AUSTRALIA – Australia’s network of offshore immigration detention centres could constitute a crime against humanity, according to a submission before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The 115-page submission from the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) argues Australia’s immigration policy constitutes an attack against the civilian population – something which could be classified as a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute.

The Rome Statute saw the creation of the ICC and established four core international crimes – genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

Citing the grave nature of the alleged crimes and the large number of people affected, the submission calls on the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC to investigate the Australian government and other organisations involved in the policy.

“Australian governments have attempted to contract out the detention facilities, and thereby avoid responsibility, by concluding agreements with Nauru and Papua New Guinea and by contracting with private corporations to run the facilities,” it reads.

“Nevertheless, that liability for international crimes can be traced not only to direct perpetrators on the ground, but also to public officials and corporate officers and directors.

Key points:

- Submission before ICC calls for investigation into Australian government and other organisations involved.

- Argues Australia has avoided responsibility by contracting-out detention centres.

“Such individuals are participating and essentially contributing to an overall common plan. That plan includes a critical element of criminality.”

The current Australian stance on offshore immigration detention is supported by both Labor and the Coalition, with all parties playing a part in its establishment as government policy.

The Howard government introduced the concept of third-country offshore processing, colloquially known as the Pacific Solution, in 2001.

After being dismantled by the Rudd government, it was reinstated by the Gillard government in 2010.

Under the leadership of Julia Gillard, the government transferred its first detainees to Nauru and PNG in 2012.

Professor Anne Orford, one of the 17 legal academics behind the ICC submission, said an investigation could help counter the risk that Australia’s policies were “setting a new, lower standard for what is acceptable treatment” of asylum seekers.

The University of Melbourne academic cited the current political environment in the US under President Donald Trump as one of the areas that may be influenced.

“You can see this unfolding in the context of politics in the US, politics in the EU, issues around the detention of refugees and asylum seekers,” she said.

“Figures are appealing to Australia as a model for what might now be acceptable.”

Professor Orford said that although the Australian Government cited the business of offshore centres as the responsibility of the PNG and Nauruan governments, the Commonwealth was implicated.

“We are arguing that these individuals that have participated in creating and maintaining and authorising these detention camps do have responsibility under the ICC,” she said.

Australian Independent MP Andrew Wilkie made a similar submission to the ICC in 2014, when he stated that the practice of forcibly sending people to other countries was “a crime against humanity”.

Wilkie’s submission also cited Article 7 of the Rome Statute, which in part describes a crime against humanity as “deportation or forcible transfer of population” and “imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law”. - ABC