Monday, September 30, 2013

1) WPAA letter to Australian High Commissioner


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1) WPAA letter to Australian High Commissioner


West Papua Action Auckland,
Box 68-419,
Auckland.
 
 
30 September 2013
 
The Australian High Commissioner.
His Excellency Mr Micheal Potts,
72-76 Hobson Street, Thorndon,
Wellington .
 Fax: 04 498 7135
 
 
Your Excellency,
 
 
West Papua Action Auckland is shocked to learn of the deportation of a group of seven West Papuan asylum seekers from Australia’s Horne Island.  We believe that this action is in breach of Australia’s obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and the humanitarian principles that underlie international law and practice on refugee matters.
 
We understand that the group, which includes a woman and a child, escaped by sea from Indonesian controlled West Papua and succeeded in landing safely on the Australian island Boigu, Torres Strait on 24 September 2013.  Australian authorities arranged for the group to be taken to Horne Island but they were denied any form of legal representation. Instead they were subjected to a ‘bait and switch’ operation: falsely told that they were to be flown to mainlandAustralia but instead dispatched to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
 
We understand that all in the group clearly stated that they were seeking asylum in Australia from political persecution in West Papua.  They had been involved in supporting the voyage of the Freedom Flotilla from Australia to West Papua.   Although no vessel from the Flotilla made landfall in West Papua a ceremonial handover of sacred water and ashes from Australian indigenous elders took place at sea not far from West Papua’s coast.
 
Indonesia made no secret of its vehement opposition to the voyage of the Flotilla – Australian participants were threatened with interception by the military, and local West Papuan supporters were arrested and intimidated. In one instance four people were arrested in Sorong because they took part in a prayer ceremony welcoming the Freedom Flotilla initiative.  These four now face charges of ‘treason’ for this peaceful action.


If the group remain in Papua New Guinea there is a risk that they could be repatriated back to West Papua particularly in the light of a recent extradition agreement between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
 
From the details we have it seems clear that there has been a blatant breach of the rights of these asylum seekers under the 1951 Refugee Convention –including their right to receive legal representation and their right not to be summarily expelled.  
 
We urge that this situation should be revisited and the asylum seekers given the option to test their legal rights under the Refugee Convention to claim asylum and protection in Australia.
 
Yours sincerely,
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http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=79519
Posted at 03:20 on 01 October, 2013 UTC
The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, has restated that Canberra has total respect for Indonesia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Speaking in Jakarta, Mr Abbott has told his hosts that he admires what Indonesia has done to improve the autonomy and life of people in West Papua.
He says he is confident that they can have the best possible life and the best possible future as a part of an indissoluble Indonesia.
Papua is the scene of human rights abuses and largely closed to foreign media.
Last week, Australia deported seven Papuan asylum seekers from Queensland to the Papua New Guinea capital, allegedly after refusing them access to a lawyer.
The group claimed to be persecuted by Indonesia’s security forces.
Australia’s immigration minister, Scott Morrison, says the seven were sent to PNG under a concession provided by the PNG government under a 2003 memorandum of understanding.
Mr Morrison says he has reached a formal agreement with his PNG counterparts to ensure the prompt return of other asylum seekers who arrived in Australia by similar circumstances.

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http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=79510
Posted at 01:47 on 01 October, 2013 UTC
The group of seven West Papuan asylum seekers deported by Australia to Papua New Guinea say they feel powerless and afraid about what will happen to them.
The seven, who arrived in the Torres Strait last week claiming to be fleeing persecution by the Indonesian security forces, were transferred to Port Moresby by Immigration officials.
The International Organisation for Migration says PNG Immigration officials are handling the process to determine the basic details of the group.
One of the group, Yacob Mandabayan, says that since they reached Australia a week ago, they’ve been denied access to a lawyer and left in the dark about what’s happening.
“We are feeling afraid because a lot of Indonesian people here (in PNG). So we are afraid of everything because until today we have had no contact from Australian Immigration.”
Yacob Mandabayan says they are afraid of being repatriated.
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http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=79524
Posted at 04:21 on 01 October, 2013 UTC
The Refugee Action Coalition says the Australian government has acted unlawfully in transferring seven West Papuans, who had fled Indonesia and sought asylum in Queensland, to Papua New Guinea.
Its spokesperson, Ian Rintoul, says the government claimed it acted in line with a 2003 Memorandum of Understanding, which allows Australia to return asylum seekers to PNG if they have come through PNG.
But Mr Rintoul says the MOU requires those people to have been in PNG for seven days or more, and the West Papuans were there for just two.
He says the MOU also requires those who are returned to have their refugee processing done in PNG - but there are questions as to whether PNG has the intent or ability to do this.
“We have seen them act unlawfully. They’ve certainly acted unethically. While that Memorandum of Understanding is there, there’s no reason that the government needs to rely on that, it knows the situation of West Papuans and it should be willing to actually process them here. They know the people who are coming here are deserving of protection and yet they’ve sent them back to Papua New Guinea.”
The Refugee Coalition Action spokesperson, Ian Rintoul.

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http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=79507
Posted at 22:11 on 30 September, 2013 UTC
The International Organisation for Migration says it’s up to Papua New Guinea authorities as to what happens to seven West Papuans transferred to Port Moresby.
The seven, who arrived in the Torres Strait last week claiming to be fleeing persecution by the Indonesian security forces for their links to activists, were transferred to Port Moresby by Australian Immigration officials.
The group says they don’t know what’s going on and that they’ve been denied access to a lawyer.
They say they are seeking asylum in Australia, not PNG.
However the IOM’s chief of mission in PNG, George Gigauri, says PNG’s Immigration and Citizenship Service Authority is processing the basic details of the West Papuans to determine what happens.
“Only the PNG government can do this. It’s the state determination process. It’s done by the PNG government. What IOM is doing is we’re basically doing the humanitarian side. We’re looking after them. They’re under our care while this state determination process is happening.”
George Gigauri says the determination process is expected to be complete by the end of the week.
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