By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — Australia, which has been criticized for its policy of sending asylum seekers to offshore detention centers, has said the Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea would begin resettling refugees who are now being held in camps there. The statement did not indicate how many refugees were expected to be resettled in Papua New Guinea, nor did an earlier statement from that country’s foreign minister.

Australia made a 2013 deal to provide Papua New Guinea with aid if it agreed to house a detention center and resettle refugees.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton welcomed the announcement, saying he would be meeting with the Papua New Guinea government next week to examine the details.

“Consistent with the Regional Resettlement Arrangement (RRA), persons transferred to Papua New Guinea who are found to be refugees will be resettled in Papua New Guinea. No-one will be resettled in Australia,” Mr. Dutton said in a statement. “The Papua New Guinea government has shown its commitment to permit those found to be refugees to get on with their lives and have a fresh start in this dynamic nation with a growing economy.”

Australia’s policies toward migrants who try to reach it by sea have come under increasing criticism from rights groups. The groups say the country’s two offshore detention centers — one on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, and the other in Nauru — expose asylum seekers to harsh and unsafe conditions.

Papua New Guinea, which Australia says suffers from a general atmosphere of lawlessness, has not resettled anyone in the three years it has hosted the center and it says those who are resettled will face waits of up to eight years before obtaining citizenship.

Refugees will be eligible to apply for citizenship after eight years, but they may be able to bring their families to Papua New Guinea before then, after they have a job and have established themselves.

No refugees will be settled on Manus, only in other parts of Papua New Guinea. It is understood the vast majority are likely to end up in the capital, and economic hub, Port Moresby.

Advocates have said that conditions could prove difficult for refugees in Papua New Guinea, which has one of the world’s highest crime rates. The capital, Port Moresby, has high unemployment and is often ranked in surveys as one of the world’s least livable cities.

Indeed, many of those held in detention have said they will not accede to resettlement elsewhere in Papua New Guinea. Several dozen have already refused to present their refugee claims to officials.

“I will stay inside the detention center for the rest of my life rather than go to Papua New Guinea,” one refugee told Guardian Australia. “I never ever dream I could have a future in this inferno. Hundreds here, they feel same way like me.”

No refugee transferred to Papua New Guinea by Australia has of yet been resettled in the country.

For more information, please see:

ABC Online — PNG to begin resettling Manus Island refugees – 23 October 2015

BBC News — PNG to resettle Manus Island refugees, Australia says – 23 October 2015

NY Times — Papua New Guinea to Resettle Refugees From Australian Detention Center – 23 October 2015

Reuters — ‘Lawless’ Papua New Guinea says to begin resettling asylum seekers from Australian camp – 23 October 2015

The Guardian — Hundreds of refugees are refusing to settle in PNG’s ‘land of opportunities’ – 23 October 2015

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

MELBOURNE, Australia — Asylum seekers being held in a controversial center in the South Pacific are to be allowed to roam free, effectively ending their detention. All 600 people at the center on Nauru will be allowed to move around the tiny island nation; they will also have their outstanding applications for asylum processed within the next seven days.

The surprise decision also came two days before the Australian High Court was due to examine the legality of Australia’s role in the offshore detention.

Successive Australian governments have vowed to stop asylum seekers reaching the mainland. For example, the country has previously turned boats back to Indonesia when it could, and sending those it could not for detention in camps on Nauru and on Manus Island in impoverished Papua New Guinea.

Justice Minister David Adeang issued a statement regarding the recent developments on Nauru and Manus Island Monday,

“The start of detention-free processing is a landmark day for Nauru and represents an even more compassionate program, which was always the intention of our government,” said Mr. Adeang. Mr. Adeang also confirmed that the Australian authorities would “provide support with safety, security and law enforcement.”

Advocates have long criticized Australia’s policy to hold asylum seekers on outlying islands, where they face the risks of violence and long periods in difficult conditions with limited medical care. Last month, an Australian Senate Report found conditions on Nauru were not appropriate or safe for detainees, and urged the government to remove children from the center.

Hugh de Kretser, the executive director of the Human Rights Law Center in Melbourne, Australia, expressed sentiments of both cautious optimism and skepticism.

“It is a welcome development that will provide some relief to the 600 or so people being detained, but it doesn’t address the fundamental injustice of warehousing people on a tiny island nation.”

Mr. de Kretser went on to question the timing of the announcement, which came just days before a hearing at Australia’s High Court on a challenge to the country’s immigration policy filed by the law center.

“We don’t think it’s a coincidence that this announcement is happening three years after the reopening of the detention center and two days before the highest court is considering the lawfulness of offshore detention on Nauru.”

The legal challenge has been brought on behalf of a pregnant woman from Bangladesh who was taken to Australia from the detention center in Nauru for hospital treatment. More than 200 asylum seekers, including 50 children, are also seeking legal protection after being taken to Australia for medical care they could not receive in Nauru and Manus Island.

The harsh conditions at the camps, including reports of systemic child abuse, have been strongly criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups.

An independent U.N. investigator postponed an official visit to Australia last month, citing a lack of government cooperation and “unacceptable” legal restrictions.

For more information, please see:

BBC News — Nauru to end detention of asylum seekers – 5 October 2015

NY Times — Nauru Easing Rules for Asylum Seekers at Detention Center Financed by Australia – 5 October 2015

Reuters — Tiny Nauru throws gates open at Australian camp for asylum seekers – 5 October 2015

Sky News — Asylum Seekers Free To Leave Nauru Centre – 5 October 2015

The Guardian — Nauru says it will process remaining 600 refugee claims within a week – 4 October 2015

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

SYDNEY, Australia — New Zealand has criticized Australia for detaining and deporting hundreds of New Zealanders under tough new immigration laws, saying the new laws were undermining the historically close ties between the two neighbors. The laws, introduced last year, mean any non-Australian criminal imprisoned for a year or more can have their permit to live in Australia revoked.

Since December, anyone who isn’t an Australian citizen and who has served a sentence of 12 months or more can be deported.

Following revelations that about 300 New Zealanders had been detained in Australia and faced deportation, John Key, the New Zealand Prime Minister, accused the Australian government of picking and choosing which citizens it kept.

“There’s people that have often spent their entire lives now in Australia, they went over there when they were very, very, young,” he told Radio New Zealand. “It’s a bit little bit like the Australians saying, ‘well, we’re going to pick and choose, we’re going to keep the ones we like but we’re going to send back the ones we don’t like’.”

About 200 New Zealanders are currently believed to be in detention, including some on a remote offshore center on Christmas Island, following Australia’s decision to allow deportations of all foreign citizens who have served a prison sentence of 12 months or more. About 100 New Zealanders have already been deported from Australia’s jurisdiction.

New Zealand officials can deport foreign citizens who commit crimes but the powers have been used sparingly. About 14 Australians have reportedly been deported in the past four years.

The region has recently come under scrutiny by the international community following multiple reports from distressed New Zealanders over their impending deportation.

Two weeks ago, Junior Togatuki, a 23-year-old New Zealander, took his own life after being detained in a high-security center while awaiting deportation. He had left New Zealand at age four and served a sentence for robbery and assault.

New Zealand last week deported a man from the tiny Pacific island nation of Kiribati who launched a failed bid to become the world’s first climate change refugee. Ioane Teitiota failed to persuade a court in New Zealand that he should be allowed to stay because rising seas around Kiribati threatened him and his family.

Another imminent deportee, Ricardo Young, 29, has lived in Australia since he was four and his partner and daughter live in Sydney. He is currently on Christmas Island awaiting deportation after serving a two-year prison sentence for aggravated robbery and assault.

Responding to New Zealand’s accusations, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s new prime minister, would meet with Mr. Key to try to resolve the dispute.

For more information, please see:

ABC Online — New Zealand raises deportation of its citizens with Australian Government – 30 September 2015

BBC News — Australia deportation laws criticised by NZ prime minister – 30 September 2015

The Telegraph — New Zealand condemns Australia for mass deportation of Kiwis – 30 September 2015

SKY News — Thousands of Kiwis could be deported – 29 September 2015

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

CANBERRA, Australia — A maverick lawmaker broke from conservative government ranks on Monday to introduce legislation that would legalize gay marriage in Australia. The historic, cross-party bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Australia is expected to be defeated after Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s ruling coalition blocked their respective MPs from having a free vote.

The private member’s bill comes amid heated debate among government MPs about whether to change the law or put the matter to a plebiscite.

The government’s official position is that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

Warren Entsch, who has been dubbed a progressive redneck by the Australian media, introduced a private member’s bill that would allow same-sex marriage throughout Australia. Entsch conceded that his bill has little chance of reaching a vote, because the ruling coalition decided last week that government lawmakers should be bound by the party line opposing gay marriage.

“A divided nation is what we will be if we continue to allow discrimination in relation to marriage on the basis of a person’s sexuality,” said Entsch.

The opposition party would allow its MPs a free vote on same-sex marriage, and most would be expected to support the bill. The coalition however, is expected to prevent the bill from proceeding to a vote and has already resolved to prevent its MPs being allowed a free vote. Mr. Abbott last week convened a coalition party room meeting on the issue and subsequently announced that the government would oppose any change until the next election but would then support a national vote.

In explaining his rationale, Prime Minister Abbott was quoted by the Irish Independent, saying: “The important thing is that it’s got to be a people’s choice. The decision that came very strongly out of our party room last week was that this should not be the politicians’ decision, it should be the people’s decision, and that’s what will happen in the next term of parliament.”

Several of Mr. Abbott’s Liberal party colleagues attacked the prime minister, saying the party was traditionally in favor of free choice and individual’s rights.

Australia’s Marriage Act specifies marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Officially, the ruling Liberal-National coalition does not support gay marriage. The Opposition Labor party endorses gay marriage, but allows its MPs a conscience vote on legislation.

According to data obtained from BBC World, numerous polls conducted within Australia over the past year show anywhere from 60% to 72% of Australians support gay marriage.

For more information, please see:

Independent — Australian PM shoots down same-sex marriage bill by blocking free vote — 18 August 2015

BBC News — Gay marriage bill introduced to Australian parliament — 17 August 2015

CNN — Australian PM’s gay sister: Marriage equality is a human right — 16 August 2015

NY Times — Australian Government Lawmaker Introduces Gay Marriage Bill — 16 August 2015

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

MELBOURNE, Australia — Earlier this week, migrants reported to United Nations workers they witnessed an Australian official hand cash to the crew of a people-smuggling boat to take passengers back to Indonesia. Sixty five migrants, including 54 from Sri Lanka, 10 from Bangladesh and one from Myanmar, gave their accounts to employees of the United Nations refugee agency in Indonesia, where they were brought ashore and placed in detention.

Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency in Geneva, briefly detailed what had been relayed to him by local sources and migrants.

“They are telling us that they were intercepted by Australian officials at sea,” said Baloch. “They were taken on board an Australian customs boat for four days. They were then put on two blue boats and the crews were paid to take them back to Indonesia.”

The allegation of payments to people-smugglers has strained relations between Indonesia and Australia, which has a policy of turning back all migrants who arrive by boat.

Australia has refused to confirm or deny the payment; furthermore, Prime Minister Tony Abbott went on the defensive Friday when asked about the claim. Abbott refused to comment on operational matters, but said that the government “would stop the boats by hook or by crook.”

Prime Minister Abbott also went on to say, “We will do whatever is reasonably necessary to protect our country from people smuggling and from the effects of this evil and damaging trade that costs lives.”

Agus Barnas, spokesman for Indonesia’s coordinating ministry for political, legal and security affairs, said Abbott’s comments could be interpreted by Australian officials as endorsing bribery and might encourage people smuggling.

Indonesia could perhaps take action against Australia under the 2000 United Nations Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air; at this time, however, such a move is considered unlikely. Indonesia’s foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, has demanded a response from the Abbott administration and said she had taken up the issue with Australia’s ambassador to Jakarta.

Relations between Indonesia and Australia remain strained following the execution of two Australian Nationals part of the so-called Bali 9 group of drug smugglers in April. Australia recalled its ambassador from Jakarta following the incident.

On the domestic front, it is unclear whether such a policy would be in breach of Australian law. An Australian political party have written to the Australian Federal Police asking them to investigate what laws have been violated. Experts suggest the alleged policy would be a breach of the provisions of the Criminal Code outlawing people smuggling.

The allegations have arisen amid a humanitarian crisis in which Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and international aid organizations have been trying to manage the exodus of thousands of desperate, ill-treated migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Migrants escaping poverty or oppression typically use Indonesia as a transit point for the perilous journey in often barely seaworthy vessels to Australia.

For more information, please see:

Yahoo News — Migrants say they witnessed Australian payment to boat crew — 17 June 2015

BBC News — Migrant boat allegations cast cloud over Australia — 15 June 2015

CNN — Australia urged to come clean over claims it paid traffickers — 15 June 2015

NY Times — Asian Migrants Say Australia Paid Smugglers to Turn Back — 12 June 2015

Yahoo News — Indonesian official decries Australia PM’s asylum boat stance — 12 June 2015