Sarah Stephen
In the four months following the MV Tampa's dramatic stand-off with the Australian government in September 2001, 1830 asylum seekers were intercepted by the Australian Navy on their way to Australia and taken to Australian-funded detention centres on Nauru and PNG's Manus Island.
Of the first arrivals on Nauru — the 433 mainly Afghans who had been rescued by the Tampa — 133 families and unaccompanied minors were taken for processing in New Zealand. All received refugee status. The rest, mainly single men, remained on Nauru.
By May 2004, after nearly three years of waiting, only 22 of the original Tampa refugees remained. Their cases were reassessed by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees following a 29-day hunger strike, which started in December 2003. Ten were found to be refugees, but the New Zealand government announced it would take all 22 of them, granting temporary visas to those not assessed to be refugees.
What happened to the 1830 asylum seekers who were stopped from reaching Australia's shores?
At February 7, 2003, 318 had been granted temporary protection in Australia; 352 had been given permanent protection in New Zealand; 15 had been resettled in Sweden; 6 had been resettled in Denmark; 8 had been resettled in Canada; 492 had succumbed to pressure to return to Afghanistan, accepting the government's reintegration package; 314 had already returned to Afghanistan; and 345 remained on Nauru
Fifteen months later, the 195 Afghans among the 252 remaining asylum seekers can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The 15 Tampa arrivals are the responsibility of the UNHCR and their status is unclear. The remaining 180 are the responsibility of the Australian government.
In announcements on May 13 and May 17, immigration minister Amanda Vanstone said a total of 92 of these refugees had been accepted as refugees, after reassesment of their cases. Another 77 cases are still under review and the results are expected to be announced shortly.
The outcome of processing is a very high 88% approval rate. But even that is not good enough. All Afghans on Nauru should be allowed to resettle in Australia. They have been subjected to too much suffering.
Despite the fact that the government insists it was not influenced by the 29-day hunger strike in December and January, this drastic action by asylum seekers was successful because it refocused national media attention on the fact that there were still many hundreds of asylum seekers imprisoned out of sight on Nauru.
The Australia government and the UNHCR carried out a reassessment of all Afghan claims under the guise of a changed security situation in Afghanistan, but this served only as the "official" reason. The Australian government had previously refused to take into account information about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.
It is unclear what the government would do with those Afghans it deems ineligible for refugee status, given that the Afghan government refuses to accept forced deportations. Similarly, there are concerns that, while the government admits that it cannot return to Iraq the remaining 55 Iraqis on Nauru, it is resisting pressure to allow them to come to Australia. Will they be left to rot on Nauru indefinitely?
The UNHCR has called for them to be freed and given a temporary form of protection in Australia while it is unsafe for them to be returned home. The government should do better than that and offer them permanent protection and an apology for the three years of their lives it stole from them.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, May 26, 2004.
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