Den australske regering fortsætter sin indsats for at gennemføre en aftale, der skal give landet ret til at afvise asylansøgere, der ankommer til kontinentet i både.
Senest har regeringen foreslået at udveksle de næste 800 bådflygtninge med 4.000 flygtninge, hovedsageligt burmesiske, der lige nu opholder sig i Malaysia. Men en overretslig instans har kendt forslaget ugyldigt.
BANGKOK, THAILAND, 20 September 2011: Australia’s resumed push to swap asylum-seekers arriving by boat with refugees from Malaysia is the government’s most recent policy response to an issue that has preoccupied (optaget) officials and the public for years.
Under the so-called “Malaysia Solution”, Australia would exchange the next 800 refugees to arrive by boat for 4.000 mostly Burmese, in Malaysia. On 31 August, the High Court (overretten) ruled against it, declaring the proposal invalid, a decision welcomed by rights groups such as the Refugee Council of Australia.
According to government figures, since 1976, more than 27.000 people have boarded boats and attempted to emi-grate to Australia, a signatory (under-skriver) to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.
IRIN writes on Tuesday how the debate has developed:
27 April 1976: The first boat arrivals – five refugees from Vietnam – land in Darwin. Over the next five years, more than 2.000 Vietnamese boat arrivals are reported and the term “boat people” enters the Australian vernacular (folkesprog);
24 May 1977: The first comprehensive (omfattende) policy for refugees, rather than just migrants, is announced in Parliament;
1977-1978: The government increases the number of Indochinese refugees accepted for resettlement from camps in Southeast Asia, to discourage people from arriving by boat. Federal-funded services for new arrivals, such as language classes and resource centres, are expanded;
1981: The government introduces a resettlement programme for people who are not strictly refugees under the UN convention. The Special Humanitarian Programme provides resettlement for people living outside their home country who are subjected to human rights violations and who have family or community ties to Australia;
11 March 1983:
Læs videre på: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93760
