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Rights group slams Australia visa system review

Posted on: Monday, 10 April 2006, 23:58 CDT

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.

Source: REUTERS

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