BY GILLIAN DAVY

MELBOURNE — Iraqi and Afghan refugees who now face the threat of forcible return to their “liberated” home countries addressed a forum held on April 29 at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, organised by the RMIT Refugee and Asylum Seeker Project.

Mueen al Breihi, an Iraqi refugee who helped to found the Coalition for Permanent Protection, pointed to the hypocrisy of Australia's policy of forcible return. The persecution suffered by Iraqis under Saddam Hussein's regime was one of the Australian government's ostensible reasons for participating in the US-led invasion of Iraq. Therefore, Breihi argued, without an absolute guarantee that there will be no persecution under any new regime, including one created by the United States, no one should be sent back.

Afghan refugee and RMIT student Zahra Jaghoori denounced the Howard government's policy of giving out $2000 bribes to get Afghan asylum seekers to return to their war-torn homeland. The government claims that Afghanistan is now “safe”, but as Zahra explained, there are still some 5000 Taliban fighters operating freely in the country today.

“Is $2000 enough for you to go to a place where you fear being killed at any moment”, asked Jaghoori. “We don't need dollars, we need protection."

From Green Left Weekly, May 7, 2003.
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