Rights group slams Australia visa system review

CANBERRA (Reuters) – An Australian review of how it grants
visas to asylum seekers could undermine the integrity and
credibility of its refugee process, human rights group Amnesty
International said on Tuesday.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday that
the system was under review after a recent Immigration
Department decision to grant asylum to 42 boat people from
Indonesia’s Papua province strained ties between Canberra and
Jakarta.

The government is considering taking into account its
national interest and consulting countries on claims being made
against them when assessing asylum claims.

“You wouldn’t talk to Saddam Hussein when people were
fleeing Iraq,” Amnesty International Australia refugee
coordinator Graham Thom told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
radio.

“You wouldn’t talk to the Taliban when people were fleeing
Afghanistan. To suggest that this is appropriate in any
circumstances is quite clearly wrong.”

The Immigration Department recognized the 42 boat people
from Papua province as refugees last month after they sailed
from their homeland in late January in a traditional outrigger
with a banner accusing Indonesia of genocide.

Jakarta denies such charges and believes Canberra should
have asked for verification of the asylum seekers’ claims. It
sees Australia’s acceptance of the Papuans as giving credence
to their claims of ill-treatment and as support for Papuan
independence.

Indonesia immediately recalled its Canberra-based
ambassador and its foreign ministry said there is no immediate
plan to send the envoy back. There have been protests outside
the Australian embassy in Jakarta and calls for a boycott of
Australian products.

Papuan independence activists have campaigned for more than
30 years to split from Indonesia, while a low-level rebellion
has also simmered. Some of the most prominent support for the
separatists is from organizations in Australia.

Howard said the Papuan refugees triggered the visa system
review, which the government would consider later this week,
but that any changes would apply to all future asylum seekers
and that Australia would continue to meet international
obligations.