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dreamer_easyETA: I'm behind the ball on this one: the government has offered to resettle the refugees here, they've accepted, and they've disembarked.
(Cut and pasted from email. Why these don't go up on their Web site puzzles me muchly.)
(Cut and pasted from email. Why these don't go up on their Web site puzzles me muchly.)
November 17, 2009Some background, from Kate: HRW recently reported on the tendency of ethnic Tamils to "disappear". The asylum seekers in question say they're fleeing torture, rape, and murder at their government's hands. Some of them have already been verified as genuine refugees by the UNHCR. If Australia forcibly returns these asylum seekers, we may be sending them home to die - and it won't be the first time we've done so.
AUSTRALIA CANNOT WATCH IDLY WHILE ASYLUM SEEKERS FACE RETURN TO SRI LANKA
The Australian Government cannot remain a passive bystander while asylum seekers on the Merak boat face the risk of return to Sri Lanka, the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) says.
RCOA president John Gibson said the organisation was alarmed by media reports that the Indonesian Government was considering returning asylum seekers whose claims were yet to be examined.
"Given our Prime Minister's much publicised intervention to prevent the boat now in Merak from reaching Australian waters, Australia has a moral responsibility to do everything it can to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers on that boat are not returned to a situation where they may face persecution," Mr Gibson said.
"Australia must now urge the Indonesian Government to allow UNHCR officials full access to the asylum seekers on the Merak boat and consider what actions Australia can take to rebuild trust and goodwill with the government and people of Indonesia.
"Australia is increasingly being regarded as a wealthy nation which has no qualms about shifting its responsibilities for refugee protection to neighbouring countries with fewer resources. Not only is this perception damaging Australia's reputation in the region, it threatens to undermine longer term efforts to build regional cooperation on refugee protection."
