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Media Releases and Other News

Photos from the action outside Chris Evans' office yesterday have been posted on perth indymedia.  They can be found here: Perth Independent Media Centre -Refugee Rights - Protest Action of 18Jan10

Some photos from the Human Rights Day rally have been uploaded to the perth indymedia site. They can be found here: Perth Independent Media Centre - Human Rights Day Rally

and a slideshow of phots can be found here: Photos from Human Rights Day action

MEDIA RELEASE 15/01/10: Refugee groups reject Sri Lankan Government claims http://rran.org/RAC_SLnotsafe

MEDIA RELEASE 03/12/09: Fears for Tamil Asylum Seekers http://rran.org/RAC_031209_FEARS

MEDIA RELEASE 16/11/09: Shooting leaves "Indonesian solution" in tatters, but pressure mounts on asylum seekers in Merak http://rran.org/RAC_MR_shooting

MEDIA RELEASE 15/11/09: Kevin Rudd is to blame for Indonesians opening fire on asylum seekers                        http://rran.org/PSC_MR_shooting

Stories from Green Left Weekly

Rallies demand: ‘Refugees: End the freeze!’ - Forty refugee rights supporters protested outside Labor foreign minister Stephen Smith's office on April 23, demanding an end to the government's "freeze" on asylum-seeker applications from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. Speakers included Refugee Rights Action Network members Phil Chilton and Victoria Martin-Iverson, Socialist Alliance candidate for Perth Alex Bainbridge and Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.

The next action planned by the Refugee Rights Action Network is an overnight vigil outside the Perth Immigration Detention Centre on May 7.

Protest outside Labor foreign minister Stephen Smith's office on April 23. Photo by Alex Bainbridge.

Merak asylum seekers jailed in Indonesia - Over April 19-20, Indonesian police and naval officers forced almost 150 Tamils onto buses at Port Merak and took them to the Tanjung Pinang detention centre. For seven months, more than 250 Tamils had withstood appalling conditions aboard a squalid boat at the West Java port.Their hope was for refugee status in Australia. Their fear was of being locked up in Indonesian detention centres or deported back to Sri Lanka.

Unauthorised photo from the notorious Curtin detention centre before its 2004 closure. Disturbed asylumn seekers were shoved into small boxes ‘until they calmed down’. The Rudd government is reopening the centre. Photo courtesy RAC-Vic.org

Rudd's refugee ban: illegal and dishonest - The April 9 announcement by immigration minister Chris Evans that, "effective immediately", Australia would suspend processing asylum claims by Afghans or Sri Lankans is in contravention of the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Christmas Island detainee: 'We are all suffering' - According to an immigration department spokesperson, there are currently 275 people housed in eight tents in two separate immigration detention facilities on Christmas Island. One of the detained refugees spoke to Green Left Weekly's Niko Leka about living conditions there. He asked that his name not be used as he was afraid it would affect his visa application.

'Get rid of mandatory detention!' - BRISBANE — Fifty people gathered in Brisbane Square on April 16 to speak up for refugee rights. The action was sponsored by the Refugee Action Collective, and demands include that the government immediately resume processing Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum claims and respect its international obligations.

Rally unites against racism, for refugees - On April 11, in response to a rally by the far-right Australian Protectionist Party (APP) in opposition to refugee rights organised that day outside Villawood Detention Centre, activists held a protest in solidarity with the imprisoned asylum seekers and against racism.

Anti-racist rally outside Villawood detention centre, April 11

'How long must we wait?' — desperation grows at Christmas Island - "How long must we stay like this, don't they realise our hardship?", a Tamil detainee in the Christmas Island detention centre asked when he called Green Left Weekly on April 8.

New racist attacks on refugees - The federal Labor government announced a moratorium on processing claims for asylum for people coming from Sri Lanka or Afghanistan on April 9. This means refugees from Afghanistan will be detained for six months before they can even begin the application process. For refugees from Sri Lanka, the wait will be three months.

Indonesian solidarity with Merak refugees - In the past year in Indonesia, almost 3000 asylum seekers have been stopped from heading to Australia, the Herald Sun said on March 23. The Australian government does not care what happens to these people, who are often detained in horrific conditions or deported back to unsafe countries.

'Anxiety and distress' on Christmas Island - Green Left Weekly's Niko Leka spoke with Professor Louise Newman Friday, chair of the Detention Expert Health Advisory Group (DEHAG) following her recent visit to immigration facilities on Christmas Island.

SIEV 36 inquest: refugees to face more pain - The inquest into the fatal boat explosion involving Afghan asylum seekers and the Australian navy in April 2009 has ended with appalling conclusions. Despite evidence suggesting the five deaths and extensive injuries could have been avoided if defence personnel had operated differently, the refugees received sole blame and may face criminal charges.

'Indonesia solution': details to remain secret - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Australia over March 9-11. Unsurprisingly, the issue of asylum seekers was the leading concern for the federal Labor government, the corporate media and refugee advocates alike.

Refugees face charges, deportation - Two Afghan and nine Tamil asylum seekers faced Christmas Island magistrates court on March 11. They pleaded not guilt to all charges related to a so-called riot in the Christmas Island detention centre last November.

Merak refugees: global protests mark 150 days stuck on boat - Protests were held in London, Toronto, Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth on March 10 to mark the 150th day that about 250 Tamil asylum seekers have been stuck on a boat at Merak, Indonesia, waiting for resettlement in Australia.

Detention centre puts on a show for the ombudsman -Green Left Weekly reported in its last issue (#828, March 3) that the immigration ombudsman was about to visit the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre, and that coincidentally, construction of a gym in the alpha compound had commenced.

Inside Christmas Island refugee jail - An asylum seeker accused of rioting in the Christmas Island detention centre on November 21 recently contacted a refugee advocate about living conditions inside. The refugee advocate asked Green Left Weekly to withhold both their name.

Merak refugees' conditions worsen - The Australian government continues to ignore the almost 250 Tamil refugees holding out on a boat in the port of Merak, West Java. But the conditions onboard grow more severe each day.

Refugees blamed for navy errors - Three Afghan refugees in Australia face possible charges over the explosion onboard a fishing boat off Ashmore Reef last April. Five were killed in the explosion and many more injured.

Christmas Island refugees under lock-down - A number of refugees in the Christmas Island detention centre remain in a state of lock-down, following an argument over a pool table on November 21.

Refugee camps: 'Factories for producing mental illness' - On January 25, newly announced Australian of the Year and youth mental health expert Patrick McGorry said refugee detention centres were "factories for producing mental illness".

Indonesia detains foreign refugee advocates - On January 26, three refugee advocates — Sydney-based Tamil community activist Sara Nathan, Pamela Curr from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne, and Jessica Chandrashekar from the Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for Relief of Tamils — were arrested in Merak, Indonesia.

Tamil refugee hunger strike: 'Why do they treat us like this?' - "We are human beings, why are we ignored?", a Tamil refugee inside the Christmas Island detention centre told Green Left Weekly on the night of January 28.

100 days and counting - 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.

Christmas Island detainees charged - 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.

Tamil refugees face indefinite detention on Christmas Island - Five Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, held at Christmas Island, face indefinite imprisonment without trial after Australia's secret police agency, ASIO, deemed them "security risks".

Merak eyewitness: Tamil refugees face death, deportation - Indonesia plans to force the 240 Tamil refugees, moored on a boat in Merak, into detention at the end of this week, "at gunpoint if necessary", the January 14 Australian reported.

Sri Lanka; Execution video 'authentic' - An independent United Nations human rights expert said on January 7 there are strong indications that a video of alleged extrajudicial executions by Sri Lankan soldiers that aired last August on British television is authentic, a UN News Centre article said that day.

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