability of Australia’s $3bn offshore detention regime.”2 Nauru, which joined the United Nations in 1999, initially drew global attention for its migration policies when it finalised an extraterritorial cooperation deal with Australia to host an asylum seeker detention centre in 2001. This deal, which was inspired by U.S. efforts to interdict Haitian and Cuban asylum seekers in the Caribbean, was part of what later became known as Australia’s first “Pacific Solution” migrant deterrence policy, which involved intercepting and transferring asylum seekers arriving by sea—dubbed “irregular maritime arrivals” (IMAs)—to “offshore processing centres” in Nauru and Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.3 As part of this initial Pacific Solution, which lasted until 2008, the Nauru offshore processing centre was managed by the International Migration Organisation (IOM). -
Asylum Seekers in the Pacific (Manus, Nauru)
Dialogue: Asylum Seekers in the Pacific (Manus, Nauru) Guest edited by J C Salyer, Steffen Dalsgaard, and Paige West “It Is Not Because They Are Bad People”: Australia’s Refugee Resettlement in Papua New Guinea and Nauru j c salyer, steffen dalsgaard, and paige west Expanding Terra Nullius sarah keenan No Friend But the Mountains: A Reflection patrick kaiku Becoming through the Mundane: Asylum Seekers and the Making of Selves in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea paige west (continued on next page) The Contemporary Pacic, Volume 32, Number 2, 433–521 © 2020 by University of Hawai‘i Press 433 Dialogue: Asylum Seekers in the Pacific (Manus, Nauru) continued Guest edited by J C Salyer, Steffen Dalsgaard, and Paige West The Story of Holim Pas Tok Ples, a Short Film about Indigenous Language on Lou Island, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea kireni sparks-ngenge A Brief on the Intersection between Climate Change Impacts and Asylum and Refugee Seekers’ Incarceration on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea robert bino Weaponizing Ecocide: Nauru, Offshore Incarceration, and Environmental Crisis anja kanngieser From Drifters to Asylum Seekers steffen dalsgaard and ton otto The Denial of Human Dignity in the Age of Human Rights under Australia’s Operation Sovereign Borders j c salyer Weaponizing Ecocide: Nauru, Offshore Incarceration, and Environmental Crisis Anja Kanngieser The Pacific Solution (2001–2008) and Operation Sovereign Borders (2012–present) expanded Australia’s territorial and juridical borders through the establishment of three offshore regional processing centers in the Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea (Manus Island) and on Christmas Island (an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean). -
The Pacific Solution Or a Pacific Nightmare?: the Difference Between Burden Shifting and Responsibility Sharing
THE PACIFIC SOLUTION OR A PACIFIC NIGHTMARE?: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BURDEN SHIFTING AND RESPONSIBILITY SHARING Dr. Savitri Taylor* I. INTRODUCTION II. THE PACIFIC SOLUTION III. OFFSHORE PROCESSING CENTERS AND STATE RESPONSIBILITY IV. PACIFIC NIGHTMARES A. Nauru B. Papua New Guinea V. INTERPRETING NIGHTMARES VI. SPREADING NIGHTMARES VII. SHARING RESPONSIBILITY VIII. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION The guarantee that persons unable to enjoy human rights in their country of nationality, who seek asylum in other countries, will not be returned to the country from which they fled is a significant achievement of international efforts to validate the assertion that those rights truly are the “rights of man.” There are currently 145 states,1 including Australia, that are parties to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugees Convention)2 and/or the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugees Protocol).3 The prohibition on refoulement is the key provision of the Refugees Convention. Article 33(1) of the Refugees Convention provides that no state party “shall expel or return (refouler) a refugee in any manner * Senior Lecturer, School of Law, La Trobe University, Victoria 3086, Australia. 1 As of February 1, 2004. 2 July 28, 1951, 1954 Austl. T. S. No. 5 (entered into force for Australia and generally on April 22, 1954). 3 January 31, 1967, 1973 Austl. T. S. No. 37 (entered into force generally on October 4, 1967, and for Australia on December 13, 1973). 2 ASIAN-PACIFIC LAW & POLICY JOURNAL; Vol. 6, Issue 1 (Winter -
Asylum in Australia: 'Operation Sovereign Borders' And
Asylum in Australia: ‘Operation Sovereign Borders’ and International Law Joyce Chia,* Jane McAdam** and Kate Purcell*** I. Introduction On 18 September 2013, the day the Australian Coalition government was sworn into office, a new border protection policy took effect. Termed ‘Operation Sovereign Borders’ (OSB), it is based on the premise that Australia is facing a ‘border protection crisis’ that ‘requires the discipline and focus of a targeted military operation’.1 As a military-led operation, the government maintains a high degree of secrecy about its activities, which include intercepting and turning back asylum seeker boats. From early 2012 until mid-2013, there was a considerable increase in the number of asylum seekers seeking to reach Australia by boat — both in terms of total numbers (over 35,000 between January 2012 and July 2013) and intensity (over 3,000 arrivals per month between March and July 2013). Although these numbers remained very small in global terms (representing just three to four per cent of total asylum applications), 2 and 88 per cent of them were found to be refugees or otherwise in need of international protection,3 the unauthorised arrival of asylum seekers became one of the key political issues in the 2013 federal election. Playing upon generally poor community understandings about forced migration and common anxieties about ‘the uninvited’, terrorism, and security, politicians on both sides had championed increasingly draconian deterrence mechanisms — even when couched in the ostensibly humanitarian language of ‘saving lives at sea’.4 It was in this context that OSB was developed. This article begins by examining the background to OSB and what is known about its practical operation. -
Australian Border Policing: Regional 'Solutions' and Neocolonialism
RAC55310.1177/0306396813509197Race & ClassGrewcock 5091972014 Commentary SAGE Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC Australian border policing: regional ‘solutions’ and neocolonialism MICHAEL GREWCOCK Abstract: Australia’s punitive border policing regime, aimed at deterring asylum seekers attempting unauthorised entry into the country, was ratcheted up even further in 2013 by the former Labor-led government and its successor (as of September 2013), the Liberal National Party Coalition. In effect, under the guise of combating ‘people-smuggling’, and a pledge to ‘Stop the Boats’, policies such as the mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals and the use of off-shore detention facilities have been made even more draconian. Now the aim is to block entirely any right to resettlement or residence for refugees in Australia itself, using the weaker and poorer states of Nauru and Papua New Guinea, historically under Australia’s control, to act – to their own long-standing detriment – as detention and resettlement centres, for increasing numbers of migrants. Keywords: asylum-seeker, Australia border policing, immigration detention, Indonesia, LNPC, Nauru, Pacific solution, Papua New Guinea, people- smuggling, Stop the Boats On 19 July 2013, Australia’s Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd1 and Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, convened a joint press conference to announce the signing of a Regional Settlement Arrangement (RSA) for asylum Michael Grewcock teaches law and criminology at the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Sydney. His primary research interests are border policing and state crime. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal State Crime. Race & Class Copyright © 2014 Institute of Race Relations, Vol. -
Christmas Island Tragedy
Coroners Act, 1996 [Section 26(1)] Western Australia Inquest into 30 deaths of – Fatemeh BAGHAIE (aka) Fatama BAGHAE /BAGHA’E or Fatmeh BAQAIE Khedier EIDAN MADHI (aka) Khodair MAHDI Khoshqhadam AMINI Hassan SHAHVARI Ali KHEDIER EIDAN (aka) Ali EDAN Afssaneh ABDULLAHI- MEHER Haifa BAWY (aka) Haifa MOHAMMED or Haifae AHMED MOHAMMAD Mehran ZAREH Fawzeya BAWY (aka) Fawziayh MOHAMMED Fatemeh TAYARI (aka) Fatemeh TAYYARI Mahan SHAHVARI Shekooh TAROMI NEJAD SHEERAZY (aka) Shekooh TAROMINEJAD SHIRAZI Mariam SHAHVARI (aka) Nazanin SHAHVARI Ahmed Oday AL KHAFAJI Nasrollah AKBARI (aka) Nasrala AKBARI or Nasralah AKBARI or Nasroallah AKBARI Mariam Fakri Kadum AL KHAFAJI (aka) Mariam Oday AL KHAFAJI Maryam ZAREH Elmira KHORSHIDI (aka) Shakiba KHORSHIDI or Shakiby KHOORSHIDY Javed SHIRVANI Soha ZAREH (aka) Soho ZAREH Sam Hussain HUSSAINI (aka) Sayed Sam HUSSAINI Zahra Median IBRIHIMI (aka) Zahra’a IBRAHIMI Khalil BEHZADPOUR (aka) Khalil BEHZADPOOR Abbas AKHONDY (aka) Abbas AKHONDI SHIVIYARY Mehrdad KARBAVI Malektaj KARIMI (aka) Malaktaj KARIMI Reza GANDOMI Kobra DAVARY YEKTA (aka) Kubra DAVARIYAKTH Oday Rashed Mohammed Hassan ALSALMAN Farhad AKHLAGHI SHAIKHDOOST (aka) Farhed AKHLAGHI SHAIKHDOOST Coroners Act, 1996 [Section 26(1)] Western Australia Inquest into 20 suspected deaths of – Nahaye Ahmad Mohammed BAWY (aka) Nehayah MOHAMMED, or Nehaya BAWY, or Nihaya Ahmed MUHAMMED Esraa Eidan MAHDI (aka) Asra EIDAN or Isra KUDAIR or Assraaa KHEIDER EIDAN Siamak KHORSHIDI (aka) Shahin KHORSHIDI or Shaheen SYAMACK, or Seyamak, Siyamak Koorosh KHORSHIDI Zaman -
The Pacific Solution As Australia's Policy
THE 3AC,F,C SOL8TI21 AS A8STRA/,A‘S P2/,CY TOWARDS ASYLUM SEEKER AND IRREGULAR MARITIME ARRIVALS (IMAS) IN THE JOHN HOWARD ERA Hardi Alunaza SD1, Ireng Maulana2 and Adityo Darmawan Sudagung3 1Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Tanjungpura Email: [email protected] 2 Political Sciences Iowa State University Email: [email protected] 3International Relations Department Universitas Tanjungpura Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT This research is attempted to answer the question of why John Howard used the Pacific Solution as Australian policy towards Asylum Seekers and Irregular Maritime Arrivals (IMAS). By using the descriptive method with a qualitative approach, the researchers took a specific interest in decision-making theory and sovereignty concept to analyze the phenomena. The policy governing the authority of the Australian Government in the face of the Asylum Seeker by applying multiple strategies to suppress and deter IMAs. The results of this research indicate that John Howard used Pacific Solution with emphasis on three important aspects. First, eliminating migration zone in Australia. Second, building cooperation with third countries in the South Pacific, namely Nauru and Papua New Guinea in shaping the center of IMAs defense. On the other hand, Howard also made some amendments to the Migration Act by reducing the rights of refugees. Immigrants who are seen as a factor of progress and development of the State Australia turned into a new dimension that threatens economic development, security, and socio-cultural. Keywords: Pacific Solution; asylum seeker; Irregular Maritime Arrivals ABSTRAK Tulisan ini disajikan untuk menjawab pertanyaan mengapa John Howard menggunakan The Pacific Solution sebagai kebijakan Australia terhadap Asylum Seeker dan Irregular Maritime Arrivals (IMAs). -
Offshore Processing of Asylum Seekers – Is Australia Complying with Its International Legal Obligations? Lisa Jane Archbold*
QUT Law Review ISSN: (Print) 2205-0507 (Online) 2201-7275 Volume 15, Issue 1, pp 137-158. DOI: 10.5204/qutlr.v15i1.579 OFFSHORE PROCESSING OF ASYLUM SEEKERS – IS AUSTRALIA COMPLYING WITH ITS INTERNATIONAL LEGAL OBLIGATIONS? * LISA JANE ARCHBOLD Australia has a number of international legal obligations in relation to asylum seekers and refugees. In the scheme of things, the number of asylum seekers and refugees who attempt to reach Australia by sea without a valid visa is relatively small. Since 2012, Australia has restored its legal framework of processing asylum seekers and refugees who arrive by sea offshore in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. There are a number of concerns with the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees at these offshore processing centres, highlighting concerns Australia is not complying with its international legal obligations. The primary justification of the current policies has been that a strong deterrent is required to deter the people-smuggling trade. However, the deterrent justification lacks evidence to support it, and is unable to justify breaches of some of the most fundamental obligations owed to refugees and asylum seekers. I INTRODUCTION Australia has a number of international legal obligations in relation to asylum seekers and refugees. These arise from the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (collectively, ‘the Refugees Convention’),1 and other human rights treaties.2 Australia also has an obligation to implement the key objects and purposes behind the Refugees Convention in good faith; these are the protection of refugees seeking asylum, and the assurance of fundamental rights and freedoms for refugees without discrimination or penalty.3 Australia’s current practice of processing asylum seekers offshore raises some important issues. -
133650 133650.Pdf (409.6Kb)
(This is a version of an article with the same title published in Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, vol 23, no 5, 2009, pp. 575-595.) Still from Lucky Miles © Sam Oster / Silvertrace, 2007. Reprinted with permission. Introduction: Heterochronotopes of Exception and the Frontiers and Faultlines of Citizenship Suvendrini Perera and Jon Stratton Department of Cultural Studies, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia. GPO Box U1987 Perth, Western Australia 6845. Anyone who had imagined that the demise of the Howard government would put an end to the public preoccupation with boat arrivals that characterised its period in office was proven wrong in early 2009 when the arrival of unauthorised asylum seekers once again become a topic of national prominence. In 2008 fourteen boats carrying people seeking asylum had reached Australian waters. While this figure was a significant increase from the three boats detected the previous year, it remained relatively unremarked until April 17, 2009, when a boat, identified as Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel (SIEV) 36, carrying 47 Afghan asylum seekers, exploded as it was being towed to Christmas Island where those on board would be detained while their asylum claims were assessed. The event conjures memories of the unnamed SIEV, SIEV X, which, sank in international waters off Java on October 19, 2001, causing the deaths of 353 people, primarily women and children (Marr and Wilkinson 2003; Kevin 2004). Unlike that desperate night, this time the Australian navy was on hand to help. Still, five people died. Many more were severely burned and had to be air-lifted to hospitals in Darwin, Perth and Brisbane. -
Contained Maritime Rule Or a Sustainable Solution to the Ever-Controversial Question of Where to Disembark Migrants Rescued at Sea?
The Concept of ‘Place of Safety’: Yet Another Self- Contained Maritime Rule or a Sustainable Solution to the Ever-Controversial Question of Where to Disembark Migrants Rescued at Sea? Martin Ratcovich* I. Introduction The adoption of amendments to the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue,1 and the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea,2 was a consequence of the well-known Tampa affair.3 The amendments introduced the concept * LLM (Lund), Doctoral Candidate, Faculty of Law, Stockholm University. Martin Ratcovich was a visiting researcher at the ANU College of Law, Australian National University in March–April 2014. He has previously worked at the Ministry of Defence of Sweden and at the Swedish Coast Guard Headquarters. He has also served as Legal Assistant to the Nordic member of the United Nations International Law Commission, ambassador Marie Jacobsson (LLD). The author would like to thank Professor Said Mahmoudi, Stockholm University, for helpful comments. The author would also like to thank Professor Donald R Rothwell and Associate Professors David Letts and Sarah Heathcote, ANU College of Law. Any errors or omissions remain the author’s own. 1 International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, opened for signature 1 November 1979, 1405 UNTS 109 (entered into force 22 June 1985) (‘SAR Convention’). 2 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, opened for signature 1 November 1974, 1184 UNTS 278 (entered into force 25 May 1980) (‘SOLAS Convention’). 3 M/V Tampa (‘Tampa’) was a Norwegian container ship that on 26 August 2001 was asked by the Australian Rescue Coordination Centre to assist in the search and rescue operation for an Indonesian ship in the waters between Indonesia and Christmas Island (Australia). -
Asylum Seekers and Refugees: What Are the Facts?
Parliament of Australia Department of Parliamentary Services BACKGROUND NOTE Updated 14 January 2011 Asylum seekers and refugees: what are the facts? Janet Phillips Social Policy Section Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1 What is the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee? ........................................................ 2 Are asylum seekers ‘illegals’? .................................................................................................................. 2 Are asylum seekers ‘queue jumpers’? ..................................................................................................... 4 Do most asylum seekers arrive by boat? ................................................................................................. 6 Do boat arrivals ‘bring disease’ and are they a threat to security? ......................................................... 7 Are boat arrivals ‘genuine refugees’? ...................................................................................................... 8 Do boat arrivals ‘take all Australia’s refugee places’? ............................................................................. 9 Do refugees receive higher welfare benefits than Australians? ............................................................ 10 Is Australia being ‘swamped by boat arrivals’? ..................................................................................... -
Report of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers
S R EEKE ANEL ON S P T OF THE T R R SYLUM SYLUM XPE REPO E A AUGUST 2012 REPORT OF THE EXPERT PANEL ON ASYLUM SEEKERS AUGUST 2012 CONTENTS INDEX OF TABLES IN THE REPORT 3 INDEX OF FIGURES IN THE REPORT 4 THE REPORT 5 FOREWORD 7 TERMS OF REFERENCE 9 OVERVIEW: THE APPROACH UNDERPINNING THIS REPORT 10 SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS 14 CHAPTER 1: ASYLUM SEEKING: THE CHALLENGES AUSTRALIA FACES IN CONTEXT 19 Global realities 20 The regional dimension in the Asia Pacific 22 Australia’s circumstances 22 ‘Push’ and ‘pull’ factors 26 CHAPTER 2 AUSTRALIAN POLICY SETTINGS: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TOWARDS A REGIONAL COOPERATION FRAMEWORK 31 The relevance of Australia’s national policy settings 31 The imperative of a regional cooperation plan on protection and asylum 32 CHAPTER 3: AN AUSTRALIAN POLICY AGENDA 37 Part A: Proposed changes to Australian policy settings to encourage use of regular pathways for international protection and established migration programs 38 Part B: Measures to discourage the use of irregular maritime travel to Australia 47 AttACHMENT 1: THE GLOBAL AND REGIONAL CONTEXT 59 AttACHMENT 2: PEOPLE SMUGGLING AND AUSTRALIA 71 AttACHMENT 3: AUSTRALIA’s InTERNATIONAL LAW OBLIGATIONS WITH RESPECT TO REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS 79 AttACHMENT 4: AUSTRALIA’s conTRIBUTION TO INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION 85 AttACHMENT 5: ASYLUM CASELOADS AND RSD RATES IN AUSTRALIA AND GLOBALLY 93 AttACHMENT 6: AUSTRALIA’s INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL ENGAGEMENT ON IRREGULAR MOVEMENT AND INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION 109 AttACHMENT 7: RETURNS AND REMOVALS OF PERSONS FOUND