By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania
CANBERRA, Australia – Almost a month after first being taken in by an Australian navy boat, Indonesia has agreed to detain the seventy-eight Sri Lankan asylum seekers and hold them in an immigration facility in Tanjung Pinang, Riau.
The detention center in Riau will hold the asylum seekers for up to six months, with Australia covering the costs. The deal provides that those found to be refugees will be guaranteed resettlement within four weeks. Others will await processing to determine whether they are “genuine refugees”, and if found to be the case, they will be resettled within twelve weeks.
Asylum seekers, already housed in the facility, have been waiting for as long as seven months, and question the preferential treatment that the Rudd government is extending to these Tamils.
The border protection committee, which is chaired by Immigration Minister Chris Evans and includes staff members on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s administration, devised the deal.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith claimed that this situation was “a special, almost unique, circumstance of a search and rescue in Indonesian waters”, while the Prime Minister maintains that they have not been treated any differently.
Parliament questioned Rudd yesterday over his role in the deal that prompted the asylum seekers to agree to leave the boat.
Rudd claimed that he knew negotiations were taking place but claims he had no prior knowledge of the arrangements.
The Riau immigration facility, which has a maximum capacity of 400 occupants, currently holds approximately seventy-seven asylum seekers, who traveled from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran with hopes of entering Australia.
The asylum seekers have been on board an Australian patrol vessel, the Oceanic Viking, near the Riau Islands since October 26th, when navy boats found them in international waters within Indonesia’s search and rescue zone.
Twenty-two Sri Lankans arrived at the detention center last Friday, November 13th and the remaining fifty-six are expected to arrive today.
Meanwhile, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono trip to meet with the Prime Minister this week has delayed his trip.
The opposition to the current administration characterized Yudhoyono’s postponement as an “extraordinary slap in the face”, blaming the Prime Minister for tense relations between the two nations.
News that the Tamils had ended the standoff broke, just as the Australian navy intercepted two more boats, one containing forty-one asylum seekers, and brought them to the detention facility on Christmas Island.
For more information, please see:
The Australian – Boat saga test ties to Jakarta – 18 November 2009
New Zealand Herald – Rudd in doldrums as challenges mount – 18 November 2009
The Jakarta Post – RI agrees to detain 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers – 17 November 2009
Sydney Morning Herald – Tamils set for mixed welcome to detention – 18 November 2009
Radio Australia News – Australian navy stops another boat carrying asylum seekers – 17 November 2009
WA Today – Asylum seeker stand-off ‘nearly over’ – 17 November 2009
Sydney Morning Herald – Our newest Australians leave the boat – 13 November 2009
