From the category archives:

Australia and the Pacific

INTERNATIONAL NGOS HIGHLIGHT DAMAGE CAUSED BY AUSTRALIAN SUSPENSION OF ASYLUM CLAIMS

5 May 2010

Refugee Council of Australia media release Forty-five non-government organisations (NGOs) from 16 countries have combined to condemn the Australian Government’s decision to suspend the processing of asylum claims by Sri Lankan and Afghan nationals, highlighting the damage caused to regional efforts to protect refugees. In a joint statement coordinated by Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network [...]

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Joint statement on Australian asylum processing suspension: violations of Australia’s international human rights obligations that undermine civil society efforts to strengthen refugee protections throughout the Asia Pacific region

27 April 2010

We, the undersigned, condemn the Australian government’s decision to suspend its processing of all applications for asylum from individuals from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, for three and six months respectively. The Suspension Policy is predicated on a profound misreading of the current situations in Sri Lanka and in Afghanistan. It plainly violates Australia’s human rights [...]

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Refugees nearing 150 days at sea

17 February 2010

254 Sri Lankan Tamil-speaking refugees have been trapped on a tiny boat in the port of Merak in Indonesia. It will be 150 days on march 10th. Currently No humanitarian agencies apart from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) are allowed to visit the boat. The IOM, which gets $12 million a year from the [...]

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Refugee Council of Australia: Australia cannot watch idly while asylum seekers face return to Sri Lanka

17 November 2009

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.

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