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 - 27 January 2016

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said 72 children in mandatory detention on the mainland would be transferred to offshore detention.  A group of 930 academics wrote an open letter to the Australian government urging the immediate release of children from detention.

An investigation by Fairfax media revealed that the Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Melbourne has the highest rate of detainee restraint and use of force by staff. The Villawood detention centre recorded the second highest rate of use of force.

In Papua New Guinea, Manus Island residents met to discuss the lack of benefit arising from the island’s detention centre. A spokesperson stated that too little of the $420 million of Australian Government aid given to PNG for hosting the centre has flowed to the Manus Island community.

The Danish parliament passed laws that delay family reunification for three years for people fleeing indiscriminate violence, and allow police to seize assets of asylum seekers over a certain value. 

Weekly media wrap - 7 December 2015

A program to take children in immigration detention on outings run by a group of Catholic nuns was deemed not appropriate by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. In an interview on ABC Radio, Sister Brigid Arthur said that while the Department had cancelled the program due to concerns about safety and supervision, 'the outings were amazingly free from incident. The people were so please to be out and about'.

In late November, the Senate voted to support an amendment to the Migration and Maritime Powers Amendment Bill 2015 (Cth), which mandated the release of all remaining children in onshore Australian immigration detention. However, the House of Representatives, controlled by the Coalition, chose not to include the bill on its business list for the final parliamentary sitting week of the year, meaning that the legislation will not be considered by the House until next year.

The 21st Conference of the Parties climate negotiations underway in Paris heard from a panel of European academics that climate related migration is increasing as people move for safety and because they have lost their livelihood. After meeting with representatives from Pacific Island nations at the negotiations, President Obama said that climate change could lead to 'tens of millions of climate refugees from the Asia Pacific region'. 

Read the Kaldor Centre's weekly news roundup.

Weekly media wrap - 1 December 2015

The government refused to discuss the whereabouts of an asylum seeker boat which came within 200 metres of Christmas Island last week. The group of 16 asylum seekers were found stranded at sea near the town of Tabolong, on the western tip of West Timor, Indonesia. It is not clear whether the passengers on the boat made asylum claims, or whether any claims were assessed on board.

Also in Indonesia, two asylum seekers told an Indonesian court they witnessed Australian authorities paying the crew of their boat a cash payment in June 2015, before escorting them back to Indonesian waters.

An Iranian asylum seeker on Nauru protested to draw attention to the condition of the 95 children in detention on the island. See more statistics at Asylum Insight’s statistics page. Earlier in the week, the Australian Senate passed a bill calling for all children to be released from detention.

Germany will begin to deport asylum seekers from the Western Balkans whose applications for asylum have been unsuccessful. Balkan countries have imposed stricter border controls, allowing only Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan asylum seekers to pass through from Greece. The controls have been met with violent protests from asylum seekers on the Greek side of the border. The UN has warned of humanitarian problems as restrictions chiefly involve people being profiled on the basis of their alleged nationalities

Read the Kaldor Centre weekly news roundup.

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 wrap – 1 February

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton announced that a total of 15 boats containing 429 asylum seekers have been turned back since the commencement of Operation Sovereign Borders.

A group of eight former Australians of the Year used Australia Day celebrations to call for the immediate release of all refugee and asylum seeker children from immigration detention. On the same day, further arrests were made in detention compounds on Manus Island as protests continued.

The High Court handed down a judgment that Australian authorities acted legally when they intercepted a boat from India carrying 157 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers in June 2014. The asylum seekers were detained on an Australian customs vessel for 29 days until they were brought to the Australian mainland and then transferred to Nauru. The Court found that Australian authorities had acted within the bounds of the Maritime Powers Act.

Minister Dutton said that the ruling ‘has vindicated the Government's position’. However, others have written that the decision raises concerns about the rights of asylum seekers who are detained at sea.

In international news, Kuwaiti philanthropist Shaikha Rima Al Sabah has been appointed as the UNHCR’s newest Goodwill Ambassador, while Angelina Jolie, special envoy for the UNHCR, appealed for urgent funding to assist more than 3 million displaced Iraqis and Syrians living in northern Iraq.

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. 49

An Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry in to the health and wellbeing of children in immigration detention continued this week.

Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection Martin Bowles told the inquiry the number of children in detention has fallen from 1330 in July 2013 to 659 in July 2014. The inquiry heard evidence from Dr Peter Young that the immigration department requested the withdrawal of evidence of mental health concerns among young detainees. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison rejected this claim. The inquiry also heard evidence that the department chose ‘young looking’ detainees for offshore transfer, because of the enhanced deterrent effect on prospective arrivals.

One hundred and fifty-seven Tamil asylum seekers were moved from Curtin detention centre to Nauru. Mr Morrison returned from India after securing an agreement from officials to repatriate Indian nationals, and consider the claims of Sri Lankan nationals. Detainees rejected the offer to be assessed by Indian officials. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young attempted to visit the detainees, but was denied access. Lawyers for the asylum seekers say they were not given adequate access to their clients before their transfer to Nauru. The relocation cuts short a High Court challenge to the processing of asylum seekers at sea.

Fifteen asylum seeker youths in community detention in Adelaide have fled fearing a return to custody. A Church-sponsored report called for the appointment of an independent guardian for children in detention. The position of immigration minister as guardian is untenable, the report argues, given he is ‘also tasked with being their judge and jailer’.

Weekly media round-up No. 45

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced a proposal to apply a “national interest test” for permanent protection applications from people who arrive without a visa.  Refugee advocates have responded saying that a High Court challenge could be launched to refute the proposal.

There has been continued speculation about whether asylum seekers who left southern India on 13 June, and who appealed to refugee advocates last Friday, would be turned back to Sri Lanka. Human rights groups issued accusations that Australia breached international law amid reports that the Australian navy was deployed to pick up Tamil asylum seekers and hand them to the Sri Lankan authorities.

It is alleged that the asylum seekers’ claims were assessed through four questions on board via video link. The Guardian issued information from a former immigration department officer that the department has previously considered using Australian custom vessels to interview and process asylum seekers, but was advised the process could be unlawful.

Whether the vessels were turned around has not been confirmed. Sri Lankan and Indian authorities and government officials said they had not received any official information about this case, however The Australian reported that a Sri Lankan navy official claimed asylum seekers were picked up. The Australian Greens and the Labor immigration spokesman have called on the Prime Minister to give public details on the fate of the asylum seekers. A spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said that the department would not comment on operations. 

In a 3AW interview, Prime Minister Tony Abbott insisted Australia was acting legally within its international obligations. He said that turning boats around, returning asylum seekers to Sri Lanka and the rapid on-board screening process were all “in accordance with the international law”.

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) issued statistics that children account for the greatest percentage of self-harm incidents and suicidal behaviour by asylum seekers in detention. This was not confirmed by the International Health and Medical Services which is contracted to provide health care for asylum seekers in Australian detention. The AHRC also announced a third hearing for the commission’s inquiry into children in immigration detention, which would be held for “whistleblower employees” to give evidence.

PNG police are searching for a former Salvation Army employee, suspected of killing Reza Berati in the unrest in February on Manus Island, who has fled to PNG’s mainland. An asylum seeker who lost an eye during the riots has launched legal action against the federal government.

The ABC reported allegations that detainees in immigration detention facilities are put under pressure to 'volunteer' to go home before applying for asylum.