Strong reaction to refugee ban

AUSTRALIA – The United Nations says it’s profoundly concerned by Australia’s plan to ban refugees who arrived by boat from ever returning to Australia.

If enacted, the ban would be backdated to July 2013, targeting about two thousand asylum seekers Australia has detained offshore on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island.

In response to the proposed ban on boat people, the UN refugee agency said seeking asylum was not illegal. In a statement, it said Australia was accountable for the asylum seekers it exiled.

“Australia retains responsibility for refugees and asylum seekers, even where they are transferred to another State under bilateral arrangements. Where transfer arrangements are used, Australia retains the obligation to ensure their well-being and to find adequate long-term solutions for those found to be refugees.”

The Human Rights Law Centre in Australia says the ban could affect 320 refugees already living in Australia. The centre represents women and their families brought back to Australia from Nauru to give birth.

Its executive director, Hugh de Kretser, says the 320 now living in community detention, including 40 babies born in Australia, may never be allowed to settle.

“There’s now 40 or so babies here and their families, in the Australian community taking their first steps in freedom, but under Australian law they’re at risk of imminent return to Nauru.

“ It’s difficult to see how they can make that law even harsher, but it will certainly create further fear and uncertainty for families who have already endured so much.”

Amnesty International says the ban on boat people would contravene the UN’s Refugee Convention of 1951 of which Australia is a party and co-author.

Amnesty’s Ming Yu Hah says Article 31 of the convention prohibits refugees from being penalised for entering a country illegally.

“People who make that choice of coming to Australia by boat know it’s an incredibly risky and dangerous journey and they make that choice because it’s probably the only choice they have left.

“We ask and urge the Australian government to recognise that most of the people coming by boat are desperate and fleeing for their lives, fleeing persecution and all they are looking for is a place to rebuild their lives in safety and peace.”

To mount a defence of the ban, the University of Auckland law professor, Bill Hodge, says Australia could argue it protects legitimate pathways to asylum.

“To put their view on it, and I’m not saying I’m defending it, but their view is they want to send a message to the smugglers, the ones who were making inhuman profit from these suffering people.

“To protect the legitimate pathway to asylum, legitimate refugees who get in the queue and wait patiently.

“So we’re excluding and we’re sending the firmest possible message that the exclusion is absolute and permanent to the queue jumpers.”

Hodge says such a defence could be effective in an international forum.

- RNZI