Radio Australia – Australia under fire over asylum seeker clampdown

The Australian government has drawn a barrage of criticism for its decision to stop processing new immigration claims from Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers. Analysts believe Canberra has recognised that its political opponents are making ground with the electorate, as a steady stream of asylum seekers continue to arrive by boat. Now Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government has taken action putting a stop on new claims for the time being, citing signs of improved conditions in both Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. But refugee and human rights advocates – including the government’s own Human Rights Commission – have been united in their opposition.

Speakers: Chris Evans, Australian Immigration Minister; Stephen Smith, Australian Foreign Minister; Rick Towle, UNHCR regional representative; David Manne, co-ordinator, Refugee and Immigration Resource Centre.

Changes to Australia’s Immigration Processing System

Joint Media Release with Stephen Smith MP – Minister for Foreign Affairs and Brendan O’Connor MP – Minister for Home Affairs

Effective immediately, the Australian Government has today introduced a suspension of the processing of new asylum applications from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

This suspension has been made as a result of the evolving circumstances in these two countries.

The combined effect of this suspension and the changing circumstances in these two countries will mean that it is likely that, in the future, more asylum claims from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will be refused.

The situations in both Sri Lanka and Afghanistan are evolving.

Sri Lanka is a country in transition after two decades of conflict, with hopes for further improvement and stabilisation in conditions.

The situation in Afghanistan is also evolving, including with respect to Afghan Hazaras. The Taliban’s fall, durable security in parts of the country, and constitutional and legal reform to protect minorities’ rights have improved the circumstances of Afghanistan’s minorities, including Afghan Hazaras. More

Amnesty International – Don’t use asylum seekers as political footballers

The Australian Government has announced a blanket suspension on the processing of new asylum claims by Afghan and Sri Lankan nationals.

This as an appalling act of political point scoring and fundamentally inconsistent with our obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.

The situation for many groups in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan continues to be tenuous if not downright dangerous. Activists, journalists, women and unaccompanied minors among others still face significant risks. More

Click here and tell Stephen Smith he’s wrong – NOW!

AAP – CHOGM to address Sri Lanka refugee issue

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith will sound out his Commonwealth counterparts on ways to help stem the flow of refugees from Sri Lanka.

Mr Smith is travelling to Trinidad and Tobago for a meeting of foreign ministers beginning on Tuesday that will prepare the ground for this week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Port of Spain.

Along with climate change and the global economy, the refugee issue is on CHOGM’s agenda on the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth.

Mr Smith earlier this month signed a memorandum of understanding with fellow Commonwealth member Sri Lanka as part of efforts to clamp down on people smuggling from the troubled island nation. More

Stephen Smith’s answer to a Question in yesterday’s Question Time in Federal Parliament

Mr CHEESEMAN (2.45 pm)—My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Would the minister update the House on his recent visit to Sri Lanka?

Mr STEPHEN SMITH—I thank the member for his question. Last week on Monday I visited Sri Lanka, Colombo, together with the government’s special representative to Sri Lanka, John McCarthy, the Ambassador for People Smuggling, Peter Woolcott, and also the acting Director-General of AusAID, Peter Baxter.

There I met with President Rajapaksa, my counterpart Foreign Minister Bogollagama and also the Sri Lankan Minister for Law and Justice and the Minister for Human Rights and Disaster Management. As members of the House would appreciate, Sri Lanka has been through a terrible conflict, a civil war lasting over 25 years where thousands of people were casualties and thousands of people were displaced. We have only recently seen the end of that conflict. The challenge for Sri Lanka, with the assistance of the international community, is now to win the peace.

There were three areas of discussion that I had with the president and his ministers: firstly, cooperation on people-smuggling; secondly, how Australia could assist on the resettlement of displaced people and also reconstruction of considerably damaged territory, particularly in the north and in the east; and, finally, a reconciliation or a healing process so that all people in Sri Lanka would feel as though they had a role in Sri Lanka’s future. So far as people-smuggling cooperation is concerned, Australia already cooperates well with Sri Lanka on people-smuggling matters but a memorandum of understanding was signed between Australia and Sri Lanka, by the special representative on Australia’s side and a senior Sri Lankan official on Sri Lanka’s side, to enhance our cooperation, particularly in legal areas, particularly with building capacity so far as prosecutions and disruptions are concerned.

Secondly, we also agreed that it was important, given that we are dealing with very difficult and complex issues so far as source and transit and destination countries are concerned, that both Australia and Sri Lanka continue to work very hard within the Bali process, the regional institution for dealing with peoplesmuggling and human-trafficking matters. In Australia in the middle of December, officials, under the guise of the Bali process, will consider some of the difficult people-smuggling matters associated with Sri Lanka.

Dealing with that matter, there was a memorandum of understanding, as I have said, but Foreign Minister Bogollagama and I released a joint statement which dealt not just with those matters but also with questions of resettlement and also questions of reconciliation.

So far as displaced people are concerned, members would be aware that thousands of people were displaced and earlier in the year we had anywhere up to a quarter of a million Sri Lankans in displaced people’s camps. Initially Australia, together with the international community, was very, very concerned about lack of international agency access to those camps. Over time that access has improved. Indeed, special representative McCarthy last week visited one of the displaced people’s camps. We have welcomed very much the fact that in recent weeks, in the last month or so, a substantial number of people have been resettled from those camps, but there is still a substantial job to be done. In the past Australia has rendered assistance to this. Some $35 million worth of humanitarian and development assistance has been given by Australia to Sri Lanka over the last two years or so and in very recent times $10 million to improve conditions in the camps but, more importantly, to resettle. I announced when I was there a further contribution by Australia of $11 million: $6 million to assist in de-mining to ensure that the areas where people are resettled to are free from the terrible blight of landmines; also $3 million to help through the United Nations with housing to resettle these people from displaced camps into accommodation; and, thirdly, $2 million worth of food through the World Food Program.

I very much made the point to the President and his ministers that, in ensuring this resettlement occurs, freedom of movement so far as those displaced people are concerned is absolutely essential. I also made the point that Australia was looking favourably to assisting both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank on its reconstruction projects in the north and in the east, and in Singapore in the margins of APEC I had a conversation with Mr Zoellick, the executive director of the World Bank, indicating Australia’s in-principle support for those reconstruction efforts so far as the World Bank is concerned.

Finally, it is absolutely essential—and here Sri Lanka needs both the urgings and the assistance of Australia and the international community—that, having won the war, the Sri Lankan government now needs to win the peace. That can only be done through a process of reconciliation, through a process of political rapprochement, through a process of healing. It is very important that the Sri Lankan government continues to move on this front, continues to look seriously at questions of devolution, continues to ensure that all Sri Lankans have a view that they have a share in the country’s future. I made the point that Australia has made publicly in the past, that at the end of the conflict there are very many allegations of atrocities and breaches of human rights. We expect that these atrocities will be independently and credibly investigated.

We welcome the fact that Sri Lanka has responded to the report of the United States Department of State by establishing a commission of inquiry. We will watch that very closely and we hope that that will be a credible and independent investigation of these allegations made on both sides of the conflict.

Lastly, the special representative, Mr McCarthy, will submit a full report to me of his visit. We are proposing to share this report with our friends and partners in the region, with our like-minded friends. It is very important that Australia not only holds Sri Lanka to account on these key issues but renders as much assistance as we can to help Sri Lanka win the peace.

9 November 2009 Joint Ministerial Statement

We, the Foreign Ministers of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Commonwealth of Australia, reaffirm our continuing commitment to work together to combat people smuggling, the financing of terrorism and related organised criminal activities.

People smuggling remains a high priority transnational issue for source, transit and destination countries in our region. It presents a threat to the integrity of border security processes and procedures and undermines the ability of States to manage migration in a regular and orderly manner including in situations of humanitarian need. We note that people smugglers and people smuggling syndicates work without regard for human safety or national legal frameworks.

We acknowledge our ongoing constructive bilateral cooperation between key domestic operational agencies and underline our commitment to work together in practical ways to address people smuggling issues in a cooperative and comprehensive manner.

Sri Lanka and Australia commit jointly to:

• enhance cooperation against the criminal organisers of the people smuggling trade, including through increased operational assistance, information sharing and identifying measures to prosecute people smuggling organisers successfully
• take a leading role to promote cooperation among regional countries to act against transnational people smuggling networks, including under the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crimes, recognising that this is a shared problem for all Governments in the region
• undertake a public information campaign to alert Sri Lankan citizens to the dangers of maritime people smuggling.

Australia welcomes the end of the conflict situation that prevailed for over two and half decades in some parts of Sri Lanka. Our two countries will actively work for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces, to facilitate the return of displaced civilians to their homes in conditions of dignity, peace and freedom. Australia therefore pledges to strongly support the resettlement and reconstruction programs being led by the Sri Lankan Government. Sri Lanka remains committed to the early resettlement of displaced civilians, while building on recent returns, and to the continued strengthening of the current post-conflict process of reconciliation.

Attached is a transcript of a press conference given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith

091108 Transcript – Smith – Press Conference – Sri Lanka, People Smuggling.pdf

Reuters – Australia urges Sri Lanka reforms, reconciliation

Australia on Sunday urged Sri Lanka, having defeated the Tamil Tigers in May, to now embrace political reform and reconciliation to stem the flow of asylum seekers leaving the country.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith will meet his Sri Lankan counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama in Colombo on Monday amid a standoff in Indonesia involving 78 Tamil asylum seekers, who are refusing to leave an Australian vessel that rescued them last month. More

Western Australian Today – Greens challenge Smith on Tamil camps

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith should push the Sri Lankan government to allow aid agencies access to Tamil camps, the Australian Greens say.

Mr Smith is heading to Colombo for talks that aim to stem an exodus of Tamils from Sri Lanka.

The visit comes as a group of 78 Sri Lankans refuse to leave the Australian Customs vessel Oceanic Viking moored in Indonesian waters.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young is concerned international aid organisations are not able access Tamil camps.

“The first basic step we should be doing is working with the Sri Lankan government to say look guys, we’re going to have to let some organisations in here to help deal with this,” she told ABC Television on Monday. More

Diplomatic challenges for Australia over Sri lanka, Indonesia

Canberra has offered both incentives and cautions to Sri Lanka over its treatment of displaced civilians living in camps after the end of fighting with the Tamil Tigers.

On another front, Australia’s Prime Minister has made several phone calls to key world figures ahead of next week’s G-20 leaders meeting in the United States. One of those was Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and one item on the agenda was Australia’s war crimes investigation into the deaths of five Australian journalists at Balibo in East Timor in 1975.

Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Linda Mottram, Radio Australia Canberra correspondent

Click here to listen from source. [Forward to 02:36]
Click here to download audio report. [Forward to 02:36]

Channel 10 : Meet the Press

PAUL BONGIORNO: Minister, just briefly before we go – Sri Lanka is about to throw out James Elder, an Australian who works for the United Nations. They don’t like the fact that Mr Elder has concerns over the treatment of Tamil children in camps. Has Australia protested about this?

STEPHEN SMITH: Well, we have spoken – our officials have spoken to Mr Elder, because he’s an Australian citizen. He doesn’t require our assistance at the moment. We’ve also spoken at official levels to UN officials and they don’t require our intervention. The UN is, in a sense, primarily responsible for those visa issues. I’ve had a look at Mr Elder’s reported remarks and I don’t see any difficulty with those. He’s been making the point, as has the Australian Government, that we need to see access by the international agencies – whether it is UNICEF or other international agencies, the Red Cross – to the displaced people’s camps and indeed we need to see the Sri Lankan Government now resettling the nearly 250,000 people in those camps and to assist with that. I’m today announcing a further $2 million contribution by Australia to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organisation for Migration to help resettle those very large number of people in those camps, but access by the international organisations is very important and that’s the point that Mr Elder has been making on behalf of UNICEF.

I wish to update the House on the situation in Sri Lanka, in particular the situation confronting internally displaced people, the need for their resettlement, and the need for political reconciliation.

Australia recognises and acknowledges the profound sufferings of the past in Sri Lanka, including the many civilian casualties caused by decades of war.

In the face of the long-standing, terrible costs of war, it is often hard to look to the future.

While acknowledging past suffering, today I outline how Australia will continue to assist the Sri Lankan people in the rebuilding of their country.

As members might recall, I presented an earlier Ministerial Statement to the House on Sri Lanka on 12 May.

At that time, I said that a military victory by the Sri Lankan Government was imminent, irrevocably changing the situation on the ground after decades of conflict.

That military victory came to pass on 18 May, some four months ago.

Australia welcomed the end of this decades-long conflict.  It cost tens of thousands lives, uprooted hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans, and left an economic divide between north and south, east and west.

No Sri Lankan has been untouched by the conflict.

Australia has consistently stated that the solution to the conflict was never going to be by military means alone.

The time is here for the Sri Lankan Government to win the peace and to forge an enduring political settlement for all Sri Lankans.

This will require political reform and rapprochement between all parties and communities.

Sri Lanka faces the tremendous task of resettling hundreds of thousands of displaced citizens.  This process has started, but since the fighting stopped four months ago at least 250,000 people remain in camps for internally displaced people.

Civilians in northern Sri Lanka have lived under difficult conditions for many years and suffered greatly, especially in the last months of the conflict.

It is now vital to move quickly, more quickly than has been the case to this point, to create the conditions for them to rebuild their lives.

Australia and the international community continue to watch closely to see how the Sri Lankan authorities treat people in camps for internally displaced people; how they manage their resettlement; and how they institute political reform and reconciliation.

Success in these areas is vital to the Sri Lankan Government creating a peaceful, stable and prosperous future for Sri Lanka and all of its people.

I have spoken directly to Sri Lanka’s President and, on a number of occasions, to Foreign Minister, Rohitha Bogollagama, about these matters.

Australian officials at the Australian High Commission in Colombo also continue to make the same points.

I have also outlined Australia’s views on Sri Lanka in discussions with the United Nations and with my Foreign Ministerial counterparts, including those representing the Tokyo Co-Chairs, the United States, the European Union, Norway and Japan.

Australia has consistently stated both during the conflict and since that the welfare and protection of civilians must be the absolute priority.

Australia will continue to respond to the humanitarian challenges facing Sri Lanka through our aid program, especially the needs of internally displaced people and their resettlement.

Last financial year, 2008-09, Australia devoted $24.5 million to meet humanitarian needs in Sri Lanka.

Australian aid was delivered through international humanitarian organisations, such as the World Food Program, UNICEF, the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as Australian non government organisations working on the ground in Sri Lanka.

Through this assistance Australia has provided:

shelter, water, sanitation, health and nutrition for internally displaced people security and coordination for relief efforts social and educational services for children adversely affected by conflict, and trauma support, particulary for mothers and children.

This financial year, 2009-10, Australia will provide more than $35 million in development assistance to Sri Lanka.

Supporting resettlement is a major focus for the coming months.

Yesterday I said publicly that recently I had approved $2 million to support the resettlement of displaced people in Sri Lanka.

Today I announce a further $3 million for this vital work.

This assistance will be delivered through international organisations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration.

This funding will include assistance for continuing the process of documenting internally displaced people to facilitate their return, their assistance with essential items, including food and water for travel and reintegration, and assistance to families hosting displaced people.

Australia welcomes the Sri Lankan Government’s commitment to resettling over 80 per cent of civilians from camps for internally displaced people by the end of this year, 2009, and looks forward to the resettlement of all civilians as soon as possible.

Freedom of movement for the civilians in the north is essential.

The start of the monsoon season this month has increased the urgency for voluntary resettlement and other solutions that provide freedom of movement.

Australia’s call applies especially to children, the sick and the elderly, but it extends to all those citizens of Sri Lanka currently in the camps for internally displaced people.

Australian officials visited the camps in Sri Lanka late last month with the aim of identifying priority needs for Australian aid.

Our next steps will focus on support for release and resettlement of these internally displaced people.

As well, a prerequisite for the revival of northern Sri Lanka is the demining of former conflict areas.

It is the case that the demining challenge will affect the resettlement of displaced people from the camps.

That is why in June, Australia provided over $1 million to non-government organisations for demining and why we responded in August to a further request by the Government of Sri Lanka to provide a further $1 million through the International Organisation for Migration for demining efforts.

The voluntary resettlement process requires full access by international humanitarian agencies to areas of return and to information to ensure effective coordination.

Australia has consistently called upon the Sri Lankan Government to ensure that such access is afforded and such information provided.

It is important that the Sri Lankan Government, UN agencies and other non government organisations work together in a constructive partnership to address these challenges.

Mr Deputy Speaker, members will have seen reports about an Australian UNICEF official Mr James Elder.  I have looked at Mr Elder’s reported remarks and they do not cause me any difficulty.  Indeed he has been making the point, as has the Australian Government, that we need to see unimpeded access by international agencies to the camps for internally displaced people.

I take this opportunity to commend the work of UNICEF, with which Australia works closely and which does vitally important work in Sri Lanka and around the world.

Australian resettlement assistance is not only focussed in northeast Sri Lanka.

In northwest Sri Lanka, where the conflict ended in 2008, Australia has helped to resettle internally displaced people by funding the construction of housing and providing support for basic services and the revival of income generating activities.

Our aid in the coming year to Sri Lanka will also support development across the country.

We will deliver aid to help communities to recover from the adverse effects of conflict and to lead safe and productive lives, including peace-building, basic education and natural resource development.

Mr Speaker, earlier today in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, I met about 20 representatives of the Australian Tamil community from across the country.

I hope this process of dialogue will continue between members of the Sri Lankan diaspora and Australian officials.

I outlined to them the steps that the Australian Government is taking – both in terms of advocacy and of practical assistance – to help Sri Lanka and its citizens.

I recognised the suffering that many among that group have experienced and the depth of concern they feel for members of their community in Sri Lanka, particularly those still in camps for internally displaced people.

Some community members advised of their view of the need to address war crimes that were allegedly committed by both sides during the conflict.

I responded that, in the interests of reconciliation, it was important that allegations of human rights abuses be dealt with through a credible and independent process.

It was clear to me from our positive and productive discussion of the important role that diaspora groups will play in Sri Lanka’s future.

I encourage all members of the diaspora to look for ways to engage constructively to promote the well-being and future prosperity of all Sri Lankans.

Reconciliation will take time and will require sustained effort by Sri Lanka, its diaspora and the international community to overcome the grief, resentment and anger, and the lack of confidence and trust that is the inevitable consequence of decades of armed conflict.

Australia’s belief is that Sri Lankan democracy, rule of law and security would be enhanced by a strong civil society and an independent and free media.

The Sri Lankan Government must seize the opportunity to promote the political freedoms that enable all citizens to have a stake in Sri Lanka’s success.

Australia’s historic links to Sri Lanka provide the potential for greater bilateral engagement, including through increased trade and investment.

Australia values its long-standing relationship with Sri Lanka, reinforced by strong people-to-people links.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sri Lanka has an opportunity, an historic opportunity to forge a new beginning for all its citizens.

As a friend of Sri Lanka, Australia is committed to helping Sri Lanka to address these challenges after years of conflict and to help Sri Lanka win the peace.