{"id":121535,"date":"2014-03-13T05:55:16","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T00:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=121535"},"modified":"2014-03-13T05:55:16","modified_gmt":"2014-03-13T00:25:16","slug":"new-report-finds-australias-stop-the-boats-policy-addled-with-human-rights-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-report-finds-australias-stop-the-boats-policy-addled-with-human-rights-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"New Report Finds Australia\u2019s Stop The Boats Policy Addled With Human Rights Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report has found that Australia\u2019s cooperation with Sri Lanka to prevent would-be-refugees from seeking protection is riddled with human rights risks and should be stopped immediately.<\/p>\n

\"Emily<\/a>

Emily Howie<\/p><\/div>\n

The report, Can\u2019t flee, can\u2019t stay: Australia\u2019s interception and return of Sri Lankan asylum seekers, which is based on interviews with government officials, information obtained through freedom of information requests and statements from the public record, reveals a deeply flawed suite of policy measures and practices, the Human Rights Law Centre said on its website.<\/p>\n

The Centre\u2019s Director of Advocacy and Research and the report\u2019s author, Emily Howie<\/span><\/a>, said Australia\u2019s efforts at \u2018stopping boats\u2019 are jeopardising the ability of Sri Lankans at risk of persecution to gain access to safety and asylum.<\/p>\n

Howie said that based on government data, 50 to 90% of the people who are intercepted by Sri Lankan authorities are likely to be asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire approach is flawed because it fails to recognise that many Sri Lankans are in genuine and urgent need of protection. Instead of providing protection, Australia blocks their pathway to safety and puts Sri Lankan asylum seekers at risk of torture and mistreatment in the hands of Sri Lankan military and police,\u201d said Howie.<\/p>\n

The report recommends that Australia conduct due diligence on Australian border protection partners to make sure that Australia is not training and working directly with individuals or units in the Sri Lankan military or police against whom there are credible allegations of serious human rights abuses, war crimes or crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of pursuing a one-eyed obsession with \u2018stopping boats\u2019, Australia should work to improve the human rights situation on the ground in Sri Lanka and address the root causes of why people leave,\u201d said Howie.<\/p>\n

The report recommends that Australia stop aiding and assisting systems of interception and return as the systems put people at risk of harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite evidence that the majority of Sri Lankans arriving by boat are genuine refugees, Australia bases its treatment of Sri Lankans on the politically expedient assumption that they\u2019re economic migrants,\u201d said Ms Howie<\/p>\n

The report is particularly critical of Australia\u2019s \u2018enhanced screening process\u2019 that is applied to Sri Lankans. Enhanced screening is a truncated assessment process in which detainees have no access to a lawyer and no independent review of the decision is available.<\/p>\n

Australia claims that no returnees have been harmed upon return to Sri Lanka. However, HRLC has obtained documents through freedom of information that show one instance where Australia received a complaint that a returnee had been \u201cseverely tortured.\u201d In that case the Australian Federal Police officer based in Colombo, despite being in the police building where the complainant was being held, declined an invitation to meet with the complainant to assess his well-being.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of monitoring is woefully inadequate considering the gravity of the complaints made. How can we accept assertions that nobody has been harmed on return when an official fails to take the most basic step to look into allegations of the most serious abuse,\u201d said Howie.<\/p>\n

In light of the findings, Howie said Australia must properly monitor the safety of the people that Australia forcibly returns by establishing a secure and confidential process within the Australian High Commission in Colombo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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