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Double-barrelled shot marks start for Chris Evans

Jack Smit, of Project Safecom, is a long term Webdiarist and supporter. His last piece on Webdiary was Howard's latest trick: Australia banishes all boat people .... 

Just three days after many people started contacting new immigration minister Chris Evans to raise the issue of the swathe of refugees holed up on Nauru, he declared his hand. See The Age [1] for a report on the Nauruans, who will be coming to Australia for settlement. Nice to see an end to the Pacific Solution actually announced - but it would even be better to have them here before Christmas and before all bureaucrats and administrators vanish for their holiday.

While Evans is right to send the other 'caseload', the 16 Indonesians, economic asylum seekers, back home, as he also announced, there are several issues activated around those Indonesians who either stray in our waters or fish here.

For centuries the Roti Islanders have been close to us and have sought their fish in areas as close to Australia as Ashmore Reef, but the issue has only been aggressively escalated by the Howard government, and they have done so since the establishment of Operation Relex.

Ruth Balint's Troubled Waters: Borders, Boundaries and Possession in the Timor Sea [2] is a good exploration of this issue, and is a must-read for anyone trying to grapple with it - and it should not be forgotten that Howard also escalated Australia's border dispute with the UN's set international maritime boundaries in the context of the Timor Gap. Balint talks about her book with Peter Mares here [3]. She also made a documentary about the same material which carries the same title.

It is true that some fishing syndicates have formed on Roti, but this does not take away the UN Convention of Indigenous Fishing Rights, which also intersects with this issue.

I hope the Rudd government revisits all these issues in a more peaceful way than Howard. After all, threatening Indonesian fishermen at the point of a gun - I'm talking about a machine gun mounted on the deck of an Australian Operation Relex vessel - is not helping anyone. We intimidate and subjugate the Roti Islanders, but we close our eyes for the same indigenous fishing practices off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Why?

[1] http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/pacific-solution-ends-but-tough-stance-to-remain/2007/12/07/1196813021259.html

[2] http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&book=9781741143614

[3] http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/booktalk/stories/s1422318. htm

 

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Oh goody, another ghost coming back.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22954553-12377,00.html

I wonder if he will be called to give evidence at Senate committees?   Should guarantee to have Nelson given the heave ho sooner rather than later I would suspect.

Sovereignty - which bit don't you understand?

Michael de Angelos: "Any person has a legal right to claim refugee status under the UN charter whether they fly in via Qantas and are part of a visiting sporting team or ballet troop, foreign diplomat or manage to make it here in a leaking boat."

But where does it say Australia forfeits sovereignty over its own borders under the UN refugee convention?

Craig Rowley: "Article 3 is specific about what a Contracting State, such as Australia, may not do in deciding who comes "here", isn't it?"

This is what Article 3 says, Craig:

The Contracting States shall apply the provisions of this Convention to refugees without discrimination as to race, religion or country of origin.

Where does that say Australia forfeits sovereignty over its own borders under the UN refugee convention? Let alone forfeit the right to regulate immigration or access?

Marilyn Shepherd: "Eliot, read the refugee convention and protocol  and the universal declaration of human rights at article 14. Every person has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution in other countries."

Where does that say Australia forfeits sovereignty over its own borders under the UN refugee convention?

What happened to one victim

Qadir is an Afghan man. He came to Australia as a 16 year unaccompanied child whose uncle paid smugglers to help him escape after his whole village had been razed to the ground by the Taliban and in the belief that his parents and 8 brothers and sisters had all been slaughtered.

He nearly died getting out of Afghanistan and was then flown to Indonesia where he was imprisoned by the INP who were in charge of getting people to Australia on boats. When he arrived he was locked up in Woomera and when most of the boys he was with were released in January 2002 during a suicide pact he was left behind because he was older than the others.

He was of course, the most damaged of all the boys I know but that didn't stop DIMA and the guards from the Australasian Correctional Management services tormenting him until he went almost insane, tried over and over to hang himself and ended up in Glenside after 16 months in Woomera.

In spite of medical advice he was sent back to Woomera before he was well enough and tried to kill himself again, then ended up in hospital where he again tried to hang himself. He was only 17 by then.

He finally was allowed out of Woomera after tens of thousands wrote to Ruddock pleading his case and in October 2004 became a permanent resident. We had a big party and many of the other boys turned up, they were still living in detention in Adelaide, under house arrest where they had to be driven by guards to school and had guards 24/7.

Most of them are still damaged.

Qadir was told in 2005 that Red Cross had found his mother alive in Herat begging on the streets to feed two remaining siblings and Qadir was overjoyed until he went to Herat and they didn't want to know him. Then he sank back into the deepest despair.

I saw Qadir on Sunday. He is now a citizen after 8 years of torment, his mum and siblings will arrive soon and his English is perfect.

Qadir is a Hazara, and the Hazara were slaughtered at will by all the Pashtun groups whom we now pay for and support in Afghanistan, the people who are the druglords, the murdering thugs and mafia running the country today that we pay for.

He is also a victim of the mindset that decided refugees were criminals.

And the most beautiful young man you could ever meet.

Eliot, don't ever again say a word about these "people".

This Isn't Difficult Eliot Ramsey

Any person has a legal right to claim refugee status under the UN charter whether they fly in via Qantas and are part of a visiting sporting team or ballet troop, foreign diplomat or manage to make it here in a leaking boat.

They are not "illegal immigrants" and are not required to "join a queue" or are even jumping to the head of that mythical queue. Australia has its territorial borders which it has every right to protect (although that border moved somewhat against all convention and by co-incidence took in most of the off-shore oil fields of Timor).

It's how you treat those refugees when they get here that defines you as a nation. Under Howard and the disgrace of an AG Phillip Ruddock who perpetuated the myth of "illegal immigrant" status which as a lawyer he should have been struck off for - we chose to jail refugees, admittedly started by Labor, under spurious claims they were about to swamp the nation, hiding Al Qaeda members amongst them and any other insult that could be dreamt of.

Meanwhile tiny countries like the UK and Italy fulfil their humanity obligations and absorb far more refugees into their community than can we can dream of, while their true status is being assessed.

And as you should know, the vast majority of those seeking refugee status here have been found to be genuine - unlike the vast majority of those who do become illegal regarding their residency in Australia-those who overstay visiting and work permits. But then they tend to be white or European.

Try the refugee convention

Eliot, read the refugee convention and protocol  and the universal declaration of human rights at article 14. Every person has the right to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution in other countries.

Are you absolutist sure?

Marilyn Shepherd: "The refugees only came to us for help and when we ratified the refugee convention we gave up the absolutist (sic) right to decide who comes here."

Really? Australia forfeits sovreignty over its own borders under the UN refugee convention? Could you point us to an official source, or perhaps a learned opinion, stating that?

Really!

How about this official source?  Article 3 is specific about what a Contracting State, such as Australia, may not do in deciding who comes "here", isn't it?

Let's ask the Afghans and Iraqis Ian

We invaded their nations with bombs and bullets and started killing people without permission.

The refugees only came to us for help and when we ratified the refugee convention we gave up the absolutist right to decide who comes here.

Are you sure, Ian ?

I'm not too sure where the "queue" is formed for those fleeing the chaos of Iraq or Afghanistan. Actually getting into the Aussie embassy in Iraq must be a chore in itself. An Iraqi would have to get into the Green Zone to begin with.

As for any flood of boats from Indonesia - if the AFP have stopped their meddling in the trade there, it will have dwindled.

Someone fleeing for their life who is a genuine refugee doesn't have to fill in forms anywhere in the world. That is the law according to the UN charters Australia has signed. A person has a legal right to turn up and claim refugee status and we are obligated to accept them and assess their case. That sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

Of course one of the first things upon election in '96 that Howard and Alexander Downer did - in mocking tones - was claim the UN was "out of date" and not terribly relevant anymore much to the disgust of so many hard working people everywhere who had diligently worked to get an amazing amount of co-operation within the world community to help with numerous problems like peace-keeping troops, food assistance in Africa etc. As we now know, all that changed when the UN suddenly became highly important as the decision to illegally invade Afghanistan and Iraq was made.

While the Howard government and its huggers continually claimed their tough (and illegal) stance had stemmed the flow, it was more likely the tyranny of distance that has prevent boats from arriving on our shores. There were no flood of leaking boats before Howard, nor after - just the perfect timing of one to help during an election campaign already fuelled up by Hansonism hate.

It's hoped that Chris Evans also launches an entire investigation into the Immigration Department and its catalogue of abuses.

I'm trying to remain positive but I doubt much is going to happen during Kevin Rudd's first term about the appalling abuses of the Howard era. I note already that AG Robert McClelland is giving the AFP carte blanche to continue their vindictive and petty activities by allowing some sort of control over David Hicks. We've already heard in a Sydney court from AFP officers, under oath, that as many people were to be arrested and charged as possible to test new restrictive and undemocratic laws. And probably to justify the enormous budget granted the AFP and other spooks.

The law firm McClelland headed (from which he is on leave from while in parliament) has a fine history of assisted the oppressed including doing a lot of work on the Bernie Banton asbestos case. They have helped many unions through travails and unfair attacks upon their integrity. If he is caving into the AFP so easily in his first term, a second term Rudd government is likely to allow many ills to be swept under the carpet.

It's another legacy from the second longest serving PM - the complete politicisation of every aspect of life so that advantage must be made out of any action or assault upon democracy.

Stand by For the Next Wave

It is only a matter of time before we are back again on the Tampa, Siev-X etc roundabout. A new wave of refugees, boat people, or asylum seekers will most likely test out the Rudd government's resolve to hang onto immigration controls, against the erstwhile efforts of 'refugee advocates' to have them abandoned in the latest case.

There is a queue for genuine refugees and asylum seekers, and people professing to be such should join it and not try to jump ahead of others on it. The application forms are available at all Australian embassies and consulates and all that is required of the applicants is to fill them out and post them to the supplied address in Adelaide for processing.

Cooperation of the Indonesian government should be sought before the next crisis situation arises, so that any boats embarking from Indonesia can be escorted back by the Coastguard or the Navy. Additionally, heavy penalties for crew of boats involved should be decided without delay: long prison terms in Australia for any and all, and of course destruction of boats and equipment.

The Australian Government has to have the last word on who comes to Australia, and the circumstances in which they come. All other governments do the same.

Indonesians

I have no problem helping the wives and kids of fishermen from Indonesia but I am repulsed by the men who catch the sharks, slice off the fins and throw those beautiful creatures back into the sea to die a horrible death. That is not the act of people who simply want to feed their kids; it is dreadful and inhuman so I agree with Jack, Evans is right to send them home.

I was pleased that he chose not to vilify and dehumanise them and even more pleased that the 81 refugees on Nauru will soon be coming to Australia.

However, the mess made by Howard will take years to mend, the damaged people will never recover fully and we still have separated families.

Our chore for the new parliament is to have Al Kateb repealed as this law does not belong in any nation on earth.

For those who have forgotten Al Kateb - this case started with Akram Al Masri who was a Palestinian clearly worthy of our protection but denied an appeal after the 2001 TAMPA legislation was passed. The federal court released him on habeas corpus but he was allowed to leave with dignity in the end. I went to some of his court cases and have the full details of what happened to him so I know very well he was a genuine refugee.

Al Masri won in the full court of the federal court but Ruddock couldn't stand the rule of law being upheld so he appealed to the high with two men as examples of what he wanted to do.

Abbas Al Khafaji was deemed to be an Iraqi refugee back in 2000 when he arrived but was locked up until 2003 on the erroneous basis that he should have gone back to Syria, where he had been living illegally for years and faced deportation at any given moment.

He tried 80 nations rather than stay here, even Afghanistan and East Timor, but faced permanent detention after Al Kateb was handed down. He finally received permanent residence in Australia on 2 December 2006 and gave a long description of his treatment and illness caused by detention on the 3rd.

Al Kateb is a Palestinian who spent years locked up with Akram Al Masri and was thrown into the streets when Al Masri was passed.

David Marr recently reported that after 8 years Al Kateb got his papers last month.

Al Kateb must be repealed.

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