Indonesia and Australia’s Monsoon Season will put Asylum-seekers at risk of drowning

People smugglers in Indonesia are trying to arrange for their boats to leave quickly before the monsoon season begins and makes the boat journey to Australia even more dangerous.

Reports suggest that there are over 500 people waiting in Indonesia to try to get to Australia by boat without visas.  They are trying to use people smugglers who are eager for their boats to leave soon because they have only another two to three weeks before the monsoon starts.

The monsoon season in Indonesia begins in November and moves south to Australia where it usually lasts for 3 months from December to March.  Throughout the monsoon season there is much heavier rain than normal in northern Australia.  These rains and storms make the seas north of Australia very unsafe for the small wooden Indonesian fishing boats. 

A minister of the Australian Government said that he was very concerned about asylum seekers dying while trying to get to Australia by boat.  He said: “We do not want to see asylum-seekers lose their lives. We've got the monsoon season coming up. We do not want to see boats arriving and people losing their lives like they did just before Christmas last year.”

During last year’s monsoon season in December 2010 a boat carrying Iranian, Afghan and Iraqi asylum seekers crashed into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island during a monsoon.  30 people drowned and the bodies of another 18 asylum seekers were never found.

At the beginning of the monsoon season last November 2010, a month before the Christmas Island boat tragedy, another boat carrying asylum-seekers went missing between Indonesia and Australia. Relatives and friends of those asylum-seekers say that they heard their loved ones were getting on a boat but then never heard from them again. According to Australian authorities, boats usually take 2 to 4 days to reach Australian waters from Indonesia. It has almost been a year now since that boat left Indonesia on November 13.

Over the years there have been many cases of boats sinking or going missing on the way to Australia. The bad weather during monsoon season makes the sea journey even more dangerous. While the exact number of asylum-seeker deaths at sea will never be known, those attempting to count the deaths of irregular migrants at sea have estimated that only one in three bodies are ever recovered.

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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.