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RI says refugee pact unchanged despite new Australian policy
The Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that agreements between Indonesia and Australia on refugee settlement would remain intact despite Canberra’s new policy on asylum suspension as civil groups highlighted the uncertain plight of Tamil boat people following recent relocation
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he Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that agreements between Indonesia and Australia on refugee settlement would remain intact despite Canberra’s new policy on asylum suspension as civil groups highlighted the uncertain plight of Tamil boat people following recent relocation.
After six months of insisting on staying in their boat unless they obtained guarantees of resettlement in Australia, 122 Sri Lankan refugees in Merak Port, Banten province, were transferred to a detention center in Riau Island on Monday night.
On April 9, Australia announced it would suspend asylum claims from Sri Lanka for three months, raising uncertainty on the future of thousands of refugees stranded here enroute to Australia.
Arief Havas Oegroseno, the ministry’s director general of international treaties and legal affairs, told The Jakarta Post that the new asylum policy would not change any deal that had been reached previously between the two countries, including Canberra’s commitment to resettle refugees taking shelter here.
“We have a prior arrangement with Australia in which they agree to resettle foreign refugees in Indonesia,” he said. “This doesn’t necessarily mean resettlement in Australia, but in other countries as well.”
He said the arrangement on refugee resettlement was further strengthened during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s visit to Australia earlier this year.
Havas pointed to the earlier resettlement of 78 Sri Lankan boat people, who similarly refused to leave their boat before they obtained a resettlement guarantee from Australia. They finally agreed to leave their boat after promises of resettlement from the Australian government.
“Most of them were finally resettled in Europe and some in Australia,” he said.
Australian Embassy spokeswoman Jenny Dee said the new asylum policy would not affect Australia’s pledge to resettle refugees in Indonesia.
“We will continue to work closely with the UNHCR [UN High Commissioner for Refugees] and resettlement countries to identify options for persons in Indonesia who UNHCR considers require resettlement.”
She said that since January 2009, Australia had accepted 120 long-standing refugees in Indonesia for resettlement while other resettlement countries were considering around 50. “Australia and other countries will consider further cases as the UNHCR refers them.”
University of New South Wales senior lecturer Bassina Farbenblum said the suspension policy violated the UN Convention on Refugees that Canberra ratified, as it discriminated against asylum applicants by country of origin. Apart from those from Sri Lanka, Australia has also suspended asylum claims from Afghanistan for six months.
Canberra said the decision was made because security in those countries had improved — a statement that has stirred controversy as critics say conditions remain unsafe.
As the new policy now comes into effect, Farbenblum said Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat would be subject to detention at least within the suspension period.
“The policy also violates Australia’s human rights treaty obligations that prohibit arbitrary detention and that protect asylum seekers’ rights to due process,” she told the Post via email Tuesday.
Havas said Jakarta was not in a position to comment on Australia’s domestic policy.
“What we seek is to have them resettle the refugees regardless of domestic issues. We cannot continue to host them,” he said.
