By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

CANBERRA, Australia – As the number of boats carrying asylum seekers to Australia continues to rise, questions have been raised over the Government’s immigration and border protection policies.

Over the last two days alone, two boats were intercepted by authorities, who subsequently brought the individuals to the detention center at Christmas Island.

Christmas Island has itself been the subject of much scrutiny recently.  Australian newspapers have recently been reporting that the number of detainees on Christmas Island will double, reaching approximately 5,000 by 2014.  Many believe that if this were to happen, Christmas Island would become similar to a penal colony.  However, the Government has stated that these figures are inaccurate.

These reports have placed pressure on the Government to clarify just how many asylum seekers it plans to house at the facility.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd denies reports that the Government plans to increase the capacity of the immigration detention center at Christmas Island. He has indicated that the detention center at Christmas Island can currently hold approximately 2,040 detainees. Currently, the Government has plans to expand the facility’s capacity to 2,300 individuals.  It began construction on an addition to the main detention center’s facility, which would house an additional 400 beds.

Despite the Government’s insistence that there are no plans to double the size of the detention center, opposition immigration officials believe that the government still needs clarify its plans.  The detention center is having problems accommodating the number of asylum seekers that are currently housed there.

The opposition claims that Christmas Island originally was built to house approximately 1,200 detainees at the most.

Approximately 400 asylum seekers arrive each month while only 100 leave.  On average, an asylum seeker could spend between 100 and 110 days at the facility.

Many of the asylum seekers have arrived illegally by boat.  This year alone, the navy has intercepted eighteen boats carrying asylum seekers.

In order to save on the costs of running Christmas Island, some individuals recommend that immigrants be processed on Australia’s mainland.  This year’s budget for operations is expected to cost between $280 and $300 million.

For more information please see:
ABC News – Rudd shoots down detention centre report – 07 March 2010

Brisbane Times – Two asylum seeker boats intercepted – 07 March 2010

ABC News – Christmas Island detainee population to double: report – 06 March 2010

The West Australian – Govt quiet on Christmas Island detention – 06 March 2010

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – An outbreak of typhoid in Fiji has caused the Ministry of Health and Fiji’s Red Cross to take action.

To date, the Ministry has identified ninety-nine cases, mostly from Fiji’s Central and Western Divisions.  More tests are currently being conducted to confirm whether certain suspected individuals may have contracted the disease.

Potential cases usually take between three and four days to be confirmed.  In the meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is continuing its investigations in those communities that have been subjected to typhoid.

The Ministry is attempting to prevent the spread of typhoid across Fiji, although most regions have already been affected to some degree.  Iliesa Tora, a representative of the Ministry, stated that Fijians must practice good hygiene in order to prevent further spreading.

In addition, they will be giving fresh water to those areas that have been affected.  Fifty volunteers with Fiji’s Red Cross will also be providing support and spreading awareness of the disease to the public.

Mr. Tora has indicated that most of the cases that have been identified thus far have come from rural areas.  In these areas, where the water is mostly untreated or not treated on a consistent basis, people are exposed to the water as they tend to do their activities there.

Fiji issued a typhoid alert just last week, and the number of cases has dramatically increased.  This past weekend alone, thirty cases of typhoid may have been identified in Waibasaga Village in Naitasiri.  Officials suspect that these individuals, who had diarrhea, had contracted it.  Diarrhea is one of the symptoms of typhoid.

Typhoid is caused by the contamination of food and water supplies.

Despite warnings issued by the Ministry of Health, one village continued to hold large public gatherings.  As a result, Fijian troops were put in place to control the outbreak.

For more information please see:
Fiji Times – Typhoid stays at 99 – 02 March 2010

Top News – Fiji Typhoid Outbreak Worsen, Red Cross Volunteers Offer Services – 02 March 2010

Fiji Times – Red Cross moots change – 01 March 2010

Fiji Times – Visit reveals challenges – 01 March 2010

Radio New Zealand International – Typhoid cases in Fiji increase – 28 February 2010

Australia Network News – Village fails to heed Fiji typhoid outbreak – 23 February 2010

By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

NAURU, Yaren – The people of Nauru voted against the proposed amendments to the country’s constitution. The proposed changes was called the Constitution of Nauru Referendum Amendments Bill.

The Constitution of Nauru was written before its independence in 1968. In the last 6 years, the Nauru government began the process of constitutional reform.

The process included years of discussion and negotiation. Supporters of reform hoped that it would end the “volatile nature of Nauru politics.”

Advocates for the proposed changes to the Constitution state that the changes were designed to improve the “transparency and accountability of public institutions, and to make the Constitution more relevant to the Nauruan people.”

The Bill sought to strengthen human rights, change the way the President was elected, and clarify the roles of the President and Cabinet to provide stronger mechanisms for ensuring stability and continuity of the government.

In the referendum on Saturday, February 27, 2010, Nauruans were asked to vote for or against the constitutional amendments, including giving themselves the power to vote for the country’s President, removing it from the members of Parliament.

But 2/3 of the votes were opposed to the changes, and the referendum will not be adopted.

The government says nearly 3,000 votes out of the approximate 4,400 casted in the referendum opposed the 34 proposed changes.

As in a general election, polling booths were stationed in all 14 districts around the island.

For more information, please see:
Asia Pacific News – Changes to Nauru’s constitution rejected at referendum – 28 February 2010

Australia Network News – Changes to Nauru’s constitution rejected at referendum – 28 February 2010

Radio New Zealand International – Nauruans vote against proposed Constitutional amendments – 28 February 2010

By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – A conflict resolution expert for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Tracy Vienings, says Pacific countries have to put more effort into overcoming issues of marginalization and inequality.

She says that the issues of marginalization and inequality are often at the root of conflict and more effort needs to go into connecting peace building with development.

A UNDP meeting in Suva, Fiji resulted in the implementation of project called the Strengthening Capacities for Peace and Development, and involved various Pacific governments, NGOs, and regional agencies.

The Strengthening Capacities for Peace and Development project includes immediate capacity building support. The project aims at establishing programs to facilitate needs-based planning and monitoring, and to support reconciliation activities in the Pacific region.

The project aims to bring together regional organizations, government and civil society actors to share experiences, discuss the difficult issues, and begin to strengthen leadership and capacities for peace in the Pacific.

One part of the project’s goals is to introduce a core group of Pacific peace builders. This is a workshop that hopes to answer questions regarding the meaning of peace, the linkages between peace, conflict, and development, and how human rights can be addressed through peace building projects.

The core group of peace builders will be drawn from selected countries in the Pacific.

Vienings stated that: “Through this project we are targeting a core group of peace builders, generally middle level staff in civil society organizations, governments and intergovernmental organizations. Those participating in this programme will also benefit from a small grants mechanism to fund peace projects of those participating in the initiative.”

Although this project has triggered discussions about positive changes in the Pacific region, Vienings believes that governments and civil society have struggled to take action. She urges the Pacific countries to put more effort into overcoming the issues and take action.

She stated: “The reason that [the Pacific countries] don’t [take action] is because they are politicized issues and are very difficult. They require long term solutions but governments and civil society are not necessarily addressing them at the moment.”

For more information, please see:
Pacific Islands News Association – Core Group of Pacific Peace Builders to Get Introduction Training Soon – 26 February 2010

Radio New Zealand International – More effort needed to solve root causes of conflict in Pacific – UNDP expert – 25 February 2010

United National Development Programme – Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme: Strengthening Capacities for the Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation Framework

By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

MANOKWARI, West Papua – A prominent West Papuan human rights lawyer, Yan Christian Warinussy, plans to go on a speaking tour throughout Australia to promote the need for a peaceful solution to the problems in Indonesia’s troubled Papua region.

Warinussy, who won Canada’s John Humphrey Freedom Award in 2005 for his promotion of human rights and democracy, says that the situation in West Papua has been “left to deteriorate far too long.”

He says that the Special Autonomy status granted to Papua by Indonesia in 2001 has proven a failure. Not only that, the heavy militarization of the region has worsened the security situation.

Warinussy stressed the need for dialogue between Jakarta and Papuan representatives.

The need for dialogue became more apparent with the death of Kelly Kwalik, the West Papuan leader and advocate for human rights, on December 16, 2009. A press released from the Indonesian Human Rights Committee (IHRC) called for New Zealand’s support for dialogue in the wake of Kwalik’s death.

Since the death of Kwalik, the territory has experienced an outpouring of grief and anger within the Papuan community.

The IHRC called on Prime Minister John Key and Foreign Minister Murray McCully to support the calls for dialogue to avert further tension and violence in West Papua.

Similar to Warinussy, the IHRC stressed the need for mediated dialogue between Papuan representatives and Jakarta.

However, not much change has happened since the IHRC made its press release public, and Warinussy fears that the human rights situation in Papua continues to deteriorate even more.

He stated: “The human rights situation in West Papua is not good until now. The Special Autonomy, we cannot use that to solve the problem. We need to make peaceful dialogue between Indonesia and Papua – to think again, to plan again, to make sure.”

For more information, please see:
Solomon Star – West Papuan rights lawyer calls for peaceful dialogue with Jakarta – 25 February 2010

Radio New Zealand International – West Papuan rights lawyer calls for peaceful dialogue with Jakarta – 25 February 2010

Scoop Independent News – West Papua: Dialogue Needed Between NZ and Jakarta – 24 December 2009