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Groups urge Australia to adopt humane refugee policies toward Papuans

ETAN Press Release - May 11, 2006

In a letter to Prime Minister John Howard, 47 organizations based in eight countries today urged the Australian government "to uphold its obligations under the Refugee Convention, to recognize the plight of Papuans suffering brutalization on your doorstep, and to adopt humane refugee policies in keeping with the widely recognized principles of the Australian people." The organizations include human rights and refugee advocates, as well as religious and peace groups.

The wide range of international organizations are protesting the Australian government's plan to amend its law to exclude refugees arriving by boat without visas from a fair consideration of their claim. The refugees would be held in conditions described by observers as "inhumane."

The proposed change comes in response to the granting of protection visas to 42 West Papuans who landed by boat on the Australian mainland last January. The move angered Indonesia, which reacted by recalling its ambassador and demanding the return of the Papuans. The Australian parliament is expected to debate the changes soon.

Among the signers are Human Rights Watch; Institute on Religion and Public Policy; International Immigrants Foundation; Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights; TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign; Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International; Asia-Pacific Solidarity Coalition; Leadership Conference of Women Religious; Great Lakes Rural Australians for Refugees; and Pax Christi USA.

"The Australian government seems more interested in appeasing Indonesia, than living up to its obligations under international law," said John M. Miller of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), which coordinated the letter, a copy of which is below. A list of signers can be found at www.etan.org/news/2006/05austr.htm.

Contact: John M. Miller (718) 596-7668; (917) 690-4391 (cell)

Prime Minister John Howard
c/o Embassy of Australia
1601 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20036-2273
Via facsimile: 202-797-3168

Dear Prime Minister Howard,

We, the undersigned organizations, protest in the strongest terms possible your government's announced plan to seek national legislation extending the "Pacific Solution" to anyone intercepted attempting to enter Australia by boat without a visa. In 2001, the Pacific Solution excised outlying islands from Australia's migration zone, thus denying refugees arriving on those islands access to just proceedings under Australian law. Your government's proposal would extend the Pacific Solution to mainland Australia, thus excluding all refugees arriving by boat without visas from fair consideration under Australian migration law. This discriminatory proposal is especially aimed at denying refuge to those fleeing persecution in West Papua and seeking asylum in Australia.

As described by officials of your government, many of the plan's components we believe are in violation of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, to which Australia is a party.

Taken as a whole, the plan constitutes an affront to the principles enshrined in that document. As described by your government, the first tier of 'defense' against fleeing refugees would be military patrols by Australian forces acting in collaboration with the very source of their persecution -- the Indonesian military.

Refugees who successfully navigate the perilous seas and joint military patrols to land on Australian soil will be removed to off-shore detention centers on Nauru, Manus Island, or Australia's Christmas Island. Conditions of detention at these facilities have been described by observers as "inhumane" and even life-threatening, yet under the proposed plan, even children and the infirm would not be spared detention under these bleak conditions. Instead, anyone seeking asylum would remain in detention, with limited access to legal representation, for the duration of his or her asylum proceedings. Without the protection of Australian migration law, which does not apply in off-shore locations, asylum seekers would have no opportunity to appeal asylum decisions, and even those found to be legitimate refugees would have to remain off-shore until resettlement to a third country could be arranged.

The Refugee Convention calls on parties not to penalize refugees directly fleeing persecution and seeking asylum. UNHCR officials have publicly expressed concern that the "Pacific Solution" would constitute such a penalty.

The recent decision of Australian immigration officials to grant asylum to 42 Papuan refugees after a harrowing five-day open sea voyage demonstrates that persecution is a reality in West Papua. Threats against Papuans by Indonesian military and other security officials are not hypothetical.

We call upon your government to uphold its obligations under the Refugee Convention, to recognize the plight of Papuans suffering brutalization on your doorstep, and to adopt humane refugee policies in keeping with the widely recognized principles of the Australian people.

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