Rising Alarm at Australia's

Asylum Seeker Returns

High Court Grants Injunction to Determine Legality
People at a rally in Sydney on Monday protesting the Australian government's return of a boatload of Sri Lankan asylum seekers. Agence France-
ROB A!LOR "
#uly $% &'()
*A+B,RRA% Australia-Australia's de.ision to blo.k do/ens of Sri
Lankan asylum seekers at sea and return them home to possible danger .ame under in.reasing
s.rutiny on uesday% 0ith the 0orld's top refugee body e1pressing rising alarm as another vessel on
the high seas be.ame stranded in a legal limbo.
he 2nited +ations refugee agen.y said for the se.ond time in a 0eek that it 0as deeply .on.erned
Australia may be in brea.h of international refugee la0s after it turned over asylum seekers to Sri
Lankan authorities in a se.ret operation over the 0eekend.
he .ountry's highest .ourt% mean0hile% said its full seven"member ben.h 0ould 3e1peditiously3
de.ide on the legality of su.h moves under international la0 after pro"asylum groups lodged an
in4un.tion to stymie further transfers.
5hile the government has repeatedly argued its immigration regime doesn't brea.h international
rights .onventions% the 2+6*R said it 0as in.reasingly troubled by details of the operation in 0hi.h
Australian border authorities handed )( asylum seekers ba.k to the Sri Lankan navy at sea.
he )( people 0ere on one of t0o boats Australian authorities are believed to have stopped at sea.
he first boat 0as inter.epted as it traveled from Sri Lanka in re.ent 0eeks. On uesday% the
government a.kno0ledged the e1isten.e of a se.ond vessel% thought to be .arrying as many as (78
Sri Lankan amils% 0hi.h left an 9ndian port in mid"#une.
he 2.+. agen.y said it understood Australian border offi.ials on land used 0hat the government
.alls enhan.ed s.reening pro.edures-via a tele.onferen.e-to assess the refugee .laims of
passengers on the first boat. ,nhan.ed s.reening involves asking asylum seekers as little as four
basi. :uestions to help determine the validity of their .laims.
32+6*R has previously made kno0n its .on.erns to Australia about its enhan.ed s.reening
pro.edures and non.omplian.e 0ith international la0%3 the refugee agen.y said in a statement.
he 2+6*R's se.ond intervention inside a 0eek refle.ted mounting international unease over the
Australian .onservative government's hard"line approa.h to stopping asylum boats from rea.hing
the .ountry. 5hile the poli.y has su..essfully stopped any asylum arrivals in the last si1 months% it
has .ome at a .ost to Australia's international reputation as a post0ar refugee haven.
32+6*R's e1perien.e over the years 0ith shipboard pro.essing has generally not been positive%3 it
said. 3Su.h an environment 0ould rarely afford an appropriate venue for a fair pro.edure.3
Both Sri Lanka's government and Australia have no0 .onfirmed the 0eekend operation% 0hile giving
s.ant detail. As a rule% *anberra doesn't .omment on asylum operations at sea to avoid .hanneling
intelligen.e to people"traffi.king organi/ations based overseas.
But the high .ourt .hallenge brought by rights groups for.ed the .onservative government on
uesday to admit to the e1isten.e of a se.ond boat thought to be .arrying as many as (78 Sri
Lankan amils% 0ith la0yers promising a sole 4udge .onsidering the in4un.tion that they 0ouldn't be
transferred from a .ustoms vessel ba.k to Sri Lanka 0ithout at least three days' noti.e.
he 4udge said the .ourt's full seven"member ben.h should de.ide as soon as possible on
government arguments that the amils didn't :ualify for normal migration pro.essing as they had
been inter.epted outside Australian (&"mile limit of territorial 0aters and stopped in the so".alled
.ontiguous /one e1tending &) miles beyond that and .overed by different migration rules.
he se.ond vessel is believed to have been inter.epted by Australia's navy near *hristmas 9sland
late last month.
he treatment of asylum seekers% a ma4or issue during last September's ele.tion follo0ing
numerous boat arrivals over the span of the previous Labor government% has fra.tured Australian
voters for more than a de.ade.
he boats% also .arrying people from pla.es su.h as 9ran% 9ra: and Afghanistan% have often set off
from ports in Sri Lanka% 9ndonesia and else0here.
Prime Minister ony Abbott's tougher approa.h-in.luding rules preventing even asylum seekers
assessed as genuine refugees from ever settling in Australia% and sending them into detention in the
South Pa.ifi. nations of +auru and Papua +e0 ;uinea-played a ma4or role in getting his
.onservative .oalition ele.ted last year.
Still% Australia's stan.e has led to in.reasing .riti.ism from refugee groups and% a..ording to some
opinion surveys% has sparked gro0ing unease among ordinary voters un.omfortable 0ith Mr.
Abbott's hard"line approa.h% and the potential for in.reasing international isolation over the issue.
More than 7' a.ademi.s from Australian universities on uesday issued a 4oint statement saying
they% like the 2.+.% 0ere profoundly .on.erned Australia's rapid pro.essing of refugees may have
put the .ountry in brea.h of international rights .onventions 0hi.h prevent the return of people
fleeing danger to the .ountry or body they 0ere trying to es.ape-.alled refoulement.
36olding asylum seekers on boats in this manner also amounts to in.ommuni.ado detention 0ithout
4udi.ial s.rutiny%3 the a.ademi.s 0rote.
Publi. .on.ern has intensified sin.e riots this year at a remote immigration"detention .enter the
.ountry operates in Papua +e0 ;uinea. he unrest left an 9ranian man dead and do/ens in4ured
during .lashes bet0een detainees% private guards and P+; se.urity for.es.
9mmigration Minister S.ott Morrison said the government 0ould make no .omment 0hile the 6igh
*ourt of Australia .onsidered its de.ision on further handovers. amil .ommunity groups in Australia
said at least (( people on the vessel had been previously tortured by Sri Lankan government
se.urity for.es.
Sri Lanka routinely denies its treatment of amils is a matter for .on.ern sin.e the end of a brutal
.ivil 0ar in &''<. ,arlier this year% the 2.+. 6uman Rights *oun.il laun.hed a 0ar .rimes in:uiry
into the .onfli.t fought bet0een the government and the Liberation igers of amil ,elam% or L,%
0hi.h spearheaded a de.adeslong battle for amil independen.e. amils% a minority in Sri Lanka%
have long .omplained of perse.ution by the Sinhalese ma4ority% 0hi.h dominates the government
and military.
Reports from Sri Lanka said the first group of asylum seekers had already arrived ba.k in the
.ountry% and 0ould fa.e .harges of leaving illegally. 9f .onvi.ted% they .ould get possible 4ail terms of
up to t0o years. Sri Lanka's diplomati. mission in Australia's .apital de.lined to .omment on the
reports.
Australia's =oreign Minister #ulie Bishop said in an intervie0 Monday that the Sri Lankan
government deserved re.ognition for ending the 0ar% and said *anberra 0ould seek assuran.es on
the safety of asylum seekers returned to Sri Lanka at the 0eekend.
Prime Minister Abbott said on uesday his main .on.ern 0as delivering on a promise to Australian
voters to stop the flo0 of asylum boats to the .ountry% 0hile also preventing deaths at sea .aused by
the sinking of often over.ro0ded and poorly maintained vessels.
39'm not going to .omment on 0hat may or may not be happening on the 0ater% but 9 do 0ant to
assure everyone that 0hat 0e do on the 0ater is .onsistent 0ith our legal obligations and .onsistent
0ith safety at sea%3 Mr. Abbott said.
5rite to Rob aylor at rob.taylor>0s4..om