Rudd defends asylum seeker ban

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has defended a blanket freeze on the processing of Afghan
asylum seekers amid warnings of a deteriorating security situation in the war-torn
country.
As authorities on Sunday morning intercepted another asylum seeker boat on its way
to Australia, Mr Rudd stood by the decision to suspend the processing of claims for
asylum seekers from Afghanistan for six months.
The opposition has attacked the move as an "election fix".
The latest boat, carrying 25 passengers and two crew, is the 41st so-called illegal
entry vessel to be intercepted this year and the third since the suspension came
into force.
While the government has not yet confirmed the nationalities of those on board, it
is likely they are from Afghanistan or Sri Lanka.
The government has suspended processing suspected asylum seekers from Sri Lanka for
three months.
The latest intercepted group is being taken to Christmas Island where they will join
about 50 other asylum seekers already in limbo after the decision last week to
suspend the processing of claims.
Mr Rudd on Sunday defended the suspension, saying the introduction of the policy was
based on information concerning changing security circumstances in both countries.
"Our obligations are to deal with genuine asylum seekers, and those who are not
genuine asylum seekers, to send them back to their countries of origin," he said.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said fear of persecution was different to questions
of "straightforward security of a country".
"We have not and will not return people to their countries of origins if there is
fear that they will not be safe, if there is fear that they will be persecuted," he
said.
But the group representing Australian not-for-profit aid and development
organisations rejected the government's claims, saying Afghanistan remained the most
dangerous place for civilians in Asia and one of the three most dangerous places in
the world.
Marc Purcell, the executive director with the Australian Council for International
Development said conditions in Afghanistan were only set to worsen in the next six
months.
Figures from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) showed there
were an estimated 274,000 internally displaced people across the country, he said.
"Violence is growing and it is inevitable that refugee flows will increase this year
as the war escalates," Mr Purcell said.
Among the most severely affected were Afghanis in the southern provinces, including
Oruzgan, where Australian forces were based and where fighting was fiercest, he
said.
"The government's decision to suspend processing of asylum seekers from Afghanistan
flies in the face of overwhelming evidence that the situation is deteriorating
rapidly and people's lives are at grave risk."
The comments come after the UNHCR, which is reviewing its protection guidelines for
both countries, also criticised the move.
"I'm not aware of suspensions like this applying in any other part of the
industrialised world," said UNHCR's regional representative Richard Towle.
Amnesty International has expressed concerns the move will result in the arbitrary
detention of people who have genuine protection claims.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said he doubted whether a processing freeze would
reduce the flow of asylum seekers to Australia.
"It's not so much what's happening in the region, it's the fact that the government
has added to the pull factors by effectively dismantling the border protection
policies of the former government," he said.
"Certainly, the people smugglers, I think, will remain in business because they
suspect, as I do, that this is an election fix. It's not a solution."
Mr Rudd rejected suggestions the policy was in contravention of the United Nations
Refugee Convention, to which Australia is a signatory.