BY TERRICA STRUDWICK
& SARAH STEPHEN
At the end of September, Abdur Wahab Najim, an Iraqi asylum seeker in Villawood detention centre, was approached by an immigration department official who offered him a passport and claimed that the government could “help him get to Syria”.
Najim’s suspicions were aroused when, after repeated probing, he was told that his visa, negotiated with the Syrian Consulate in Melbourne, would only be for three months. When Najim asked what he was supposed to do when the three months was up, the consular official replied that he had to go to another country. Najim said: “Surely what you are saying is illegal”, but was told that the arrangements had been made with the immigration department.
In a November 7 press release, a number of concerned refugee advocates said that it appears the immigration department has been urging Iraqi asylum seekers throughout Australian detention centres to take up a “voluntary repatriation agreement” to Syria. The immigration department claims that some Iraqis have already taken up the offer. There are grave concerns for the safety of refugees in Syria, and the legality of the Australian government issuing such visas.
According to Melbourne-based refugee advocate, Americo, “Non-Syrian nationals must have lived in Syria for more than 15 years for Syria to accept them back. They must have some immediate family members living there. If this does not apply to an individual, Australia cannot send him or her to Syria. The Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs has recently tried to deport an Iraqi on a false passport to Yemen. Upon arrival in Yemen, the Iraqi man was sent back to Australia, because he was not accepted. He is now in [a detention centre in] Perth.”
Referring to Najim, Sammy Ringer, a Brisbane refugee advocate, said: “My friend — for the first time — is scared for his life and feeling hopeless. He says Iranians are being removed from Baxter [detention centre], repatriated, at the moment and there has been unrest, fighting and great despair.”
Ringer told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly that Iraqi asylum seekers “are so desperate they'll probably take any offer” to get out of detention. According to Anne Simpson from Rural Australians for Refugees, Najim is still considering the offer. His family are “border hopping” in Syria and he has been in detention a long time. Simpson said: “I know that he is really concerned he has no money and said that you must have money to pay bribes to survive”. He thinks going to Syria will mean his immediate removal to Iraq and, in his case, subsequent execution.
“In the past, immigration minister Ruddock has stated that Australia's responsibility for deportees stops when they leave Australia”, said Ringer. “I believe our responsibility ... has no cut-off point... I would love to get a film crew to Syria to follow the plight of those who have agreed to be sent there — if any have.”
Many refugees deported back to their countries of origin have either disappeared or were found to have faced the very persecution or terror they fled to begin with.
On November 20, leaders of Australia's Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities launched a declaration urging the Australian government to stop the deportation of asylum seekers to countries whose leaders have not shown willingness or ability to offer effective protection. The campaign was launched in response to mounting evidence that deaths, disappearances and serious violations of human rights regularly result from deportations.
The declaration recommends that the government “grant residency on humanitarian grounds to asylum seekers who are not determined to be refugees but who are in need of protection for other humanitarian reasons”.
Australia's harsh amendments to the Migration Act in September 2001 significantly narrowed the definition of the term “refugee”. It also introduced a new and limited interpretation of what could be considered persecution, resulting in more asylum seekers being rejected.
Thus, even though these Iraqis may have had applications rejected, it is likely that they face death or torture in Iraq, given the Iraqi regime's brutal record of executing dissidents.
Syria and Iraq, as Prime Minister John Howard knows well, have a close diplomatic relationship. Iraqi dissidents also know that if they are sent to Syria, they will be immediately returned to Iraq and, ultimately, to their death.
Jack Smit from Project SafeCom Inc, a refugee advocacy group in Western Australia, says: “It's quite incredible how this government has just one agenda when it comes to asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boats: any method is good enough, as long as we can whisk them away from our shores. Never mind a future execution, never mind the promise Australia made under the terms of the UN convention to ensure safe passage and prevent any form of refugee [return].”
The “voluntary repatriation” offer follows a South Australian Federal Court decision that an Iraqi asylum seeker had been detained unlawfully after his application for asylum was rejected, because he could not be returned to his native country. Smit points out: “The fact that this sets a precedent for another 12 Iraqi nationals is very likely to be the background for this drive to deport [them].”
Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly spoke to an Iraqi refugee in Baxter detention centre, who asked to remain anonymous because his final appeal is due in December. He arrived in Australia three years ago, in 1999.
He said: “Coming to Australia [made] me lose my life”. He, too, has been offered the “voluntary repatriation” deal to return to Syria on a three-month visa. He was happy to hear this news, he said: “At last you're thinking about me after all these years”. But after considering the offer, he said, “That's not fair. Why now? How come I stay locked up for so long?” He is very concerned that if he did return to Syria, his “life is at risk and in danger”.
If the Iraqi asylum seekers do not accept the short-term visa to Syria, the immigration department may eventually use any means necessary to deport them. Failed asylum seekers unwilling to cooperate in their deportation are routinely sedated and handcuffed for flights out of Australia.
The government’s hypocrisy is breathtaking. The government is well aware of the humanitarian crisis that the war on Iraq it is backing will trigger. Ringer pointed out that “sending Iraqis back to a war zone is amazing. If we declare war, then they have a legitimate refugee status.”
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, November 27, 2002.
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