Tamil Justice

ABC News – People smuggling task force shares rare insight

By Indonesia correspondent Matt Brown

Since September last year, the Indonesian government has been running a task force against people smuggling.

The force is aided by millions of dollars in Australian training and funding, but little is known about its work.

Now, the ABC has gained rare access to the task force and those it has detained in Kupang, West Timor.

On the seas between Australia and Indonesia’s West Timor the net is tightening. Australian and Indonesian navies have been training and increasingly carrying out combined patrols to secure the border. Each side is keen to impress the other with a show of resolve. More

The Australian (17/04/10) – People-smuggling captain to get his vessel back

by Rory Callinan

The 98-tonne cargo ship occupied by protesting Sri Lankan asylum-seekers in Indonesia could be handed back to one of the region’s most notorious people-smugglers if the refugees vacate it under a planned move this month.

Indonesian officials have confirmed that Abraham Louhenapessy (aka Captain Bram) – who has been linked to a syndicate once blamed for sending 30 per cent of all asylum-seekers to Australia – would be entitled to reclaim the vessel Jaya Lestari if he presents ownership documents to the authorities.

The revelation came as Indonesia’s people-smuggling taskforce warned that the country could be overloaded by thousands of asylum-seekers, who were continuing to pour in from Malaysia probably en route to Australia. .

On Wednesday, Indonesian authorities in West Java picked up 30 asylum-seekers attempting to get on a boat to travel to Australia. More

SMH – Indonesia briefed, and backs freeze

ABC – Suspended asylum applications puts pressure on Indonesia

Herald Sun – Tamil refugees told to get out of Sri Lanka or suffer persecution

By Ian McPhedran, Padraic Murphy

Thousands of desperate Tamil refugees in Sri Lanka have a stark choice: stay and be persecuted or risk the long, dangerous voyage to Australia.

A senior diplomat, experienced in people smuggling matters, said Sri Lanka’s government cared about neither the refugees’ fate nor Australia’s boat people predicament.

Naval intelligence sources told the Herald Sun that Colombo encouraged Tamils to risk the dangerous voyage. More

SMH - Tamil asylum seekers battle rat plague

by Adam Gartrell

Sri Lankan asylum seekers refusing to leave a boat in Indonesia are battling a plague of rats as they mark six months aboard the vessel.

The Sri Lankans boarded the Jaya Lestari 5 cargo boat bound for Australia in early October last year.

The Indonesian Navy apprehended the boat at Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s request about ten days later.

But the ethnic Tamils – then numbering 254, including 31 children – refused to get off the boat at the Javan port of Merak because they feared they would have to wait years for resettlement. More

Green Left Weekly (23/01) – 100 days and counting

by Aaron Roden

On January 18, the 250 Tamil asylum seekers in Merak, Indonesia, had spent 100 days on their boat in appalling conditions. This is despite almost half of them being already recognised by the United Nations as refugees.

A global day of protest was held in solidarity with them, and against the Australian government’s “Indonesia solution”.

The refugees have refused to get off their boat — fearing imprisonment in Indonesia or deportation to Sri Lanka — after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last year personally requested that their boat, en route to Australia, be intercepted by Indonesian authorities.

Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC), said: “International protests have put the Rudd government on notice that the world is watching what happens to the asylum seekers at Merak. More

Green Left Weekly (23/01) – Christmas Island detainees charged

by Jay Fletcher

Eleven men detained in the Christmas Island detention centre have been charged and appeared in court on January 20 over a fight that broke out among 150 asylum seekers on November 21. They were remanded until a later date.

The conflict was sparked between Hazara refugees from Afghanistan and Tamil and Sinhalese refugees from Sri Lanka, reportedly over the use of a communal pool table.

Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Collective told ABC Online on January 20 that attention should be focused on adverse conditions inside the centre, such as overcrowding and the anxiety caused by seeing others forcibly deported.

“It just seems to me to be entirely vindictive that the Federal Police and the government are pursuing the asylum seekers for a fight that was really created by conditions inside the detention centre”, he said. More

BBC (22/01) – Sri Lankan refugees to be resettled while more wait

Watch news report here

Antara News (22/01) - Sri Lankan Immigrants Finally off to Third Countries

Excerpt: ”But this will be the last time we are helping Australia deal with its foreign refugee influx problem,” Sujatmiko said adding that Indonesia did not incur any expenditures for the deportation since all the related costs were borne by the United Nations.

“Indonesia is also not receiving any material profit from this case,” he said. Read full article here

Pearl Campaign: Please take the time to go to the link and send a pre-formatted letter to Congress requesting they get the the Indonesian asylum seekers to safety

This was sent from Alex Tamil Refugees tamilassylumseekers@gmail.com

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Subject: IMPORTANT PLS HELP BY TAKING TWO MIN

http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=pearl&hotissue=87

Please take the time to complete this form in the link provided above. It will make a difference

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Sincerly,

On behalf of the 254 Refugees in Merak,

Sanjeev “Alex” Kuhendrarajah

Antara News (19/01) - Indonesia foils 92 human smuggling attempts

The Australian government said the Indonesian authorities had successfully foiled 92 attempts of foreigners seeking asylum in Australia through the waters of that country since September 2008.

At least 40 people suspected of involvement in organizing human smuggling had been arrested, the Australian Immigration and Citizenship Ministry said Monday.

Australian Immigration and Citizenship Minister, Senator Chris Evans said his administration is coordinating with several neighboring countries under bilateral cooperation and the Bali Process forum on human smuggling, human trade and other relevant transnational crimes.

In supporting the eradication of human smuggling, Australia has also provided more than 654 million Australian dollars and raised the number of its federal police personnel, the foreign and trade ministry, DIAC, and the customs and border protection agency, he said. More