Refugees & migrants

More than 3300 asylum seekers have arrived in Australia by boat since the August 13 “expert panel report” on refugees. The Australian government has made no moves to hear the asylum claims of those sent to Nauru or held in mainland detention. The decision to stop processing refugee claims from people arriving by boat was part of Labor’s government return to the “Pacific solution” under a so-called “no advantage” system. It has already created an alarming backlog and distress for many.

About 200 people rallied at Melbourne’s Maribyrnong Detention Centre on September 22, against deporting refugees to danger and mandatory detention. Dayan Anthony, a Tamil refugee, was deported to Sri Lanka in July against his will from Maribyrnong. Antony's Lawyer Sanmati Verma said: “Each and every professional and all community members in contact with Dayan Anthony attested that he was a torture survivor. And yet he was put on a plane and yet he was sent back to Sri Lanka.

Celebrated Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe whose landmark publication, "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" documented the planned removal of  700,000 Palestinians from their lands in 1948, has written a new book "The Forgotten Palestinians".

Special guests Bashana Abeywardane from Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, Karl Hand from Community Action Against Homophobia, plus Carlo Sands takes on Gina Rinehart and Clive Palmer!

About 40 activists from the Refugee Action Collective Victoria and other refugee rights groups protested outside the Melbourne offices of Thai Airways on September 14. Thai Airways were used in the July 25 deportation of a Tamil refugee back to Sri Lanka. He underwent a 16-hour interrogation on arrival, after which he told a press conference that he withdrew his past allegations of torture at the hands of the Sri Lankan regime.

Forty Tamil asylum seekers were flown to Nauru overnight on September 13, marking the beginning of Labor’s “Pacific solution” and a return to offshore processing. The group on Christmas Island were reported to have been under guard of federal police and did not resist. An earlier High Court decision on September 7 rejected the right of asylum seekers to appeal against pending deportations. The court ruling also makes possible further forced returns of refugees to danger.

Refugee advocates rallied in Sydney and Melbourne in a snap response to the first group of 40 refugees flown to Nauru to be held indefinitely on September 14. Protesters in Sydney rallied outside the department of immigration offices and heard Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Sydney branch secretary Paul McAleer pledge to “stand side by side in solidarity” with refugees.

About 20 refugee supporters gathered outside the immigration department's office in Darwin on September 12 to protest against the federal Labor government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Nauru. The protest, organised by the Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network (DASSAN), had an added urgency as immigration minister Chris Bowen announced on September 10 people would be transferred at the end of the week.

The Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network (DASSAN) released the statement below on September 11. * * * The Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network (DASSAN) has condemned Minister Chris Bowen’s announcement that asylum seekers will be moved to Nauru from the end of this week.

Fewer than 50 Hazara refugees from Afghanistan survived when a refugee boat sank en route to Australia on August 29. Amid the tragedy and horror, Australian politicians have stormed and blustered over so-called people smugglers selling refugees “a ticket to the bottom of the sea”.

Activists from the Refugee Rights Action Network WA and the WA Network for Human Rights in Tamil Eelam and Sri Lanka protested outside the Perth office of deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop on September 7. Activists protested Julie Bishop in response to her comments that Tamils who have fled Sri Lanka should be sent back there without having their refugee claims assessed.

Activists from the Refugee Rights Action Network WA and the WA Network for Human Rights in Tamil Eelam and Sri Lanka protested outside the Perth office of deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop on September 7.