Weekly media wrap - 10 April 2016

Immigration minister Peter Dutton said that the government had honoured its pledge “in spirit and in deed” to get all asylum seeker children out of immigration detention. The statement came as reports emerged that two children remain in immigration detention. Mr Dutton also vowed that all asylum seeker children who had been released would be sent to Nauru, once they and their families no longer needed medical support.

The High Court granted an urgent injunction to prevent an abortion being carried out on an asylum seeker who had been transferred to Papua New Guinea. Justice Patrick Keane, who presided over the hearing, said that the urgency of the matter and the gravity of the consequences for the plaintiff were sufficient to warrant the granting of the injunction.

On Nauru, two asylum seekers received medical treatment after police were summoned to respond to a protest at the Nauru regional processing centre. Footage, purportedly of the protest, emerged showing the confrontation between detainees and police. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection stated that seven service provider staff were injured while attempting to restore order. The asylum seekers are protesting against the Australia government’s refusal to allow them to apply for protection visas in Australia.

The Papua New Guinea government announced that it had finished its assessment of the claims to refugee status of the 850 men at the Manus Island detention centre. About 400 of the men were found to be refugees.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter announced that 180 refugees had been resettled as part of the government’s commitment to accept 12,000 refugees displaced by the conflict in Syria.

The first people were returned to Turkey under a recently implemented agreement between the European Union and Turkey. Under the agreement, all ‘irregular migrants’ arriving in Greece from Turkey face being sent back, and for every person sent back, a Syrian refugee will be resettled from Turkey to the EU. Refugees in on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios reacted angrily to the first deportations with some saying they would rather take their own lives than return to Turkey. In a statement, the UNHCR indicated that it did not oppose the agreement but that greater safeguards were needed to process asylum seekers in Greece.

Weekly media wrap - 5 April 2016

Immigration minister Peter Dutton announced that there are no longer any children in immigration detention in Australia. Around 65 children remain on Nauru. According to Guardian Australia the government has reclassified sections of detentions centres to support this claim. The number of children in detention peaked in 2013 at over 2000.

At least 196 of the 267 refugees at the centre of the ‘Let Them Stay’ campaign are now in community detention, according to advocates. Refugees that remain in community detention may still be transferred to offshore detention, but must be given at least 72 hours’ notice.

‘The Journey’, a film commissioned by the Australian government depicting asylum seekers making a dangerous journey across the Indian Ocean to Australia, screened in Afghanistan this week. Put Out Pictures, the film’s production company state the aim of the film is “to educate and inform audiences in source countries about the futility of investing in people smugglers, the perils of the trip, and the hardline policies that await them if they do reach Australian waters”.

UNHCR’s Andrew Harper criticised Australia’s selection of Syrian asylum seekers. ABC program 7.30 revealed that the applications of 1,400 Syrian refugees referred to Australia by the UN have not had their cases processed. Only after their application has been rejected are they able to be referred to another country. Minister Peter Dutton told UNHCR that the main delay in processing was due to rigorous background checks, especially important given the number of fake Syrian passports currently circulating in Europe.

At a UNHCR meeting in Geneva, member states committed to modest increases in the number of refugees they are prepared to resettle, bringing the total to 185,000 worldwide. Minister Dutton announced Australia would contribute a further $8.5m to the UNHCR.

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 - 23 February 2016

Asha, a 12 month-old asylum seeker, was released into community detention after doctors at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital refused to discharge her until a ‘suitable home environment’ was identified’. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said that once Asha and her family’s claims are finalised, they will be sent back to Nauru, their home country, or a third country.

At an Australian Medical Association forum in Sydney doctors proposed to boycott working in Australia’s immigration detention system and to defy legal restrictions on speaking about conditions.

Malcolm Turnbull met with New Zealand prime minister John Key but did not commit to reviving a deal negotiated by former prime minister Julia Gillard for New Zealand to accept 150 asylum seekers annually from Australian detention.

Peter Dutton defended Australia’s rate of resettlement  of Syrian refugees, emphasising that national security is the ‘first and foremost’ priority and that faster processing would increase risk to the public. Twenty-six Syrians have been processed in Australia, five months after the government announced a special intake of 12,000. Canada has resettled over 20,000 refugees in the same period.

Weekly media wrap - 15 February 2016

This week saw escalating ‘Let Them Stay’ protests, following the High Court’s decision allowing Australia to detain asylum seekers offshore. Six state and territory leaders offered to resettle the 267 asylum seekers affected by the decision, however, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has yet to respond to the political and community pressure. 

Doctors at a Brisbane hospital declined to discharge a baby in an effort to prevent her return to Nauru. One-year-old ‘Asha’ was treated for accidental burns injuries at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, where a spokesperson said she would be released only once ‘a suitable home environment is identified’. The case has attracted the backing of hundreds of protesters, who have camped outside the hospital in support of the doctors’ actions. 

The ABC apologised for confusing two cases of alleged child abuse on Nauru. ABC News Director Gaven Morris acknowledged the error in reporting the testimony of a paediatrician that a five-year-old was raped on the island and was being sent back to face his attacker. The paediatrician’s statement in fact referred to an older child, whom the paediatrician, Karen Zwi, maintains was raped. The five-year-old at the centre of the claims was allegedly sexually assaulted.

The immigration department confirmed paying Nauru $29m in visa fees to keep asylum seekers in detention. The cost of a visa for a single asylum seeker in Nauru has risen to $1,000 per month since the centre was reopened in 2012, in addition to the fees Australia pays to contractors running the facility.

The refugee crisis continues to escalate in Europe, with the Austrian government confirming it will reduce the number of asylum applications received in 2016, while Turkey has for the first time shut entry to Syrian refugees, claiming the country has reached its limit. The news comes as NATO entered the crisis for the first time, promising to deploy ships in the Aegean Sea to deter people smugglers. The move was criticised by some international aid groups.     

Weekly media wrap - 23 November 2015

A boat carrying asylum seekers was intercepted 200 metres from Christmas Island. Unconfirmed reports indicate the boat was towed by an Australian navy patrol boat out to sea. This boat was the first to reach Australian waters since June 2014. It is not yet known where the boat departed from.

In Indonesia, The Jakata Post reported that Coordinating Minister for political, legal and security affairs, Luhut Panjaitan, had suggested offering an island as a temporary refugee camp. However Mr Panjaitan has denied offering Australia an island to temporarily house refugees and asylum seekers.

In Europe, investigations into the terror attacks in Paris continue, with reports that a passport issued to a Syrian asylum seeker was found at the scene of one of the attack sites. In response to the events in Paris, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees has made a statement “cautioning against the scapegoating of refugees”, reiterating the importance of preserving the integrity of the asylum system and acknowledging that the overwhelming majority of people coming to Europe are fleeing persecution.

In the wake of the recent terror attacks in Paris, concern was raised about Australia’s acceptance of refugees, and in particular this new intake of 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq. Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton rejected the call from a New South Wales State Government MP to stop accepting refugees from the Middle East and to close Australia’s borders, and indicated a continuation of existing border protection policies. A Syrian family of five arrived in Perth. This family is part of the first group of 200 selected Syrians to be the first of the 12,000 refugees to be resettled in Australia.

Weekly media wrap - 10 November 2015

Refugee Fazel Chegeni was found dead two days after escaping the immigration detention centre on Christmas Island. Mr Chegeni, who was granted refugee status in 2013, reportedly attempted suicide several times in the weeks leading up to his escape. The cause of Mr Chegeni’s death, whose body was found at the bottom of cliffs on Christmas Island, has not been determined.  Greens MP Adam Bandt called for “a full and independent inquiry” into the incident.  Peter Dutton said he believed there were “no suspicious circumstances in relation to the death”.

Following reports of the death, unrest broke out at the Christmas Island detention centre.  Guards were withdrawn, citing safety reasons after detainees lit fires and knocked down walls. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton described tension between detainees and guards as a “stand off”..

The Australian government is reportedly considering Kyrgyzstan as a resettlement option for up to 1,500 refugees currently detained in offshore detention.  The plan to send refugees to the Central Asian republic, a country criticised for its human rights abuses, received widespread condemnation, with Greens leader Richard Di Natale describing the policy as “ridiculous”.

Following a visit to the world’s second largest refugee camp, Zaatari, Peter Dutton announced $44 million to supply refugees in the Middle East with survival items, including food and water.  Dutton’s visit to the camp reinforced his belief in the government’s boat turn-back policy, arguing that “a tough border policy in Australia means that we can offer a helping hand and a new life to those Syrians”. 

Mr Dutton stated that, in addition to the intake of 12,000 Syrian refugees announced in September, further humanitarian visas may be offered if Australia can “first demonstrate that [it] can bring the 12,000 across”.  Greens MP Adam Bandt welcomed the move but urged the government to consider resettling Syrians and Iraqis currently detained in offshore detention facilities.

Internationally, the first asylum seekers were relocated from Greece to Luxembourg in an EU program that aims to resettled at least 160,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to participating EU countries. 

Read the Kaldor Centre's weekly news roundup.

Weekly media wrap - 21 September 2015

Malcolm Turnbull replaced Tony Abbot as Prime Minister after a leadership ballot. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton retained his position in the cabinet reshuffle despite earlier in the week having offered to resign. The Indonesian government welcomed the leadership change, suggesting an opportunity to improve diplomatic relations with the new government.

The Turnbull Government consulted with the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council on the mechanics of settling 12,000 Syrian refugees expected to arrive in Australia between now and the end of the year.  The majority of the extra refugees are expected to be resettled in Sydney and Melbourne, where the bulk of Australia's Syrian community lives.

The federal court found that the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s investigation in to a data breach which published the details of almost 10,000 asylum seekers, was designed to fail.  The court said the immigration department responded to the data in a way that was ‘unfair to a significant degree’ and had not provided procedural fairness to asylum seekers affected.

An Afghan refugee who had his visa cancelled due to child pornography convictions set himself alight at a West Australian immigration detention centre after previous bids to end his own life.

The refugee crisis in Europe continues as Hungary closed the border between Serbia and Hungary. The UNHCR has again called for European Union member states to reach agreement on a plan to relocate up to 120,000 refugees.

Read the Kaldor Centre’s Weekly News Roundup.

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 wrap – 7 September 2015

Images of three-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi, whose body washed up on a Turkish beach, led to a shift in the European mood surrounding the Syrian refugee crisis. British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his nation would take thousands more Syrian refugees. The Prime Minister of Finland offered his country home as a refuge for asylum seekers.

These events have placed renewed pressure on the Australian Government to increase its refugee intake. Several prominent members of the Australian Liberal party – including Agricultural Minister Barnaby Joyce and NSW Premier Mike Baird – have come out in favour of increased resettlement of Syrian refugees.

The Opposition are calling for a one-off boost of 10,000 permanent refugee places to deal with the Syrian humanitarian crisis. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the government will accommodate more Syrian refugees within the current quota of 13,750. 

The New York Times published an editorial criticising Australia’s asylum seeker boat turn-back and offshore detention policies. The article labeled these policies as ‘unconsciounable’, ‘inhumane’ and ‘of dubious legality’. Immigration minister Peter Dutton responded by calling the government’s actions lawful and effective.

Robert Cornall, who authored the inquiry into Reza Barati’s death, will review the status of more than 30 asylum seekers with adverse ASIO security assessments currently in detention in Australia.

Read the Kaldor Centre’s Weekly News Roundup. 

Weekly media wrap 1 June

Asylum seekers on bridging visas, who arrived to Australia by boat after August 2012, began receiving letters this week offering them to apply for temporary protection visas. The Australian government has lifted a freeze on processing the claims of 'unauthorised maritime arrivals' who arrived from mid-2012, and has begun the use of fast-track processing.

A Senate committee heard that the Australian government spent $2.4 billion over two years maintaining offshore detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.

The family of a five-year-old Iranian girl is suing the Commonwealth of Australia and minister for immigration for negligence, which allegedly led to the child's severe psychiatric symptoms. The family is seeking financial damages and an injunction preventing their return to Nauru. This week the immigration department decided to transfer the family to community detention in Brisbane. Nauruan police are investigating the sexual assault of an Iranian asylum seeker last week.

Five detainees were removed from the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre or placed in solitary arrangements after confronting facility guards. Another group of 23 detainees, including some asylum seekers, have been transferred to Christmas Island from the Maribyrnong centre in Melbourne.

 Victorian Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kaye criticised immigration officials for blocking court ordered access for lawyers representing asylum seekers on Christmas Island. The lawyers were denied access to a group of asylum seekers who are suing the Australian government for neglecting to provide them appropriate medical care. 

The European Union sought a commitment from its member states to admit 40,000 asylum seekers from Syria and Eritrea landing in Italy and Greece. 

Read the Kaldor Centre's Weekly News Roundup

Weekly media wrap - 2 March

The Abbott Government continues to defend its criticism of Professor Gillian Triggs. Described by some as an 'attack', the Government accused Triggs, the President of the Human Rights Commission which produced The Forgotten Children report into children in detention, of harbouring political bias due to the timing of the report. The advocacy group Grandmothers Against Detention of Refugee Children rallied in Melbourne in support of Professor Triggs.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton confirmed that the Bladin Alternative Place of Detention in Darwin will close in April 2015. The Coalition Government has attributed the closure to its ability to stop the arrival of asylum seeker carrying boats and the success of Operation Sovereign Borders.

According to reports in The Guardian, the trial of the two men accused of murdering asylum seeker Reza Barati in a riot on Manus Island on 17 February 2014 will soon begin. Asylum seekers on Manus Island have been asked to give evidence and are reportedly nervous about their safety if they testify.

Amnesty International has called on Australia to do more to help the millions of refugees fleeing violence in Syria and Afghanistan, including increasing Australia’s humanitarian intake. Amnesty also released its annual report in which it condemned the Australian Government for its offshore processing policies and the continuing detention.

 Meanwhile, the Obama administration is pushing to increase the number of Syrian refugees settled in the United States, but is facing resistance from Republicans concerned about security screening of refugees.

Weekly media wrap - 11 January 2015

The group of 50 men on Manus Island with approved refugee applications are being prepared to move from detention to temporary accommodation at the Lorengau transit centre and then into the PNG community. They were told they would be treated like the local Papua New Guineans, but detainees are resisting this move for fear of violence from locals.

An Iranian asylum seeker who went without food for 51 days in the Wickham Point Immigration Detention Centre in Northern Territory during late 2014 has resumed his hunger strike. 

A teenage boy who was crew on an asylum seeker boat that arrived nearly two years ago will return home to Indonesia next week. He and another teenage boy have been kept in detention since their arrival, despite a government policy not to prosecute Indonesian children found on the boats. The second boy has also been released on parole and put in immigration detention.

Figures provided to Fairfax Media indicate that ten refugees have been released into the community since August 2014, after ASIO reversed their decisions that the refugees were threats to national security.

Prime Minister Abbott congratulated the new Sri Lankan president-elect Maithripala Sirisena and emphasised the two countries’ cooperation on addressing people smuggling and other issues.

Lebanon turned back Syrians attempting to cross the border under new visa regulations, which limit the amount of time they can stay in Lebanon. Lebanon is concerned about its capacity to accommodate more people displaced by the Syrian civil war.

UNHCR released its Mid-Year Trends 2014 report, which indicate that an estimated 5.5 million people became newly displaced during the first half of 2014. Of these, 1.4 million fled across international borders, with the remaining displaced within their own countries. Syrians have become the largest refugee population under UNHCR's mandate.

Weekly media wrap - 24 November

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced Australia’s humanitarian intake of refugees through the UNHCR would not include people in Indonesia whose claims were assessed after July 1. ‘We're trying to stop people thinking that it's OK to come into Indonesia and use that as a waiting ground to get to Australia’, Mr Morrison said. Australia will continue to accept 13,750 refugees in 2014-15, mostly from countries of first asylum.

Resettled refugees on Nauru received an anonymous letter telling them to leave the island and that ‘bad things’ would happen if they stayed. The Nauruan government dismissed safety concerns and blamed refugee advocates for a ‘campaign of misinformation’.

Amnesty International released a report stating that Turkish border guards killed 17 people fleeing Syria at unofficial border crossings between December 2013 and August 2014.

A boatload of 35 asylum seekers from India and Nepal arrived on the small island of Yap, 2000km north of Papua New Guinea. People smugglers had reportedly told them that they would be taken to Australia.

An investigative report on the Al-Jazeera network claimed there is an illegal market for UNHCR refugee status cards in Malaysia, with some paying people thousands of Malaysian Ringgit for the documents. Sources at UNHCR said an internal investigation has been conducted to assess the fraudulent activity of staff.

Weekly media wrap - 17 November

The UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) is reviewing Australia’s obligations under its treaty for the first time since 2008, and will hand down its assessment on November 28. Australia’s immigration policy came under the spotlight when the committee questioned officials in relation to deaths and treatment of asylum seekers in offshore detention and the interception of boats at sea. Following this, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced that his department is set to introduce an independent ‘Detention Assurance Team’ (DAT) which will seek to monitor abuse and misconduct by service providers contracted to run both onshore and offshore detention centres.

The Senate inquiry into the federal government’s migration and maritime powers amendment received over 5,000 submissions, with many critical of the proposed laws. The amendment will seek to fast-track the assessment process and remove existing review mechanisms. The Department of Immigration revealed at the hearing that further legislation is required before asylum seekers are able to transition between the proposed safe haven enterprise visa (SHEV) and other classes of visas. The news comes after more than 100 asylum seekers on Manus Island signed a letter to MP Clive Palmer, asking to be included in plans for the government’s temporary protection visa scheme.

Meanwhile, Papua New Guinea offered 10 asylum seekers in the Manus Island detention centre refugee status, inviting them to apply for a 12-month visa. This follows Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young’s undertaking to spend a week in Cambodia investigating the conditions for refugees who may be re-settled in the country under the government’s new deal.

Australia’s privacy commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, released a report concluding that the Department of Immigration unlawfully exposed data on almost 10,000 asylum seekers in detention and left their personal information public for 16 days after the breach was reported.

More than 1000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees fleeing Islamic State militants have been resettled in Australia on special humanitarian visas. Refugee advocates called for two Afghan asylum seekers to be returned to Australia following a High Court order to review a case with similar foundations. An Australian-born child, deemed by authorities as an unauthorised arrival, marked his first birthday in an immigration detention facility in Darwin.

Weekly media wrap - 3 November

Australia will persist with its plan to resettle asylum seekers found to be genuine refugees in Cambodia

Four teenage refugees were allegedly assaulted by on Nauru this week. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and other government MPs are reluctant to interfere in the security matters of another sovereign nation. Calls continue for improved medical assistance to be provided to detainees held in offshore detention .

Australia has deported another Hazara asylum seeker. The Refugee Review Tribunal believe he can live safely in Kabul, rather than his home-town in the Afghani provice of Ghazni.

Labor party MPs have watered down suggestions that their policy on ‘turn backs’ has changed, after Shadow Immigration spokesman Richard Marles backed away from his suggestion that Labor would consider ‘turn backs’ when in government

According to The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights the Assad regime has attacked a refugee camp in Abedin, killing at least ten civilians.  At an international conference in Germany convened last week world leaders urged greater investment to tackle the ongoing humanitarian crisis and increased intakes from host countries.

In other international developments, the UNHCR is planning to ramp up operations to support displaced persons in eastern Ukraine as winter approaches. Italy is winding down Mare Nostrum, their search and rescue operation, after a boat disaster in which more than 300 migrants drowned. It will be replaced by Operation Triton, a more limited border security operation that does not have a search and rescue function, and is run by the European Union. It has received support from the UK, who perceive such functions as “pull factors”, encouraging people to make the dangerous crossing. 

Weekly media wrap - 27 October

Australian Federal Independent MP Andrew Wilkie wrote to the International Criminal Court to seek an investigation into the treatment of asylum seekers, to determine whether Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the 19 members of the cabinet have contravened international conventions.

The Guardian obtained information that Immigration Minister Scott Morrison employed a rarely used clause in the Migration Act that allows him to issue a ‘conclusive certificate’. The certificate blocks permanent protection on grounds of national interest. Asylum seeker advocates say that refugees are being denied natural justice and there is a lack of clarity on how national interest is being defined.

The future of the migration and maritime power legislation amendment bill is uncertain, as it is facing difficulty passing through the senate. Minister Morrison said failing to pass it would add to budget costs and keep children in detention. Critics claim that this bill will allow an increase to the powers of the immigration minister and will limit the role of the courts by bypassing the review process.

A group of asylum seekers won a Federal Court appeal against the immigration department over the unintentional exposure of their personal details in a significant data breach in February 2014. The Immigration Minister has been ordered to pay the asylum seekers' costs.

Further delays are expected for refugees to be resettled in Papua New Guniea, as Prime Minister Peter O'Neill announced plans for a new policy with increased focus on consultations and building public awareness of the scheme.

A senate estimates hearing was told that the Abbott government spent more than one billion dollars this financial year to house approximately 2200 asylum seekers in offshore detention centres in PNG and Nauru. A spokeswoman for the Immigration Minister defended the costs as almost $100 million less than the previous financial year.

Cambodian officials reportedly travelled to Australia this week, prior to flying to Nauru to meet refugees to discuss their option to be resettled in Cambodia. Cambodian Interior Ministry said that refugees would be given a 'realistic' picture of contemporary Cambodia.

Lebanon has closed its borders to Syrians fleeing their country's civil war as refugees, with the exception of ‘emergency cases’. The border will remain open for people traveling for other purposes.

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.

Weekly media round-up No. 31

29 March marked 100 days since an asylum seeker boat reached Australia. An estimated eight boats have been turned back to Indonesia in that time.

The Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee found it may not be possible for boats to be turned around safely without the risk of Australian naval vessels crossing into Indonesian waters. The Committee reported on six incursions into Indonesian waters between December 1 and January 20.

ABC’s 7.30 aired new witness statements alleging Australian personnel purposely inflicted burns on the hands of three men on an asylum-seeking boat in January. The Australian Government maintained the claims are baseless and attacked the ABC’s ‘recycling’ of the story.

Children held in detention in Australia described conditions as ‘hell’. The Australian Human Rights Commission is conducting the inquiry into children in immigration detention in Australia. The Commission made its first visit to children in detention on Christmas Island this week.

The UN refugee agency Asylum Trends 2013 report says there was a sharp rise in asylum claims in 44 industrialised countries last year, driven primarily by the crisis in Syria. According to UNHCR, 612,700 people applied for asylum in North America, Europe, East Asia and the Pacific last year - the highest total for any year since 2001. UNHCR reported (p 6) an increase of 54 per cent (24,300) in asylum applications in Australia compared to 2012 (15,800).

According to the European Union, nearly half a million people sought asylum in Europe last year, the most in two decades. The largest number came from Syria. In total, 434,160 people sought protection in the EU's 28 member states in 2013, an increase of nearly 30 per cent from 2012 when there were 335,000 applications.

Weekly media round-up No. 18

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison stopped holding weekly news conferences on asylum seeker boat arrivals, instead issuing a written statement with no opportunity for journalists to ask questions. Mr Morrison's office said that 355 asylum seekers arrived in December though none in the past week.

Serco announced it has secured a six-month extension to its contract with the Australian Government for the provision of detention services on the mainland and Christmas Island. Fairfax media reports that each asylum seeker who tries to reach Australia on a boat could cost taxpayers almost half a million dollars.

An Iranian asylum seeker who miscarried on Christmas Island said her requests for medical attention were ignored. The Australian Human Rights Commission said doctors’ letter of concern is 'chilling in its scientific clarity' in detailing inhumane treatment.

An intellectually disabled woman seeking asylum and her family were moved from detention in Christmas Island to the Australian mainland. Amnesty International reported on conditions in the Manus Island detention centre.

Community leaders urged Lebanese asylum seekers to return home voluntarily from detention on Nauru and Manus Island. Zimbabwe's ambassador to Australia asked for political asylum days before her term ends saying she fears for her safety if she returns home.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported one in five people living in Lebanon are refugees who have fled the conflict in neighbouring Syria.

Pope Francis called for dignity for refugees fleeing misery and conflict in his Christmas Day speech.