Iraq

Weekly media wrap - 14 September 2015

Tony Abbott announced that Australia would permanently resettle 12,000 refugees from Iraq and Syria. The government will also provide $44m in aid for refugee agencies. Opposition leader Bill Shorten (who had called for an extra 10,000 refugees to be accepted) and NSW Premier Mike Baird welcomed the decision.

The announcement comes shortly after the government pledged to respond to the current crisis by prioritising refugees from Iraq and Syria from the overall annual intake.

The European Union is in the process of negotiating with member states on fixed intake quotas. UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farrage supported Prime Minister David Cameron’s refusal to sign up to the quota. In Germany, locals greeted refugees and migrants fleeing the conflict in the Middle East with ‘welcome’ signs.

In Cambodia, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton met with Prime Minister Hun Sen to discuss a 2014 agreement to provide $40 million in exchange for the provision of resettlement services.

Read the Kaldor Centre’s Weekly News Roundup.

Weekly media round-up No. 51

Earlier this week the High Court held a hearing regarding the 157 Tamil asylum seekers held for several weeks in an Australian customs vessel in July. A High Court judge said the case would determine the Australian Government’s power to detain asylum seekers on the high seas.

The Australian Government set aside 4400 places within the existing refugee program for Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said the success of Operation Sovereign Borders ‘allowed more places to be returned to our humanitarian program.’

Fairfax media reported that Australia will enter into an agreement with Cambodia to the resettle asylum seekers currently held in offshore detention. A Cambodian official said Mr Morrison would visit Phnom Penh to discuss the agreement within days.

A group of anonymous Save the Children workers from Nauru submitted a report to a national inquiry into children in detention. The report described systematic human rights violations and incidents of physical, sexual and verbal abuse. Mr Morrison will give evidence at the inquiry later this week.