Australian Politicians Want Tougher Measures for Asylum Seekers Without Passports

As more asylum seekers try to reach Australia by boat, there is increasing debate in Australia about ensuring that only genuine refugees are granted protection visas and allowed to stay.

Recent government statistics showed that, between July 2010 and October 2011 3,237 asylum seekers admitted that they had flown to Indonesia using their passports but only 37 of them had their passports by the time they reached Australia.

The Australian Liberal Party (currently in opposition) says that because the rates are so high, the laws should be made tougher. They want people arriving by boat to be penalized if they have destroyed their identity documents and for it to be harder for them to claim refugee status.

“Our starting point is to say if they've destroyed their documents, then we think there should be a presumption that it's going to be more difficult for them to achieve refugee status,” a Liberal Party politician said. “What we are saying is that people who are genuine refugees ... should be coming with their identity documents because that gives them maximum opportunity to demonstrate their bona fides.”

At the same time the current Australian Government is working with Indonesia to break the people smugglers business model and reduce the number of asylum seekers trying to get to Australia by boat from Indonesia. People smugglers often provide their clients with false passports and visas to get into Indonesia. Asylum seekers then leave Indonesia by boat to try to reach Australia. The two governments will now be working together to make it harder for people to use false passports and false visas to get into Indonesia.

Refugees Stuck in Australia Detention are Waiting for Security Clearances

There are more than 50 refugees in detention centres around Australia facing indefinite detention. The asylum seekers have been accepted as refugees but are still waiting for security clearances from the Australian security agency, ASIO.  Until they pass this security check, even recognized refugees are kept in immigration detention. If they fail this security check, they can be kept in detention forever.

Harun is one of these refugees. He has been in detention for more than two years after being told by ASIO that he was a “threat” to Australian security and could not be released from detention.

Harun fled Burma and lived in Malaysia for more than 15 years before he took a boat to Australia to try to get protection for his family. The Australian Department of Immigration recognised Harun as a refugee in April 2010 only a few months after he arrived in Australia. Like all asylum seekers who arrive by boat, the Immigration Department then referred Harun’s case to ASIO for a security assessment. In November 2010, ASIO returned negative assessment of Harun. As a result, the Immigration Department denied him a permanent protection visa. Without a protection visa Harun cannot be released from detention. But as a refugee the Australian government cannot send him back to Burma. Resettlement in a different country is also very difficult since ASIO has said he is a threat.

17-year-old Ali Abbas is another case. Abbas, a Kuwaiti, has been detained for more than a year and has attempted suicide a number of times. He was granted refugee status in April 2011 but is still in detention. The Darwin Asylum Seekers Advocacy and Support Network said Abbas tried to hang himself after hearing that ASIO had failed his security assessment. According to the Network, he had “scratched ‘freedom’ into his arm with a razor”.

ASIO does not have to give any information about its decisions or the security assessment process. Neither Harun nor Abbas have been told what information or sources were used in their assessments. And ASIO does not need to provide any proof to support its decision. Harun and Abbas were not allowed to give any evidence in their defence. Harun said he tried to submit a letter of recommendation from a lawyer he worked for in Malaysia, “but [ASIO] refused it.” As non-citizens refugees cannot challenge or appeal ASIO’s decision. Harun has considered taking his case to court to seek a judicial review. But this is another long process for refugees who can rely on only legal aid or pro bono support. He said it would take six to nine months just to have his application to go to court accepted.

The Refugee Action Collective (Victoria) is concerned about the growing number of refugees who remain in detention even after they receive their refugee status because they are waiting for security checks from ASIO. Daniella Olea, a high school teacher and Refugee Action Collective member said refugees were beginning to act out of “pure desperation”. They said the “so called security checks are taking too long. A lot of refugees have been granted refugee status and then are left to go mad in these concentration camps for months and months.”

Harun says that he does not want to stay in Australia any more. He is using sleeping pills and anti-depressants to help him with his loss of hope and feelings of isolation. He says that he feels “locked up, demonised and ignored” and wants to go back to Malaysia.

Iranian Asylum Seekers Could Face Indefinite Detention in Australia

The number of asylum seekers from Iran trying to reach Australia by boat has increased dramatically in recent months, leading to fears that thousands of Iranians could be denied refugee status but unable to return to Iran.

In 2009-10 Iranians were just 6% of the asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat. By 2010-11 they made up 36%. Recent figures show that asylum seekers from Iran now make up almost 50% of the people arriving by boat in Australia. 1,549 Iranians arrived in 2010-11.

Despite the increase in numbers, Immigration Department figures show that most of the Iranian asylum seekers were found not to be refugees in their first application. Between July and September 2011, 754 out of 1366 asylum seekers from Iran had their refugee applications rejected. And more than 25% of Iranian asylum seekers could not get these initial rejections overturned.

Normally, people who are not accepted as refugees are sent back to their home country, even if they don’t want to. But in the case of Iranian asylum seekers, they can’t be returned to Iran because the Iranian Government will not accept them. The Australian Government has said that “the involuntary return of failed asylum-seekers can only occur with the agreement of the host country.” But there is no agreement between the Iranian and Australian governments. “Despite numerous attempts by Australia, the Iranian government has made it clear that it will not accept the involuntary return of failed asylum-seekers.”

Without an agreement with the Iranian Government, failed Iranian asylum seekers could be kept in detention centres forever. The Australian Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says that the Australian Government knows the issue is a “considerable challenge” and that a “range of case resolution options” are being considered for failed refugees.

There have been agreements between Australia and Iran in the past. In 2003 a deal was negotiated by Australia to return failed refugees back to Iran by force. In exchange, Australia offered working holiday visas for young Iranians. The Refugee Council of Australia says that the Australian Government needs to look at a range of options with Iran because there are many Iranians who have been in detention for more than two years. Without a new agreement or another response, the Refugee Council is concerned that people will become stuck in detention forever. “People have to be returned in certain circumstances to their country of origin. If they can't be, the options are indefinite detention.”

Boat Arrivals, Australia and Human Rights

Australia’s policy of imprisoning all asylum seekers who travel to Australia by boat has been strongly criticized by human rights supporters. During a visit to Australia in May 2011 the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged the Australian Government to end the mandatory detention policy. Amnesty International has repeatedly condemned the policy, saying Australia needs to do more to protect the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. Despite this, it is unlikely that the policy of mandatory detention will be changed.

Partly responding to the criticism of human rights campaigners, the Australian Government announced that asylum seekers arriving by boat could be granted Bridging Visas in November 2011. The Bridging Visas would allow asylum seekers to live in the community while their applications for refugee status were decided. According to the Immigration Department, however, bridging visas are granted on a case by case basis and priority is given to the most vulnerable and those who have been in detention for a long time. The behavior of asylum seekers in detention is also taken into account. Since November only 107 asylum seekers have been let out of detention on bridging visas and 4,409 people remain locked up.

The possibility of Bridging Visas for asylum seekers arriving by boat is a step towards a more gentle response to boat arrivals but it does not mean the end of compulsory detention. Historically, Australia’s policies towards boat arrivals have got harsher when the number of people arriving by boat increases. Mandatory detention laws were introduced in Australia in 1992 by the then Labor government in response to the increasing numbers of asylum seekers from Vietnam, China, and Cambodia trying to reach Australia by boat. The law said that Australian Courts were not allowed to review the decision to detain asylum seekers but said that they could not be detained for longer than 273 (approximately nine months). In 1994 the same government changed the law again, making it even harsher by ruling that mandatory detention could last indefinitely for anyone who came to Australia by boat without a valid visa.

In 2001, in response to the increasing numbers of asylum seekers arriving by boat, the then Liberal Government (led by John Howard) introduced the Pacific Solution. Before 2001, the highest number of asylum seekers boats to arrive in Australia was 19, carrying a total of 660 asylum seekers. In 2001, 43 boats arrived carrying 5,516 asylum seekers. Responding to this increase, the Australian government declared that the Australian islands between Indonesia and the Australian mainland were no longer part of Australia’s migration zone and all asylum seekers arriving by boat would be taken to a detention centre on the tiny island of Nauru. Many of the asylum seekers in Nauru were detained for years. The number of boats arriving dropped dramatically.

In 2008, the newly elected Labor government (this time led by Kevin Rudd) announced that it was ending the Pacific Solution but that some aspects of the detention system would stay the same. Asylum seekers arriving by boat would still have their refugee status determined offshore (on Christmas Island) but they would be let out of detention faster. In October 2010, the new Labor Prime Minister, Julia Gillard said that more changes would be made to the policy so that children and families could stay in community-based accommodation instead of the detention centre. However, since 2008, the number of boats arriving has steadily increased. In 2010 134 boats carried 6,879 asylum seekers to Australia.

Because the numbers of asylum seekers have increased so dramatically, it is likely that mandatory detention will continue to be used as a deterrent. Both of the major political parties in Australia remain convinced of the need for offshore processing and are just debating about where it will take place. The detention center in Nauru is one of the options being discussed. Amnesty International has said that the prospect of reopening Nauru is “horrifying” because “asylum seekers were locked up for years, away from lawyers, media, human rights advocates and community support. They were often not given proper information about what was happening and what rights they had.” Amnesty believes that there is a declining respect for the human rights of asylum seekers in Australia.

A Year Since 50 Asylum-seekers died in the Christmas Island Boat Tragedy

A year has passed since a boat carrying asylum seekers crashed into the jagged cliffs off the coast of Christmas Island. The boat, known as SIEV 221, crashed into the sharp rocks early in the morning of December 15. 42 people survived but 50 drowned in the tragedy.

Among the survivors is Sayed Hossien Hossieni. His wife, son and wife’s cousin were among the 50 who drowned.

A year later, Hossien’s application for refugee status was approved and he was granted a permanent protection visa but he remains haunted by the deaths of his wife and son.

“The things I saw during the crash, the memories of my wife, my kid . . . I can't get those out of my mind,” he said.

“I am living my own nightmare.”

He has not been able to find a job and lives alone in a flat with nothing but some photocopied black and white photos of his wife and child.

In November he tried to end his life and is back in hospital again, still struggling to deal with his loss.

His wife was one of the 20 people whose bodies were never found. This is particularly hard for Hossien. “I still feel my wife's body -- because it wasn't recovered, I feel she is still there. When I go out to visit people, I can't stay long -- I feel I have to get back home, because Mariem will be waiting for me.”

The boat carrying Hossien and his family was spotted by Christmas Island locals just after dawn on December 15 struggling in the high seas. The Island’s port had been closed for days and the monsoon weather was the worst seen in many years. The boat was headed straight towards the Island. Had it then turned east it would have reached safe waters. Instead, it turned west and was soon dangerously close to the cliffs.

SIEV 221 was an Indonesian fishing boat about 15 metres long.  Before leaving Jakarta, the asylum seekers from Iran and Iraq were told that the boat was comfortable, safe and properly equipped. This was a lie. The only safety equipment on board was 20 to 30 life jackets and the crew were fishermen who had never made the journey before. There were 92 people on board. Another boat had collected the captain as soon as they had entered Australian waters, leaving the asylum seekers and inexperienced crew to make the most dangerous part of the journey on their own.

Christmas Island locals watched horrified as the boat was pushed towards the cliffs by the rough seas. They collected life jackets and waited for the rescue boats to arrive. The hospital was on standby. The boat crashed into the cliffs three times before it broke apart. People and wreckage were thrown into the swirling water.

Hossien remembers the chaos. “Before we hit the cliffs, I emptied a petrol drum and offered it to my wife to hang on to, but she said, ‘You look after the kid’.”

But it was too late. “On hitting the rocks, the planks cracked and slammed into people. About 40 to 70 people just tumbled into each other. As I was trying to reach my wife's hand, with all the people around we got separated,” he says.

Hossien made it to open sea and to the cliffs where he tried to hang on to a rope thrown by locals. When he realised the waves would crush him against the rocks he let go and swam back from the cliffs. He managed to find a life jacket thrown into the water by the locals and went to try to find his wife and child.

When the rescue boats finally arrived they could not get close to the wreckage in case they crushed people in the rough waves or crashed themselves. Instead they got creative, attaching life jackets and life rings to ropes to get to survivors. 41 people were pulled from the water and one man survived by jumping onto the cliffs. Only 30 bodies were eventually recovered.

The survivors were taken to the Christmas Island Detention Centre where they were kept until their refugee applications were determined. A group of survivors, including Hossien, were briefly released from detention to attend funerals for some of those who had died. Nine bodies were returned to their families in Iran and Iraq for burials there.

Hossien’s friends and relatives back in Iran ask him whether they should use people smugglers to try to get to Australia. “Please do not take such a risk, it is not worth it,” he says.