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Solution more than just shelter location, RI tells Australia
Indonesia and Australia agreed Thursday that Australia’s plan to set up a refugee processing center in Timor Leste should involve countries in the region, after indications that Canberra left Jakarta out of the plan
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ndonesia and Australia agreed Thursday that Australia’s plan to set up a refugee processing center in Timor Leste should involve countries in the region, after indications that Canberra left Jakarta out of the plan.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said in Jakarta after a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa that Australia’s initiative to set up the regional processing center “would not work without the support of the region”.
“We believe wherever the potential regional processing center will be, it will not work if transit countries or destination countries, or the UNHCR do not support it.”
He said Australia was still open to other options for locations apart from Timor Leste, but Marty said Australia wanted the center to not be located in either transit or destination countries to remove incentives for refugees to come.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard rolled out the refugee center initiative when she gave her first foreign policy speech two weeks ago. Gillard said she had discussed with Timor Leste and New Zealand — a key resettlement country — the idea of using the former Indonesian province to locate its regional processing center.
Smith said the center was ne-cessary because it would discourage people to move from one country to another through dangerous journeys.
At Thursday’s press conference, Marty did not specify what concerns Jakarta had over Australia’s refugee center plan, but said Jakarta would like the refugee center plan to be part of a regional framework.
“We are trying to develop a regional framework, a regional approach in dealing with all issues of people smuggling and trafficking. We see the idea of a having regional processing center that Gillard initiated recently as a potential component of such a regional framework,” he said.
“I want to emphasize that this is not simply zeroing in on the processing regional center per se and specially not zeroing in on the potential location of the center. But we need to look at the broader picture.”
Both ministers agreed the matter would be on the agenda at the Bali Process, a regional forum dealing with people smuggling and trafficking, which Australia and Indonesia have cochaired since 2003. Indonesia has become a transit country for refugees bound for Australia.
“Again origin, transit and destination countries and — in my opinion — such a regional processing center are all issues covered by the Bali Process.”
Marty said the regional framework should discuss the whole issue of refugees, from how to stop the flow of refugees, including people smuggling, resettlement to third countries to repatriation of asylum seekers whose refugee claims have been rejected.
