CPA - The Guardian

The death of a detainee at the Curtin Detention Centre last week has once more drawn attention to the immigration policies of the both the ALP and the conservative coalition.

The 30-year-old detainee died in a Perth hospital a day after being found unconscious. Immigration officials have stated that the cause of death is unknown. However, suicide cannot be ruled out as a possibility. Psychologists have issued many warnings about the deterioration in mental heath of asylum seekers who are detained for months or even longer, especially in isolated areas where there is little chance of a visit from a doctor or social worker.

However, in attempting to court the vote of the most conservative electors, both the Labor Party and the conservative Coalition have adopted immigration policies that treat asylum seekers who arrived by boat as criminals, and which include detaining them offshore, or in extremely remote mainland locations, for long periods and often in extremely harsh conditions.

The Gillard government has crammed hundreds of detainees into the Christmas Island centre and is still intent on opening a new detention centre in East Timor. It opened the extremely remote Curtin Detention Centre last June, and intends to expand the numbers incarcerated there from 560 to 600. The government has denied claims by Liberal leaders that after planned expansion the centre will accommodate up to 6,000 people.

For their part, the Liberals have declared that they intend to reopen the former Howard government’s notorious detention centre on Nauru, in a revival of the discredited “Pacific solution”.

A new deal for asylum seekers

The possible formation of a government that would include the Greens and independents has led a group of Australian non-government organisations, including the National Council of Churches, Amnesty International, the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, the Refugee Council of Australia and 17 other organisations, under a Regional Refugee Protection framework, to issue a joint demand for protection for asylum seekers from unjust and inhumane government policies. They have called for a regional refugee protection framework, based on the following principles:

There must be no removal of asylum seekers from Australian territory for processing in a third country. Australia has an obligation to process claims and provide protection to those found to be refugees under the Refugee Convention.
Australia’s refugee and humanitarian programs and policies must comply with all international human rights standards.
There must be no discrimination or difference in treatment based on the country of origin or manner of arrival in Australia.
Australia must not fund, or in any way be party to the detention of refugees in third countries.
Any program to which Australia is a party as part of the regional protection framework must adhere to all human rights obligations and standards.

The group also declared that Australia should engage, as partners in the regional protection framework, other governments, including countries affected by significant flows of asylum seekers, potential countries of resettlement, the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) and concerned organisations. The UNHCR, which opposes the detention of designated refugees, should have the central role in claims processing.

The group has also stated that the physical needs of both asylum seekers and recognised refugees should be met, and resources provided to ensure that partners in the agreement can fulfil their role in that process. Additional resettlement places should be found (20,000 extra places recommended) to avoid people risking their lives on dangerous journeys. People who are found not to require protection should be returned safely, with the assistance of non-government organisations who should also be involved in the operation of the framework, within an expert working group.

The Australian Lawyers Alliance has joined the calls for a better deal for asylum seekers, with particular reference to statements from Scott Morrison, shadow Minister for Immigration, that an Abbott government would reject applications for asylum where identity documents had been lost of destroyed. A similar proposal was rejected in 2003 by a Senate committee, which included conservative Coalition members of parliament and was chaired by a Liberal senator.

The committee pointed out that in some cases people may be forced to destroy identity documents to ensure they have a safe passage or (else) be captured or killed. The committee accepted evidence from a senior migration lawyer that:

An attempt to deny a person who cannot produce evidence of identity access to a refugee determination process is simply wrong in principle. There are plenty of examples of people who are unable to obtain documentation in their country, given its lack of sophistication, who flee conditions of persecution in anonymous circumstances by design or who employ fraudulent documentation… While one would certainly qualify in situations where there is a deliberate attempt to mislead, as a matter of principle it is our submission that the inability to produce evidence of identity should not preclude consideration of claims.

The Lawyers Alliance has also called for the scrapping of mandatory sentencing regarding the protection of asylum seekers. The national secretary of the Alliance commented: “…now the opposition is spruiking up a mandatory of up to 10 years (imprisonment) with an added clause to include anyone found housing illegal immigrants. The arbitrary nature of such legislation means judiciary discretion is excluded in the decision-making process, yet the whole premise of good decision-making is that all circumstances and evidence are examined before an appropriate conclusion or sentence is reached.”

Organisations that have demanded a Regional Refugee Protection framework include:

Act for Peace – National Council of Churches in Australia
Amnesty International Australia
Asylum Seekers Centre of NSW
Australian Council for International Development
Brotherhood of St Laurence
Caritas Australia
Coalition for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees
Edmund Rice Centre
Federation of Ethnic Community Councils of Australia
Federation House – The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture
Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project
International Detention Coalition
Jesuit Refugee Service Australia
Oxfam Australia
Refugee Council of Australia
Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre
Settlement Council of Australia
Uniting Church in Australia

Next article – Major parties pay the price for vindictive policies

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