Australia and Malaysia sign an asylum-seeker deal

Yesterday Malaysia and Australia signed a deal to swap 800 asylum-seekers that arrive to Australia illegally by boat for 4,000 genuine refugees currently waiting for resettlement in Malaysia.

From midnight last night, any asylum-seeker arriving to Australia by boat will be sent to Malaysia to have their refugee claims assessed. The agreement is part of the Australian government's push to develop a regional solution to people smuggling and to deter asylum-seekers from making the dangerous boat journey from Indonesia to Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the agreement will “smash the business model of people smugglers.”

"My message to anyone who is considering paying money to a people smuggler and risking their life at sea and perhaps the lives of their family members as well, is do not do that in the false hope that you will be able to have your claim processed in Australia,” she says.

Asylum-seekers that are transferred to Malaysia will be treated lawfully and provided with exemption under the Malaysian Immigration Act and Passports Act.

They will be initially accommodated in a transit centre in Malaysia for up to 45 days with support from UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration.

Following initial processing, the transferred asylum-seekers will move into the community, with work rights, access to education and health care. Unlike the 90,000 refugees already there.

The Australian government has said that those who are transferred will receive no better or faster treatment in the processing of their claims or arrangements for resettlement over other asylum seekers in Malaysia.

The Australian Prime Minister also confirmed that the 4,000 refugees coming to Australia would be taken from those refugees already registered in Malaysia before the agreement and would not include any of the 800 asylum seekers sent from Australia.

Australia will pay for all costs - around $300 million over four years - including transport, welfare, health and education. Australia will also assist Malaysia in returning failed asylum seekers currently held in Malaysia to their countries of origin.

The agreement has the backing of both the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Prime Minister Gillard promised transferees would be treated with dignity and respect."They will not be arrested and not be caned," she said. Malaysia has given guarantees that those transferred will be treated in accordance with human rights standards.

However the 500 asylum seekers on Christmas Island who arrived after the Government announced the swap deal but before it was signed will be processed in Australia, not offshore as initially promised. 

This deal is the first of its kind and has been criticized by some organizations. Human Rights Watch has criticized the swap deal and has publicly called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to withdraw their support of the deal because the agreement would allow Australia to delegate its obligations to Malaysia, a country that has not signed the Refugee Convention.

It is now very difficult for asylum-seekers to arrive to a foreign country using the services of a people smuggler and be accepted by that country. Foreign governments want to take asylum-seekers and refugees the legal and official way through the UNHCR system found in refugee camps around the world. Australia will no longer accept any illegal boat arrivals to their shore but they will accept more than 14,000 refugees through the UNHCR system.

Australian Border Protection and JORN Radar

The Australian Government is committed to ensuring that Australia’s law enforcement and authorities have the best capability to respond to threats to border security. Protecting Australia’s borders from the threats of terrorism, people smuggling, organized crime, including the trafficking of illicit goods and illegal foreign fishing is Australia’s top priority.

The Australian Government will invest $1.2 billion to bolster Australia’s border security with a range of measures including eight new border patrol vessels. The new Customs patrol vessels will be able to travel further than the existing craft and have the capacity to conduct operations in all parts of Australia’s waters.  The first vessel will be used in 2012-13 with the full new fleet being operational by 2015-16.

Additional funding for the management of irregular migration in Indonesia will help improve conditions and security in immigration detention centers and enable UNHCR to provide faster refugee status determinations. A network of outreach offices will be funded to help Indonesian authorities better manage irregular migration flows and people smuggling activities.

The collection of biometric data will substantially improve verification of the identity of foreign nationals seeking to enter Australia by obtaining fingerprints and facial images from visa applications in 10 overseas posts.

The measures announced in the 2010 Budget build on the $654 million border protection and anti people smuggling package in the 2009 Budget.

Australian border security has other security measures as well. The Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) is an over-the-horizon radar network that can monitor air and sea movements across 37,000 km2. It has an official range of 3,000 km. It is used in the defense of Australia and can also monitor maritime operations, wave heights and wind directions. Up to now, the network has cost approximately $1.8 billion. The 24-hour radar system helps Coast watch, Customs and Immigration in the detection and prevention of illegal entry by migrants, smuggling and unlicensed fishing as well as helping with search and rescue efforts and early storm warnings.

The Australian government is working hard to protect and secure their borders, for the safety of their people and to stop people smugglers, terrorists, trafficking and any other illegal entries. Any migrant planning to get to Australia illegally must consider the risks this technology has to their plan.

World Refugee Day

The United Nations' (UN) World Refugee Day is observed on June 20 each year. This day is an international reminder to honor the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence and cannot return to their homes without facing harm.

The terms "refugees", "migrants" and “asylum-seekers” are frequently used either interchangeably or in close association but there is a difference between them. An asylum-seeker is someone who leaves their country to go to a foreign country to seek international protection. If the asylum-seeker is successfully accepted by a foreign country that person then becomes a refugee.

Refugee status is a privilege only for those who are the most vulnerable and not for those that are able to live in their countries. For example, 13,003 Iranians applied for refugee status last year in 38 European countries and of those applicants 10,200 were rejected and returned to Iran. Many of those who were rejected were considered not to be under threat of death or persecution.

Another term sometimes heard is "economic migrant", a person who leaves their country or place of residence because they want to seek a better life. Often those who travel to foreign countries and are found to be economic migrants are sent back to their home country.

It has been sixty years since 147 governments expressed their solidarity with refugees by signing the 1951 Refugee Convention. However there are still countries that have not signed the convention. These governments are: Andorra, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Comoros, Cuba, East Timor, Eritrea, Grenada, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Burma, Nauru, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Qatar, St Lucia, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga and some others.

Countries that have not signed the convention are often seen to mistreat refugees and asylum-seekers. For example, in places such as Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Pakistan, and Singapore, there have been documented cases of mistreatment of asylum-seekers in detention centres and at times detainees suffering problems from dehydration, hunger, exposure to the elements, beatings, and what some would even call torture.

Malaysia is one of the countries that has not signed the convention and is a good example. Andrew Khoo, who is Chair of the Malaysian Human Rights Committee describes conditions inside Malaysian detention as, “Nothing short of hell”. He describes the facilities as overcrowded, leaving detainees with poor sanitation and a lack of access to basic health care. Caning is another big issue in Malaysia, Amnesty International claims at least 10,000 prisoners and 6,000 refugees are caned there each year.

At the same time, foreign governments that have signed the convention are making life more difficult for asylum-seekers and refugees. This is because too many economic migrants are arriving illegally to foreign countries and lying to the authorities that they are asylum-seekers when really they just want a job and a better life. When there are too many economic migrants arriving illegally, foreign governments often make it harder for everyone to get a visa, including refugees and asylum-seekers.

Economic migrants must apply legally for a different visa and not a refugee visa if they want to be successfully accepted by a foreign country. Asylum-seekers should also not go illegally to a foreign country if they want to become a refugee. Asylum-seekers can apply legally to become a refugee in a foreign country through a UNHCR office in the region.