A man seeking asylum in Australia, who was due to be deported by immigration officials in December, is being held in Villawood detention centre after a protest on December 19 on the plane blocked the deportation. One plane passenger, Steph O鈥橠onnell, said the asylum seeker, Wei Lin, made himself known to passengers on the plane before take-off.
deportations
More than half a million Iraqis have been displaced and hundreds killed after the fall of Iraq's second largest city of Mosul to Islamic fundamentalists. But even as the crisis in Iraq dramatically worsens, Australia is refusing to offer any reprieve for the thousands of Iraqi refugees in its care.
As a 65-year-old Afghan Hazara man fights to avoid deportation, refugee rights advocates grow increasingly alarmed by reported 鈥渞ound ups鈥 of hundreds of asylum seekers who are being threatened with imminent deportation.
Immigration minister Scott Morrison confirmed last month that the government was re-detaining people who had been denied refugee status and have apparently exhausted their appeals. Refugees reported from detention centres across Australia that those who have been 鈥渟creened out鈥 were being told to pack up and prepare to be removed.
The company responsible for running many of Australia鈥檚 refugee detention centres, Serco, has been accused of ordering asylum seekers not to speak to the media as the federal government moves to deport more asylum seekers to their country of origin.
Asylum seekers in the Darwin Airport Lodge (DAL) detention centre have been subject to intimidation and several have been moved to Christmas Island after speaking to the media.
Over recent weeks, lawyers and campaigners have been racing to the courts to prevent immigration department plans to deport Afghan refugees back to Kabul.
Refugee advocates raised alarm bells on March 5 when four Afghan Hazara refugees who had been living in the community on bridging visas were re-detained after attending scheduled immigration meetings.
Britain is a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. But despite its international legal obligations as signatory to this and other human rights conventions, the reception granted to those knocking on Britain鈥檚 door in hope of protection is far from welcoming or humane.
In fact, Britain appears to be doing everything in its power to keep its doors tightly closed to those often referred to as 鈥渟croungers,鈥 鈥渢errorists,鈥 鈥渆conomic migrants,鈥 or other 鈥渂ogus鈥 refugees hiding behind a smokescreen of asylum 鈥 adding deadbolts by the day.
The Sydney Refugees Action Coalition released the statement below on September 7.
* * *
A High Court decision this morning has dismissed an application of behalf of five asylum seekers seeking to extend judicial review to discretionary ministerial decisions.
In a similar application (M61) in 2010, the High Court found that asylum seekers were entitled to judicial review of appeal decisions.
The High Court judgment means that there is now no legal impediment to the government moving to deport a large number of asylum seekers.
- Previous page
- Page 2