By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SYDNEY, Australia – East Timor’s parliament has unanimously passed a resolution to reject Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s proposal to establish an offshore asylum seeker detention centre on the country.

Prior to the passage of the resolution, Ms Julia Gillard has said she hopes to cooperate with other nations in the region to establish a processing center for asylum seekers, with the possibility of setting up one in East Timor.

The Prime Minister has backed away from suggestions the centre would be located in East Timor. As it turns out, she had only discussed the plan in a phone conversation with East Timor’s president, Jose Ramos-Horta.

President Jose Ramos-Horta acknowledged that he had discussed with Ms Gillard the “possibility” of hosting a processing centre. He further stated, however, that the purpose of any centre in Timor would be to process asylum-seekers who were in danger on the high seas and had not found safety in another country. Also, he specified that it should be the UN, not Australia or Timor that should administer any holding facility in East Timor.

The resolution comes after the parliament in Dili last week formally condemned Ms Gillard’s idea as unworkable. East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao last week allowed his own party to join in a unanimous condemnation of the plan in parliament.

Ms Gillard has currently refused to set a date for the rollout of any policy.

For more information, please see:

ABC News, East Timor MPs reject asylum centre proposal, 12 July 2010

The Australian, East Timor’s parliament rejects Gillard plan for regional asylum-seeker centre, 12 July 2010

Sky News, East Timor rejects asylum seeker centre, 12 July 2010