Weekly media wrap - 21 March 2016

The Australian Parliamentary Budget Office found the government would save 2.9 billion dollars over four years if it adopted the Greens’ policy to shut down detention centres and bring asylum seekers to the mainland for processing in the community. It warned, however, that the policy change could alter numbers of asylum seekers arriving by boat, and therefore the potential savings.

Indonesian foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, expressed the hope that Australia and other countries would assist in resettling refugees in Indonesia. There are currently around 14,000 asylum seekers and refugees in transit in the country, but Indonesia says it lacks the capacity to provide long-term solutions. The statement came in the leadup to this week’s Bali Process Ministerial Conference, a regional forum co-chaired by Indonesia and Australia.

In a visit to Australia, Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to negotiate a deal which would see Iranian asylum seekers whose refugee claims are rejected repatriated to Iran. The opposition insisted that safeguards be in place to ensure the safety of those returned.

Asylum seekers arriving in Greece will be sent back to Turkey in a deal agreed upon by EU leaders. In return for taking refugees, Turkey can expect ‘reenergised’ talks on its EU membership and 3 billion euros to aid resettlement. UNHCR stated the deal breaches the rights of asylum seekers under European and international law.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Flippo Grandi announced he will chair a meeting on March 30 to ask the international community to take 10 per cent of all Syrian Refugees. He stated that this did not require full resettlement for the 400,000 refugees, but that some countries could offer temporary jobs, scholarships or humanitarian visas to ease the pressure on neighbouring countries. Four million Syrians have fled the country since the civil war began five years ago.

Weekly media wrap 15 June

Allegations have emerged that Australian immigration and border protection officials paid people smugglers to turn back boats from Indonesia carrying asylum seekers. The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, and the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, denied the allegations, however Prime Minister Tony Abbott has refused to deny them.

A senate inquiry into conditions in immigration detention on Nauru heard from former International Health and Medical Services mental health director, Peter Young, that the immigration department regularly interfered with medical assessments of asylum seekers. The inquiry also received written submissions from former Save the Children employee, Viktoria Vibhakar, detailing cases of sexual and physical abuse of asylum seekers’ children as young as two.

Meanwhile, the immigration department has confirmed Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young was spied on during her visit to Nauru by at least one Wilson Security officer.

In international news, the UNHCR has reported that the number of refugee and migrant arrivals to Europe across the Mediterranean in 2015 has reached more than 100,000.

Weekly media wrap 25 May

Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to resettle several thousand Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees. Thus far 3600 refugees have come ashore in the three nations. Naval vessels from Myanmar and Malaysia will be joined by the US navy in the ongoing search for the estimated 3000 refugees who remain at sea. Despite calls for Australia to more robustly address the crisis, Australia remains opposed to providing assistance. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Indonesian officials told her that the refugees are mostly ‘illegal labourers’.

A Senate hearing received testimony that security guards and service providers sexually abused refugees in the Nauru detention centre.

The Cambodia Government approved transfer of four asylum seekers from Nauru. This is the first transfer associated with the $40 million tied aid grant provided to Cambodia last year.

Police discovered several mass graves of suspected migrants near the border of Malaysia and Thailand.  The graves are believed to be linked to human trafficking operations.

An EU plan to distribute migrants across Europe on the basis of national capacity has been criticised by several Western European nations. The plan appears unlikely to gain the support necessary for implementation.

Weekly media wrap - 13 April

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop will seek to persuade Iran to take back hundreds of failed asylum seekers held in Australian immigration detention when she visits Tehran next week. So far, Iran has refused to do so. Labor leader Bill Shorten said he will support the move, as long as Australia meets its obligations under international law. The Refugee Action Collective said Bishop was ‘playing with people’s lives’ by sending them back to Iran, where they may face persecution.

The Government announced it will make a telemovie designed to deter asylum seekers from coming to Australia by boat. The ABC’s Lateline reported that the drama is due to be broadcast later this year in countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. A spokesperson from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said the ‘telemovie will realistically portray the journeys of people… and the challenges they face’. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the movie was part of an intensive effort by the Federal Government to end the people smuggling trade. Critics have opposed the drama, objecting to its cost and saying it would be unlikely to deter people from fleeing.

In Nauru, an asylum seeker who reported being sexually assaulted as part of the Moss Review says those who have made allegations of assaults have faced threats of harm from the perpetrators.

Transfield Services told their staff on Manus Island and Nauru detention centres that they can be fired for interacting with asylum seekers on social media, or being affiliated with a political, advocacy or religious groups opposed to Australia’s refugee policy.

On the mainland, an Iranian asylum seeker who has been on hunger strike for 44 days in Perth has begun accepting fluids.