Weekly media wrap - 30 May 2016

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce linked the ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia in 2011 with increased asylum seeker boat arrivals. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said ‘there is no link between the Indonesian Government and people smuggling, while praising the leadership of Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

On the election trail, Labor leader Bill Shorten announced that one of his first acts if elected Prime Minister would be to work with UNHCR to identify resettlement countries for the 2000 refugees in Nauru and Manus Island.

In Vietnam, a court has jailed four of 46 asylum seekers intercepted by the Australian government off the West Australian coast last year. A spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection stated that they were confident that Vietnam was upholding its agreement not to prosecute any of the returned asylum seekers on the grounds of illegal departure. A Human Rights Watch spokesperson said that Vietnam has ‘blatantly broken its promise to the Australian government not to prosecute boat returnees.’

In Cambodia, only one of five refugees transferred from Nauru remains in the country. In 2014, Cambodia agreed to take refugees in Nauru who had tried to reach Australia by boat in exchange for $40m dollars in aid. A Cambodian team will fly to Nauru next month to interview two more refugees who have volunteered for resettlement.

Europe’s largest makeshift refugee camp at Idomeni was shut down leaving over 4000 asylum seekers unaccounted for and 3000 to be transferred to new permanent refugee camps. Volunteers allowed in the new camps reported that they lack in basic amenities and unsafe to live in – an accusation refuted by Giorgos Kyritis, Greece’s migration spokesman, who stated there is ‘room to improve them’ but there is ‘water and electricity everywhere’.

Two boats carrying refugees capsized off the coast of Libya on Thursday and more than 4000 refugees were rescued in the course of 22 rescue missions by the Italian coastguard. 

Weekly media wrap 20 April

At least 800 people died in the Mediterranean Sea when a boat capsized off the coast of Libya. More than 7000 people were rescued from boats in a four day period over last weekend. In response, UN special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants François Crépeau called for a global humanitarian plan to resettle refugees and regulate migrant mobility.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop invited Iranian officials to visit Australia to continue discussions about taking back failed asylum seekers, after being unable to reach agreement during her recent visit to Tehran.

The West Australian reported Australia is transferring almost 50 Vietnamese asylum seekers back to Vietnam from a vessel that was intercepted north of Australia earlier this month. A spokesperson for immigration minister Peter Dutton said no comment would be made on ‘operational matters’. Human rights groups have criticised the government for returning the asylum seekers Vietnam, where they may face persecution.

The ABC reported that a fact sheet about life in Cambodia was distributed to refugees in Nauru, with expectations that the first transfer of refugees between the two countries will happen next week.

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) put forward a submission disputing a migration amendment bill to allow immigration officers to use ‘reasonable force against any person’ if the officer believed it was exercised ‘in good faith’.

In Darwin, there was a disturbance at the Wickham Point detention centre, where a spokesperson from the Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network said he had been told there were 25 self-harm attempts. A spokesperson for Mr Dutton said reports from refugee advocacy groups were ‘wildly exaggerated and inaccurate’, but confirmed there had been a disturbance.

An Australian National Audit Office report has recommended that interpreters who are deployed to immigration detention centres should be given resilience training so that they can prepare for the “challenging and hazardous” conditions of the facilities.

Weekly media wrap - 23 March

The Moss Review, established in October 2014 by the then Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, was released on Friday. The review, by former Integrity Commissioner Philip Moss, investigated two separate claims relating to the Regional Processing Centre in Nauru. The review heard evidence of rape and sexual assault, finding that many detainees on Nauru were concerned about their safety and privacy in the centre. The review also found no evidence to substantiate the allegations that Save the Children employees had encouraged protests or acts of self-harm.

The Moss Review published 19 recommendations, including a review of the dismissal of the Save the Children employees. The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton stated that the department had accepted and responded to all 19 recommendations. Save the Children CEO, Paul Ronalds, responded by agreeing to work with the government on a review of the dismissal.  He also called on the government to immediately end its practice of mandatory and prolonged detention.  Prime Minister Tony Abbott was criticised for his response to the Moss Review, following an interview on talkback radio station 2GB.

Former Nauru Chief Justice Geoffrey Eames criticised the Nauruan government, expressing concern about the health and safety of asylum seekers and refugees on the island  

Refugees who have been settled on Nauru spoke out about their lives on the island.  In a series of covert interviews, the refugees, who have been settled on five year visas, reported mental health problems and sexual and physical violence.

 The Italian home affairs ministry released a planning paper, suggesting that Egyptian and Tunisian naval units play a role in rescuing asylum boats off the coast of Libya.  According to this plan, Egyptian and Tunisian operations should be supported, technically and financially, by the European Union.  

Weekly media wrap - 16 February

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) called for a Royal Commission into the policy of holding children in immigration detention, following the government’s release of its The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention report. The report found more than a third of children in detention in the first half of 2014 had serious mental health disorders. It found more than 300 children committed or threatened self-harm in a 15-month period, 30 reported sexual assault, nearly 30 went on hunger strike and more than 200 were involved in assaults.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott criticised the report as ‘a blatantly partisan politicised exercise’, questioning ‘where was the Human Rights commission when hundreds of people were drowning at sea?’ Professor Triggs said she made the decision to hold the inquiry last February because the release of children had slowed down over the first six months of the new Coalition Government.  

The government announced there would not be a Royal Commission into children in detention.

 More than 200 Australian organisations (including Asylum Insight) signed a letter calling on parliament to stop holding children in immigration detention.

Meanwhile, it emerged through Fairfax media that the government had sought the resignation of AHRC president, Professor Gillian Triggs.

The High Court ordered that the Immigration Minister grant a permanent protection visa to a Pakistani refugee. It unanimously found the decision by former Immigration Minister Scott Morrison not to grant the visa on national interest grounds because the man was an unauthorised maritime arrival was illegal.

Around 300 people were feared drowned after four people-smuggling boats sank in the Mediterranean. Twenty-nine people died of hypothermia aboard Italian coastguard vessels after being picked up from a boat adrift near Libya. 

Weekly media round-up No. 52

Papa New Guinean police charged two men with murder for the death of Reza Barati on Manus Island, with the search continuing for three more people believed to be involved. Two of the suspects who have not yet been located are said to be expatriates, however the Australian Federal Police indicated they have not received any requests from their PNG counterparts to investigate.

Immigration minister Scott Morrison claimed that detaining asylum seeker children was a ‘consequence’ of offshore processing policy at the Australian Human Right Commission’s inquiry into children in detention. Mr Morrison stated at the inquiry that children in detention who arrived after 19 July 2013 could not be released into the community without a temporary protection visa. This follows the government’s announcement children under ten and their families will be released into the community on bridging visas.

The Age reported a mental health ‘crisis’ at the Christmas Island detention centre, with one staff member attempting suicide and another a risk of self-harm. The Guardian Australia revealed strategies employed by the immigration department to return asylum seekers from Syria back to the country.

Refugee advocates challenged the legality of the government’s month-long detention of 157 Tamil asylum seekers on a customs vessel, with a court hearing set for October, possibly including United Nations involvement. Meanwhile, the Cambodian opposition leader disclosed the Australian Government’s plan to resettle refugees on a remote island off the coast of Cambodia.

A boat carrying 200 migrants sank off the coast of Libya, with majority of the passengers feared dead.

Weekly media round-up No. 37

The governor of Port Moresby published an open letter expressing “grave concern” at the conditions on Manus Island. PNG immigration minister, Rimbink Pato, said that a refugee quota could be imposed, limiting the number of refugees resettled.

Fairfax published graphic images of detainees injured in the February riots on Manus Island. The Australian High Court heard arguments that the centre is constitutionally invalid and the Australian Government has no power to send asylum seekers to PNG. The case is ongoing.

Indonesian officials claimed the Australian navy added three asylum seekers to a boat turned back to Indonesia on 4 May. Federal police may be asked to investigate the incident, which may have breached Australian and international law. The Australian Government refused to comment on the incident.

Dozens of asylum seekers died when a boat sank off the coast of Libya. Meanwhile, Italy appealed for European Union support as 1200 asylum seekers land in Sicily.