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Australia Clogged By Rejected Asylum Seekers. (Read 378 times)
imcrookonit
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Australia Clogged By Rejected Asylum Seekers.
Dec 19th, 2010 at 6:14am
 
Send asylum rejects home, UN urges




AUSTRALIA'S immigration detention system is being clogged by growing numbers of rejected asylum seekers who should be sent home, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned.

UNHCR regional representative Richard Towle said Australia needed to better handle an increase in people being assessed as not needing international protection.

''You've got large numbers of people now coming through the asylum system in Australia who are not refugees and the challenge is how to find fair and humane and effective ways of allowing them to leave this country to go home,'' Mr Towle said.


His warning came as memorial services were due to be held today and tomorrow to honour the 30 asylum seekers whose bodies were recovered after their boat crashed into Christmas Island cliffs and sank on Wednesday. The 13 men, nine women, four children and four babies died as locals watched in horror, able to do little because of the dangerous conditions. There were 42 survivors, three of whom are now orphans.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said yesterday the search was now a search for bodies. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said the true number killed may never be known amid reports the boat was carrying as many as 100 Iraqis, Kurds and Iranians.

Mr Towle said improved political conditions in Sri Lanka and changed methods for assessing Afghan asylum seeker cases had led to the increase in rejected cases, with most ''left sitting in the detention centres in Western Australia''. He said the problem had little to do with Australia's border protection policies, including a decision by Labor to scrap controversial temporary protection visas, but rather was a ''protection vacuum'' throughout the region that had been forcing people to risk their lives on unseaworthy vessels. He called for greater regional co-operation and improved conditions in south-east Asia to prevent asylum seekers making the perilous sea voyage.

The deportation of failed asylum-seekers has already been flagged as central to the government's efforts to stop the boats. Mr Bowen has previously warned that the rejection rate for Afghans, who make up the bulk of asylum-seekers in Australia, is now about 50 per cent.

The government's strategy is to discourage so-called ''economic refugees'' by highlighting the risk of rejection but so far only a few asylum seekers have been deported, with the government believed to be examining increased incentives to encourage people to return home.

Meanwhile, 81 asylum seekers, who were shifted from overcrowded Christmas Island to Darwin two months ago, were yesterday moved again to Inverbrackie detention centre, near Adelaide.

In Sydney yesterday, Mr Bowen said emotions were raw on Christmas Island but detainee protests achieved little. ''It has been a very difficult time for all involved,'' he said.

Mr Bowen said memorial services would be held in the Christmas Island detention centres and other detention centres around the country today and on Monday.
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Miss Anne Dryst
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Re:  Australia Clogged By Rejected Asylum Seekers.
Reply #1 - Dec 19th, 2010 at 6:27am
 
Have these rejected asylum seekers appealed their rejection and had 'their day in court' yet?


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Miss Anne Dryst
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Re:  Australia Clogged By Rejected Asylum Seekers.
Reply #2 - Dec 19th, 2010 at 6:29am
 
Quote:
Mr Towle said improved political conditions in Sri Lanka and changed methods for assessing Afghan asylum seeker cases had led to the increase in rejected cases, with most ''left sitting in the detention centres in Western Australia''. He said the problem had little to do with Australia's border protection policies, including a decision by Labor to scrap controversial temporary protection visas, but rather was a ''protection vacuum'' throughout the region that had been forcing people to risk their lives on unseaworthy vessels. He called for greater regional co-operation and improved conditions in south-east Asia to prevent asylum seekers making the perilous sea voyage.



Towle has a rejection vacuum on his shoulders.
Or hasn't he looked at Kevin Rudd's own figures!
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