Rioters turned out to be refugees

New data shows most asylum seekers detained during the Christmas Island and Villawood riots were later found to be refugees.

Refugees involved are not allowed to leave detention because they are waiting to find out if they have been sentenced to jail terms for their involvement in the riots. If they are found to be guilty they will not be accepted into Australia, even though they are considered genuine refugees. Asylum-seekers must pass a character test to be allowed into Australia and if they get a criminal record it means that they will not be accepted.

A report into riots that broke out during March and April last year said 80 of 100 detainees involved in the Christmas Island riots had received initial rejections, and blamed the disturbances, and self-harm, on detainees ''receiving the wrong outcome in their eyes''.

The report's author, Allan Hawke, told a parliamentary committee last week: ''The conclusion we were coming to was that these were not genuine refugees and they were reacting to the fact that they had paid a people smuggler to come to Australia … [and] they were going to vent their anger on the system''.

The government has repeatedly blamed the riots on large numbers of detainees being on ''a negative pathway'', rather than detention conditions.

The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, has questioned Dr Hawke's findings. "These statistics prove that the government's rhetoric - that people who have been in detention long-term are not refugees and are on negative pathways - is simply not true. Most, in fact, are genuine refugees who have been unnecessarily detained for far too long while the government played politics with their lives,'' she said.

A spokesman for the Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, said riot ringleaders still faced having refugee visas refused by the minister if they were sentenced.

Overall refugee approval data should not be linked to specific individuals involved in the riots, ''many of whom have been charged, remain on a negative pathway and are still subject to new tougher character requirements'', he said.

The Hawke inquiry ''made clear the incidents were largely the result of the frustrations of a group of people on a 'negative pathway' not being regarded as refugees,'' the spokesman said.

Asylum Seekers on their way to Australia in Indonesia

Indonesia has a strategic geographic location which makes it a desirable place of transit for Asylum seekers trying to reach Australia.

There are those who go straight to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Central Jakarta, and file a request to be recognized as an asylum seeker or refugee. Thousands of asylum seekers looking to be refugees are sheltering in Indonesia; the years of waiting for placement to a third country is a tortuous affair. With only their words to go by and scant paperwork to back them up, most of these people are trying to find their way out of the suffering they experienced in home countries wracked by violence and oppression.

An ethnic Arab, Amir Mazraeh 54 years old (not his real name) fled from Iran with his family to escape what he says is the oppression and discriminatory treatment by the government there.

Amir Says “We’ve been waiting for years, and it’s been stressful because we can’t do anything besides think about our families and friends that we’ve left behind,”

Amir’s story is similar to that of hundreds of others who in recent years have flooded into Indonesia from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East as they seek to make their way, legally or otherwise, to Australia.

The Indonesian immigration office says that as of December last year, there were 3,980 illegal immigrants in the country (about 4,000, according to the UNHCR), of whom 3,011 were classified as asylum seekers and 969 refugees. Less than half, or 1,284, are housed at the government’s immigration detention centers in 13 cities across the country.

As of this month, there are at least 567 immigrants living in 42 houses, apartments, villas and hotels in Cisarua, according to the Bogor Immigration Office. In June last year, that figure was just 326, with most of the immigrants coming from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan.

For those like Amir and fellow Iranian Yusuf (not his real name) and their families, who have been in Puncak since 2010, the wait has been anything but pleasant. Amir makes it clear what he wants after living in limbo here for the past year and a half: “I just can’t wait to leave.”

While some of the asylum seekers are luck to be supported by the government and are placed in communities until their status for refugee is determined. Other have to wait this long period in detention centres in Indonesia.

The conditions in Indonesian detention centres are not good, people are thrown together in small are without good health services. Recently an afghan asylum seeker was beaten to death at a detention centre in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The 28-year-old Afghan man was among a group of five which escaped from the Pontianak detention centre. The chief detective in Pontianak, Puji Prayitno, says the men were recaptured and were healthy when they were returned to the centre. One of them, however, died the the next day and Mr Puji says the cause of death was trauma caused by a blunt object. Asylum seekers say a guard beat one of the would-be escapees and killed him. The 10 suspects, from a staff of 30, were in police custody. As of yesterday afternoon, charges had not been laid.

Commission spokesman Andrej Mahecic said "UNHCR is seriously troubled by the unclear turn of events that followed,”

With the tide of asylum seekers continuing to grow, the government is establishing a special office within the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs to deal with the issues of illegal immigration and people smuggling.

The ministry hosted a high-level meeting at the end of January, attended by officials from the IOM, UNHCR, the Foreign Ministry, the Transportation Ministry, the military, the police and intelligence agencies.

The new office, which will help in monitoring, synchronizing and coordinating policy applications to prevent people smuggling and handle asylum seekers, will have its own intelligence unit.

The government has acknowledged the difficulty of the task ahead. “People smuggling and illegal migrants are complex issues,” says Maryoto, from the immigration directorate. “It’s not just about immigration. It’s also about human rights, international relations and national defense.”

Indonesia has still not ratified the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol. Indonesia also does not have a legal obligation to regulate standards on handling refugees. Thus the bad condition for refugees continues and there is no hop of any change in the future for asylum seekers.

Survivors of Indonesian Boat Tragedy Face Uncertain Future

Of the estimated 250 asylum seekers on board the boat which capsized off the Indonesian coast in December, only 47 survived. But despite surviving the tragedy, they face an uncertain future.

Most of the asylum seekers are now being held in an Indonesian detention centre and do not know what will happen to them. Those in detention say that they still haven’t been visited by UNHCR. Five have asked to be returned to their homes in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey. The rest are desperate and say that will get on another boat if they can.

The conditions in the Indonesian detention centre are bad, say the asylum seekers. “I told them I was a refugee, that I had lost my whole family,” said Dawood Waladbegi from Iran. His wife and two children died in the boat sinking. “They spat on me, beat me and told me I was in their country now and it was their rules.”

Ali Mohammad, from Afghanistan, has a black eye and two deep gashes on his legs after the detention center guards beat him for trying to escape. Survivors also said they had been hit with electrical prods after a riot when they tried to break down the detention centre's fence and threw rocks at staff.

One of the survivors who said he will return home, Esmat Adine, 24, says that he signed the forms to return to Afghanistan because he could not face being held in the detention centre in Indonesia for two years while UNHCR decided whether he was a refugee or not. Even though he fears for his life if he is sent back to Kabul, he says he will try to go to Canada instead. “If Australia doesn't accept my request I will deport myself and go directly to Kabul airport (and) to Canada,” he said.

The asylum seekers are also traumatized by violent deaths of their families and loved ones. Ten-year-old Athena Hardani from Iran was on the boat with her father, mother and sister. She is one of only three children of the twenty on board to survive. The last thing she remembers before the boat rolled over is her little sister’s face. “I learned to swim in school, but my sister Mobina didn’t,” she says. “My heart is sad because my mother and sister are not here. I know nothing about them.”

Athena was rescued soon after the boat capsized by a passing fishing boat but her father, Mohammad, spent three days clinging to the wreckage of the boat before being picked up by a ferry which happened to be in the area. “We spent three days and two nights that way,” he said. “I thought, ‘I can’t leave my little girl in this harsh world, I must live. I owe her my life.’” The 36-year-old welder from Ahvaz in Iran said that letting go of his younger daughter, eight-year-old Mobina, was the hardest thing he has ever done. “I think my wife had a heart attack from shock, but there was nothing I could do for my little girl.” Father and daughter are believed to be the only related survivors and were reunited by Indonesian authorities on Friday 23rd December 2011.

Another survivor spoke of what he had seen while waiting to be rescued. “Most of the people came out through the windows and died in front of our eyes,” said Syed, a Pakistani Hazara. “I saw their dead bodies floating on the sea. We witnessed all of this madness, death in the water for six hours.”

Jamble, a 25-year-old local fisherman, owns one of the fishing boats that rescued the first group of survivors. He says that he spotted several dark dots from his small wooden fishing vessel and decided to look closer. He and his three crew members were horrified when they saw hysterical and exhausted people clinging to anything that floated. He says the survivors immediately started swimming towards his boat. “They were all fighting, scrambling to get into my boat,” Jamble said. And although he only had room for 10 more people he managed to get 25 asylum seekers onto the boat. He says many of them injured and were begging for water to drink. Those left behind were screaming and crying. “I'm so sad ... I feel so guilty, but there were just too many of them.” “I was worried if we took any more we'd sink too,” he said.

Some people travelled to Indonesia from Australia after the tragedy to see if any of the family or friends had survived. Jeremy Jafari, an Afghan Australian, broke down at Bhayangkara Hospital in Surabaya after police showed him a photo of the body of his sister. “I'm certain it's my younger sister,” he said, crying. “I saw a physical mark on her body.” He was supported by Said Abbas Sultani, another Afghan living in Australia who had also travelled to Indonesia to search for members of his wife's family from Iran.

The Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency said they had only been able to find 101 dead bodies from the accident. “We have not found anymore bodies over the past two days, so we decided to stop our search and rescue efforts,” they said.

The Australian Government blamed the tragedy on people smugglers. “They’re in the business of making money and they don’t care if it kills people or not,” the Home Affairs Minister said.

The boat journey from Indonesia to Australia is very dangerous. In November another boat, carrying about 70 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan capsized in the same area off Indonesia and at least eight people died.

Asylum Seekers Clash in Australian Detention Centre

Fights amongst asylum seekers in Darwin have highlighted tensions in detention centres around Australia as more and more asylum seekers try to get into Australia by boat.

Several asylum seekers were taken to hospital after fights broke out on the 31st December at the Darwin Airport Lodge, a temporary detention centre for families. Approximately 60 asylum seekers were involved. More fights broke out the following day and another four people were taken to hospital. The Department of Immigration says all of the asylum seekers have now been returned to the Detention Centre.

It is not known what the fights were about but the incident is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police. The company which runs detention centres in Australia, Serco, will also undertake their own investigation. The Immigration Department said that those asylum seekers found to have been involved risked failing their character test and may not receive refugee visas.

The Refugee Action Coalition says that tensions have been rising in detention centres because of delays in the bridging visa process. “There have been all sorts of promises made about people being allowed out on bridging visas by now but it just hasn't happened.”

After the Australian Government failed to get support from Parliament for the Malaysia Plan, it said it would introduce bridging visas for asylum seekers who had arrived by boat. 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. According to the Immigration Department, the behaviour of asylum seekers in detention is also taken into account.

According to some asylum seekers, the policy of bridging visas gave many detainees hope that they would be allowed to live in the community while their claims were being assessed. However, since then only 107 asylum seekers have been let out of detention on bridging visas and the stress on those left in detention is increasing.

Statistics from the Australian Immigration Department that were published on November 30 say that over 4,400 asylum-seekers are currently in detention with 1,265 from Iran and 1,205 from Afghanistan. More than 1,540 people (35%) have been waiting in detention for more than a year to see whether they can stay in Australia or not.

Tensions are also increasing as more asylum seekers arrive by boat and are put into detention centres. 1080 asylum seekers arrived by boat in December. As of last Friday, there were 5819 boatpeople and crew in the country. There are currently only 1300 asylum seekers living in community detention.

The Immigration Department and Serco are trying to manage tensions through the introduction of a system of incentives, rewards and punishments. For example, asylum seekers deemed low-risk in Curtin Detention Centre in Western Australia are being moved to a low-security detention centre near Hobart. Asylum seekers who are “troublesome” are being flown to Christmas Island to be locked up in isolated cells not being allowed out at all or having any contact with other asylum-seekers for weeks at a time.

The main detention centre on Christmas Island is being renovated to increase the number of high-security cells from seven to over 50. Two accommodation blocks are also being converted into a fully caged compound for asylum seekers charged with offences or considered violent or likely to harm themselves.

Serco has also introduced community activities and volunteer work for asylum seekers that are well-behaved in Curtin. Low-risk detainees are now regularly taken for activities to the town of Derby, 50km from the centre. But an asylum seeker in Curtin explained that these trips did nothing to help him after 11 months in detention. “We are not children in here, you know someone you just give candy and make us quiet and happy," he said. “When you are locked up with no answers, your problems do not go away when you get taken on a bus ride or to the swimming pool.”