Kerry Smith
On August 7, the Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) released information indicating that up to nine asylum seekers and several of their children were killed upon return to Afghanistan after they were detained on Nauru by the Australian government.
A delegation visited Afghanistan and spoke to family members of former Nauru detainees Mohammed Moussa Nazaree and Yacoub Baklri, who confirmed that both men were killed by local militias upon return. ERC director Phil Glendenning said: "The families had been told on Nauru by Australian immigration officials that Afghanistan would be safe. It clearly was not. It clearly is not."
According to Glendenning, "Abdul, a block leader on Nauru, was initially accepted as a refugee on Christmas Island. He had the offer withdrawn after the arrival of the Tampa into Australian waters [in August 2001]. His father and uncle had been members of the Russian-backed Najibullah government. He told Australian officials that if he was sent back he and his family would be targeted as communist. He was not believed and as he was on Nauru he had no right to a lawyer.
"His house was bombed and his children were killed after he was returned to Afghanistan. He told officials this would happen and it did. Both his children are now dead."
Glendenning rejected claims by federal immigration minister Amanda Vanstone that the Australian government bears no responsibility for the deaths. The ERC has statements from former Nauru detainees that, "They were told they would never be allowed into Australia. They were told Afghanistan was safe. And they were told that if they did not go now, then they would likely end up being forced back in any case."
"More importantly", Glendenning said, "we now know that many of those rejected asylum seekers were genuine refugees. Many of those who stayed were later recognised as refugees and allowed into Australia. The fact that their original claims on Nauru failed demonstrates that the process for determining claims on Nauru failed. For some people, that failure was fatal."
On August 10, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre's Pamela Curr released further evidence of coercion by the immigration department (DIMA). Amir, who was detained on Nauru for three-and-a-half years, told the ASRC on August 9 that in 2002 DIMA had told a meeting of refugees on Nauru, "There is no way you can stay. Your case is closed — it will never be opened again." He said DIMA officials said, "You must go back — we will give you $2000 if you agree", and "You have one month to agree, after that you will get no money and you will be forced".
Amir said: "Every week they called me to the office and said you must go back. I was rejected three times, told each time you must go back. The fourth time, they said yes, you are refugee."
An Iraqi refugee, Amin, told a very similar story. He said that in 2002 all detainees on Nauru were called to a meeting and told by DIMA officials, "You have to go back", "You are rejected", "Your cases are closed — they will not be opened", and "We will give you $2000. If you don't accept we might have to force you to go back."
According to Amin, after the meeting conditions in the detention centre worsened considerably — detainees were given less food and denied clean drinking water. Amin believes that DIMA and the detention centre management colluded to pressure the detainees to return home.
Curr said these reports are similar to evidence the ASRC has collected from other refugees. "In an isolated environment DIMA frightened people who had known only persecution and terror from their own governments. For the minister to say that these people decided to return voluntarily is like saying that refugees threw their children overboard — both are lies."