By

Rukshana Rizwie

Asylum seekers – handover at sea remains shrouded in secrecy

For a government which had been very vocal in their quest for the missing Malaysian jetliner MH370, the silence over the treacherous high sea transfer of asylum seekers is deafening.

Tony Abbott, Australia’s Prime Minister has been teetering on his government’s proverbial plank of Immigration policy since of late. For a government which rose to power largely because it promised to ‘stop the boats’, the latest developments over the alleged return of the boatload of people seems nonplussing.

The widely publicized and supposed high sea transfer of over 153 Sri Lankan asylum seekers has been flatly denied by Sri Lankan authorities to-date. What gives, one ponders.

Recap

Indian authorities notably the Organization of Eelam Refugee Rehabilitation which assists Tamils in Indian refugee camps return to Sri Lanka cited that a distress call had been received last week from a cutter which claimed to have disembarked from India. Officers attached to the organization while acting on the information found dozens of men and women missing from their refugee camp and temporary homes. It is purported that 37 children are among the refugees.

The distress call had been sent out close to Christmas Islands by the passengers who had boarded the trawler under the pretext of attending a temple festival. It is reported they were running low on fuel and water when they made the call. Their situation or condition remains a mystery.

The Australian press cited other Indian authorities as confirming that a fishing trawler ferrying 153 Tamil refugees had left Pondicherry on June 13 bound for Australia.

Reports have gone to the extent to confer that the 25 meter-long vessel was being piloted by someone who had necessary expertise to navigate a direct route to Australia, bypassing other countries such as Indonesia.

An Australian reported earlier this week that a group of about 50 asylum seekers had been intercepted by Australian Navy near Cocos Islands and could be transferred to the Sri Lankan navy to be sent back.
Both vessels were reportedly picked up by the Australian navy ships HMAS Perth and HMAS Wollongong and then moved them to Customs boats namely the Ocean Protector and the Triton.

What happened to the boatload of refugees after that remains unknown while new information on their welfare remains sketchy.

Screening process

The Australian media publicized claims by the Human Rights activists that the asylum seekers who were on board both boats were asked four basic questions via a teleconference during the weekend with immigration officials in Sydney and Melbourne.

The questions included their country of origin, where they had departed from, their name and their reasons to flee. Human Rights groups have cried foul over the move saying they were appalled at the new simplistic approach to assess asylum seekers.

The Human Rights Law Centre has urged the United Nations to take action to ensure the Australian Government reveals the whereabouts of the asylum seekers.

It has also called for an explanation of what it describes as their detention or deprivation of liberty.

Tony Abbott had told Fairfax radio earlier this week that he could not confirm media reports the asylum seekers were being screened on board by phone or video link.

The Australian side

Much of the facts remain sketchy because the Australian government remains incommunicado over the government’s policy to comment on reports of on-water activities related to the Operation Sovereign Boarders.
PM Tony Abbott refused to answer questions about the possible return of the Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka, only reiterating that his government was ‘stopping the boats’.

“I’m not going to comment on the operational details of what happens on the water, but obviously we have been successful up till now,’’ he had told ABC radio.

Minister Scott Morrison, the spokesman for Immigration refused to confirm the presence of any vessel, but pilloried the reports as speculation conferring them to be unverified. He went on to add that his government would not be ‘intimidated’ to respond to the questions either.

According to a website, Christmas Island shire president Gordon Thomson had suggested that a boatload of asylum seekers were intercepted when they approached Australian territory and were to be handed over to the Sri Lankan counterpart.

The Australian Greens leader, Christine Milne, and the Labor immigration spokesman, Richard Marles, have called on the prime minister to make public details of the fate of asylum seekers. Milne cited that an overwhelming majority of Australians will be horrified by the government’s move to turn back asylum seekers.

The Sri Lankan side

Meanwhile,similar sentiments have been echoed by Sri Lankan officials. Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Australia, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe denied that Sri Lankan navy had taken the asylum seekers into custody at sea and that there were no vessels preparing any transfer in the Indian Ocean.

He also defended Sri Lanka, saying there was no reason for any Sri Lankan to leave their country other than for economic opportunities.

The Sri Lankan navy spokesman, Commander Kosala Warnakulasuirya, denied that a Sri Lankan vessel had been dispatched and said no Sri Lankan asylum seekers from Tamil Nadu were handed over to them by Australian authorities.

He even refuted reports of a transfer of any mode took place saying that he had been largely misquoted in the press.

Left in the lurch

Human Rights lawyers are scuttling to verify reports of where the asylum seekers maybe, all the while reinstating that if the Australian government was to hand over the asylum seekers it would be a blatant violation of the Refugee convention and the UN convention against torture.

Courtesy: The Nation