ID :
53872
Sun, 04/05/2009 - 09:20
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/53872
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UN wants urgent action on asylum seekers
The United Nations says the Rudd government needs to take urgent action to ensure
asylum seekers rejected by Australia aren't being sent to their deaths.
The UN Human Rights Committee says it's concerned by reports Australia has not fully
respected the principle of non-refoulement, which states asylum seekers shouldn't be
returned to a country if their lives or freedoms are threatened.
It's been suggested that up to 20 Afghans were killed by the Taliban after having
their claims for asylum rejected by Australia.
Some 400 Afghans detained on Nauru during the former Howard government's so-called
Pacific Solution were returned to Afghanistan.
"Australia should take urgent and adequate measures, including legislative measures,
to ensure that nobody is returned to a country where there are substantial grounds
to believe they are at risk of being arbitrarily deprived of their life or being
tortured or subjected to other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,"
the UN committee says in a report reviewing Australia's compliance with the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Amnesty International says the Rudd government should heed the committee's warning.
"Australia needs to put in place a statute that would protect people from the risk
of refoulement and in particular ensure there's some sort of court review,"
Amnesty's Australian spokeswoman, Robyn Seth-Purdie, told AAP.
"At the moment there's a discretion power that lies in the hands of the immigration
minister and that level of protection is not always sufficient."
Dr Seth-Purdie said Labor needed to learn from past mistakes.
If asylum seekers could appeal decisions in a court of law, Australia would have a
"much stronger regime" of protection, she said.
The Australian government is required to report on its ICCPR compliance every five
years.
The Human Rights Committee criticised Labor for not providing sufficient information
in its fifth periodic report.
"Australia does not meet the requirements of article 40 of the Covenant regarding
the provision of sufficient and adequate information on the measures adopted to give
effect to the covenant rights, as well as on the progress made in the enjoyment of
those rights," the committee said.
asylum seekers rejected by Australia aren't being sent to their deaths.
The UN Human Rights Committee says it's concerned by reports Australia has not fully
respected the principle of non-refoulement, which states asylum seekers shouldn't be
returned to a country if their lives or freedoms are threatened.
It's been suggested that up to 20 Afghans were killed by the Taliban after having
their claims for asylum rejected by Australia.
Some 400 Afghans detained on Nauru during the former Howard government's so-called
Pacific Solution were returned to Afghanistan.
"Australia should take urgent and adequate measures, including legislative measures,
to ensure that nobody is returned to a country where there are substantial grounds
to believe they are at risk of being arbitrarily deprived of their life or being
tortured or subjected to other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,"
the UN committee says in a report reviewing Australia's compliance with the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Amnesty International says the Rudd government should heed the committee's warning.
"Australia needs to put in place a statute that would protect people from the risk
of refoulement and in particular ensure there's some sort of court review,"
Amnesty's Australian spokeswoman, Robyn Seth-Purdie, told AAP.
"At the moment there's a discretion power that lies in the hands of the immigration
minister and that level of protection is not always sufficient."
Dr Seth-Purdie said Labor needed to learn from past mistakes.
If asylum seekers could appeal decisions in a court of law, Australia would have a
"much stronger regime" of protection, she said.
The Australian government is required to report on its ICCPR compliance every five
years.
The Human Rights Committee criticised Labor for not providing sufficient information
in its fifth periodic report.
"Australia does not meet the requirements of article 40 of the Covenant regarding
the provision of sufficient and adequate information on the measures adopted to give
effect to the covenant rights, as well as on the progress made in the enjoyment of
those rights," the committee said.
