Christmas Island detention centre.
The Australian Immigration Department has come under increasing fire for its tough stance on asylum seekers.
Since the Minister for Immigration, Chris Evans, announced on Friday that the DIAC would not be processing any more asylum applications, the policy has been criticised by various organisations and the media of countries such as Sri Lanka and Afghanistan where many refugees have previously come from.
A steady stream of immigrants have been arriving in Australian waters by boat, many women and children among them. Now the immigrants face delays of up to 6 months waiting for their asylum claims to be processed. As we reported last year, some detainees on Christmas Island had already been waiting for over a year in overcrowded facilities. The overcrowding on Christmas Island has already been criticised by human rights groups and the governments tough new stance means that immigrants will simply face delays that will extended their stay on the island.
Christmas Island Detention Centre was originally built to house a maximum of 800 people, yet today it houses around 2,000. Locals are opposed to the centre as well as charities such as Oxfam who argue that it’s actually more expensive to house immigrants on the island rather than on the mainland.
The government’s answer to such criticism is to say that their policy is in line with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees own review of country circumstances and that the policy is also within guidelines set down by the refugee convention.
The government also say the need for reviewing circumstances in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan is to ensure that people with legitimate claims are processed quicker in future.
However humanitarian and refugee groups such as the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre say that it will merely deny refugees the protection they need.
The government have been criticised for being too soft on immigration and with the continuing row over population growth the government have been keen to be seen to do something before the forthcoming general election. But will it be an election winner? We’ll have to wait and see. Meanwhile let us know what you think by filling out the comments box below.
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One Response to “Australia Tough On Immigration – But Will It Work?”
Comment by Marilyn Shepherd — April 14, 2010 @ 12:32 pm
1. they are not immigrants.
2. The UNHCR never suspends applications from any country based on country conditions because it is not about country conditions but individual persecution.
3. It’s a depraved, genocidal disgrace from a pack of snivelling cowards