Weekly refugee posting
Feb. 7th, 2014 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamer_easyBlah blah torture blah blah censorship blah blah injustice.
Now, in more detail:
Asylum seeker Yousif Ibrahim Fasher states that he was an eyewitness to Navy personnel intentionally burning the hands of three asylum seekers. His interview with the SMH explains the alleged events in some detail.
It's time a proper investigation was held into this alleged incident. (Fairfax Media sent specific questions to the government, but these were met with the usual stonewalling.) Even if the claims prove baseless, as one opinion piece points out, the refusal to investigate informs those handling asylum seekers that they are not accountable for their actions.
The Australian Human Rights Commission will study the effect of detention on children. The government has refused the AHRC access to the detention centre on Nauru.
Also on Nauru, a legal challenge has been raised to the lengthy detention of ten asylum seekers on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. (Nauru's court system appears to have ground to a complete halt after the expulsion and replacement of its only magistrate.) btw, Nauru is now charging $6,000 for a business visa, so the increase in cost of a media visa to $8,000 might genuinely be a fund-raising effort - but one which could backfire, just as the Australian government's secrecy policy is, to some extent, backfiring against it.
On Manus Island, the company who ran the detention centre, G4S, have lost their contract with the Australian government after numerous incidents. Another company, Transfield Services, has announced it's taking over security and welfare for both the Nauru and Manus Is centres. A planned expansion of the Manus Island centre involves numerous serious risks, including exposure to unexploded bombs and asbestos and other dangerous chemicals. ("The risk of unexploded ordnance, which could include munitions, bombs or mines, was so great that a full site survey could not be completed to determine the full extent of hazards at the facility," reports the Guardian, almost with black humour.)
ASIO has refused some asylum seekers lawyers during the security clearance process in an "inconsistent and arbitrary" manner, the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security has found.
Australia has refused to back an international inquiry into war crimes allegedly committed by members of the current Sri Lankan government. (You'll recall that Australia has an agreement with Sri Lanka to automatically return asylum seekers to the country, where they have a tendency to disappear.)
34 asylum seekers, including an 18-month old baby and other children, were placed in a lifeboat and returned to Indonesian waters, landing near Java. A second asylum seeker has been transferred to Christmas Island for medical reasons.
ETA: Missed one. The Refugee Council has a fact sheet on the new Temporary Humanitarian Concern visa.
Now, in more detail:
Asylum seeker Yousif Ibrahim Fasher states that he was an eyewitness to Navy personnel intentionally burning the hands of three asylum seekers. His interview with the SMH explains the alleged events in some detail.
It's time a proper investigation was held into this alleged incident. (Fairfax Media sent specific questions to the government, but these were met with the usual stonewalling.) Even if the claims prove baseless, as one opinion piece points out, the refusal to investigate informs those handling asylum seekers that they are not accountable for their actions.
The Australian Human Rights Commission will study the effect of detention on children. The government has refused the AHRC access to the detention centre on Nauru.
Also on Nauru, a legal challenge has been raised to the lengthy detention of ten asylum seekers on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. (Nauru's court system appears to have ground to a complete halt after the expulsion and replacement of its only magistrate.) btw, Nauru is now charging $6,000 for a business visa, so the increase in cost of a media visa to $8,000 might genuinely be a fund-raising effort - but one which could backfire, just as the Australian government's secrecy policy is, to some extent, backfiring against it.
On Manus Island, the company who ran the detention centre, G4S, have lost their contract with the Australian government after numerous incidents. Another company, Transfield Services, has announced it's taking over security and welfare for both the Nauru and Manus Is centres. A planned expansion of the Manus Island centre involves numerous serious risks, including exposure to unexploded bombs and asbestos and other dangerous chemicals. ("The risk of unexploded ordnance, which could include munitions, bombs or mines, was so great that a full site survey could not be completed to determine the full extent of hazards at the facility," reports the Guardian, almost with black humour.)
ASIO has refused some asylum seekers lawyers during the security clearance process in an "inconsistent and arbitrary" manner, the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security has found.
Australia has refused to back an international inquiry into war crimes allegedly committed by members of the current Sri Lankan government. (You'll recall that Australia has an agreement with Sri Lanka to automatically return asylum seekers to the country, where they have a tendency to disappear.)
34 asylum seekers, including an 18-month old baby and other children, were placed in a lifeboat and returned to Indonesian waters, landing near Java. A second asylum seeker has been transferred to Christmas Island for medical reasons.
ETA: Missed one. The Refugee Council has a fact sheet on the new Temporary Humanitarian Concern visa.
