Here’s a good part of the reason the Afghans are coming

I saw this news item yesterday about Pakistani migrants caught in Hong Kong after sea journey from China, and it got me thinking. Pakistani asylum seekers? (The body of the news item identifies the ‘migrants’ as refugees).
I haven’t heard of Pakistani nationals who are refugees, but Pakistan has (reluctantly) hosted hundreds of thousands of Hazara [...]

Refoulement for Hazara refugees in Indonesia

The most basic right that all refugees and  asylum seekers have is that of non-refoulement – that is, not to be returned to the danger they are fleeing.
Countries that are signatories to the UN Refugee Convention are bound by international law not to do so.
Almost without exception, Afghan Hazaras who reach Australia are determined by [...]

Australians just don’t care much about the asylum seeker issue

I was at an academic conference last week, and it struck me how it seems that the default attitude is ‘doom and gloom’.
Racism? Marginalisation? The gap between rich and poor? Australian xenophobia? Yep, they are all rampant, you could think.
I am writing a PhD thesis about the success of integration of Hazara holders of Temporary [...]

Should we hire the Taliban to stop the boatpeople?

Pamela Curr of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre sent me this comment in an email today, and I think it is worth posting verbatim:
“We have the Indonesian Navy interdicting and shooting at boats on the high seas, now the Sri Lankan Navy are also doing our bidding- what’s next? Getting the Taliban to bomb the [...]

Meet a people smuggler: video from Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera seems to have got closer than any other news service to the business of people smuggling.
Crikey featured this video today that shows Afghan asylum seekers arriving in West Timor, on a boat bound for Australia, and an interview with a smuggler.
The passage from West Timor is apparently the shortest to Australia, but still [...]

Let’s stop talking about asylum seekers and do something – want to come to Indonesia with me?

James Hathaway is something of a hero of mine (yes, I know, I’m a nerd).
He is the sort of academic expert you refer to almost as you would holy writ – “if he says it it must be so”- for issues of refugee and international law.
He has been dean of Melbourne University Law School for [...]

“Indonesian Solution” is sickening, degrading: new report

 
What does the ‘Indonesian Solution’ look like?
And why do people try to escape by risking their lives on rotten boats?
Jessie Taylor has today released a comprehensive report on immigration detention facilities in Indonesia.
She visited 11 facilities in July 2009. Her report, Behind Australian Doors: Examining the Conditions of Detention of Asylum Seekers in Indonesia, is [...]

Want child abuse? Night raids? Summary justice? Just ask your Immigration official

Actions taken against people suspected of violating migration legislation are decided and applied by decision of the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
These ‘compliance’ actions are mostly taken against ‘aliens’ who have no resident status, but as we have seen in recent years, the Australian Immigration Department has also acted against Australian citizens such as [...]

‘Indonesian solution’ for asylum seekers should be ‘Pakistan solution’

Andrew Bartlett notes that we are on the cusp of changes in asylum policy in Australia and regionally. Future asylum policies in the balance
He reminds us that the ‘accommodation’ for many asylum seekers in Indonesia ranges from adequate to appalling.
“The Australian government, having gone on at length about the increasing cooperation with the Indonesian government, [...]

Asylum seekers given massive Centrelink payments drawn from the bank accounts of pensioners and disabled war veterans

Last week I wrote in outrage about the ‘news’ item about refugees and Centrelink benefits on Channel Nine, in which they claimed that three quarters of refugees are claiming Centrelink benefits.
Media Watch examined the claims last night on ABC TV, and showed that any figures that Nine could have obtained from Centrelink would related to [...]