Oceania

People’s Committee for Political Reform in Tonga Hopes to Submit Petition for New Prime Minister

By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga – The People’s Committee for Political Reform in Tonga hopes to present a petition to the King requesting for a new Prime Minister. The petition is in accordance with the Tongan Women’s National Congress, who also seeks the replacement of the current Prime Minister, Dr. Feleti Sevele.

The leader of the protest for women’s rights, Mele Amanaki, has continued to pray and fast until Sevele is replaced. Amanaki and other members of the Tongan Women’s National Congress have been fasting for almost two weeks in a protest against the poor governance of Sevele. They argue that the Sevele administration’s blatant failure to recognize women’s rights and the injustices they suffer must come to an end.

On October 22, 2009. Amanaki started drinking water after eight straight days of fasting. However, the King did not respond to her petition seeking the replacement of Sevele. In response, Amanaki stated: “I have faith in God that he’s going to grant what we want and it’s amazing the strength that he gives me. It’s not that I could go and run a marathon but to be able to go without food for 10 days I just praise the Lord because he’s the one who gives me strength.”

Currently, approximately 800 women are fasting one day a week in support of the protest.

On October 23, 2009, the People’s Committee for Political Reform in Tonga announced that it hopes to present a petition calling for the replacement of Sevele. The petition has close to 6,000 signatures, and follows the petition of Amanaki and the Tongan Women’s National Congress.

A representative of the People’s Committee for Political Reform, Isileli Pulu, criticizes the current administration’s handling of various issues, including the rising crime rate against women. She states that the two organizations are supporting each other, and they are “hoping that the King will make a wise decision on how to handle this because this is not the first time for us to submit a petition for the Prime Minister to resign and hopefully the King will concede our petitions and act likewise.”

Opponents to the hunger strike do not believe that protesting in this manner is the appropriate way to overthrow Sevele. The chairperson of Tonga’s Civil Society Forum, Drew Havea, stated that the Forum does not “condone a protest hunger strike aimed at toppling the Prime Minister.”

The Civil Society Forum opposes the same issues as does the Tongan Women’s National Congress, but it does not agree with the approach the Congress is taking. Havea stated that the Civil Society Forum belongs to “a Christian denomination and we don’t think it is God’s will for us to take our lives. I mean the issues we need to work in whatever ways, we can support, but not to commit suicide.”

For more information, please see:
Islands Business – The People’s Committee for Political Reform in Tonga says it hopes to present a petition calling for a new Prime Minister to the King this afternoon – 23 October, 2009

Pacific Islands News Association – Tonga People’s Committee for Political Reform poised to submit petition to King – 23 October, 2009

Radio New Zealand International – Tonga People’s Committee for Political Reform poised to submit petition to King – 23 October, 2009

Radio New Zealand International – Tongan hunger striker now drinking but still determine to fast until death – 22 October, 2009

Prisoners in Papua New Guinea Attempt Jailbreak for Not Being Fed

By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

MOUNT HAGEN, Papua New Guinea – Prisoners at a Papua New Guinea jail attempted to escape because they were not fed for two consecutive days. Prison guards successfully stopped the 487 prisoners from escaping. The prison break would have been the country’s biggest mass break-out in history.

The Baisu prison, located near Mount Hagen in the Western Highland Province of Papua New Guinea, only has capacity for 300 inmates, yet it holds 800 inmates.  A warder stated that the prison is extremely overcrowded and the facilities are “rundown.” The 800 inmates were starving and left without food because a contract with the prison’s food suppliers had expired.

The chief superintendent of Baisu jail, Simon Sobaim, explained that the prisoners had nothing to eat since Sunday, October 18 because of a dispute between rival food suppliers over the contract with the prison.

As a result of the lack of food, three of the inmates fell ill. Fellow inmates were furious and demanded that the ill inmates be taken to the hospital. Soon after, 487 of the prisoners attempted to escape the prison on Tuesday afternoon.

The inmates were able to get pass three layers of fencing. Many of the watch towers at the prison had been pulled down because they were rotten and in extremely poor condition. Thus, the prisoners were able to pass the fencing more easily. The prison guards had to fire shots at the escapees to stop them, but no one was killed.

Sobaim stated that this incident “would not have happened had the ongoing ration problem been resolved.” The police commissioner has asked the former contractor to return to feed the inmates, and will continue to supply food until the dispute over the contract is resolved.

A representative of the prisoners stated that the next time the prisoners “were made to go hungry, they would simply walk out and risk being shot dead.” The representative further stated that “while they were lawbreakers, they had a right under the law to be fed.”

For more information, please see:
The National – Jail Drama – 21 October, 2009

Radio New Zealand International – Prisoners in PNG attempt to escape jail for not being fed – 21 October, 2009

The Timaru Herald – PNG’s biggest ever prison break prevented – 21 October, 2009

Times Online – Prison guards thwart mass breakout in Papua New Guinea – 21 October, 2009

UPI Asia – Hungry Papua inmates’ jailbreak foiled – 21 October, 2009

Joint Effort Undertaken to End People Smuggling

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

CANBERRA, Australia –Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd agreed to cooperate on people smuggling after meeting today in Jakarta.

At a meeting following Yudhoyono’s inauguration to a second five-year term, Australia sought Indonesia’s assistance in controlling the number of refugees attempting to enter the country.  The two countries anticipate that asylum seekers will continue to seek refuge in Australia as the year comes to a close.

Cooperation is necessary because people smuggling involves the entire region, not just one or two countries.  Not only must the country of origin be involved, but the transit and destination countries must also be involved in order to settle the problem.

Over the next few weeks, officials from the immigration office, navy and the police will set forth guidelines to deal with boats intercepted in international waters.  The framework will provide a way for the governments to facilitate the resolution of people smuggling issues in the future so that they may avoid doing so on an ad hoc basis.

Officials will report to the President and the Prime Minister at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to be held in Singapore this November.

The countries did not establish the type of assistance that Indonesia would need to prevent people from trying to enter Australia.

There have also been reports that Australia will pay Indonesia incentive payments in order to stop people smuggling, but Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans has dismissed these reports as “speculation”.

The Government claims that Indonesia has used its police, immigration department and other agencies in the past to assist Australia in putting an end to people smuggling.

Evans indicated that Australia would provide funding to the UN’s refugee agency.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s administration and the opposition party have engaged in serious debate over the appropriate measures to address people smuggling.

Currently, there are approximately 255 Sri Lankans being held in Indonesia.  Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that it is up to Indonesia, not Australia, to determine the fate of these individuals.

For more information, please see:
ABC News – Asylum seekers deal temporary: Indonesia – 21 October 2009

The Australian – Asylum-seeker incentive offer ‘speculation’ – 21 October 2009

Kompas.com – Framework Needed by Australia and Indonesia over People Smuggling – 21 October 2009

Bloomberg – Indonesia, Australia Boost Cooperation Against People Smuggling – 20 October 2009

Opposition Officials Call on Rudd: Indonesia Should Not Be “Heavy Lifting”

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

CANBERRA, Australia – Australia and Indonesia will discuss Australia’s immigration policy in an effort to slow the number of asylum seekers attempting to enter Australia.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will travel to Indonesia this week, to attend the inauguration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and also to address the problem through a strategic agreement.

Reports reveal that similar to the “Pacific Solution”, implemented by former Prime Minister John Howard, Rudd’s proposal will increase aid to fund Indonesian detention centers.  The aid would also resettle asylum seekers already detained in Indonesia.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Australia is attempting to balance the deterrence of people smuggling while also treating asylum seekers humanely.  She notes that close cooperation with Indonesia has enabled the Australian Federal Police to disrupt people smuggling activities by bringing charges against more than forty people.

Some urge the Prime Minister to put pressure on Indonesia to sign the United Nations Convention for Refugees.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, said, “We need our Government to be working with the Indonesians, with the Malaysian Government, with all of our regional neighbours in partnership, ensuring that whoever, whenever, wherever people reach and approach for asylum that they can have their claims processed fairly and have their rights under international law upheld.”

Those opposing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s administration criticized the use of Indonesia to prevent the influx of asylum seekers into Australia.

Dean of the Melbourne University law school and refugee law expert, James Hathaway, claims that the Prime Minister is using the Indonesians to keep refugees out of Australia rather than using Australia’s own resources to do so.

“Nothing in international law allows Australia or any other state party to imprison refugee claimants – directly or by paying off partner states – for the simple act of seeking asylum.”

Refugee advocates claim that the increase in Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum seekers is a result of “life and death” not “economic” push factors, not the Rudd government’s dismissal of harsher border-protection policies imposed by the former Howard government.

Frederika Steen, a former immigration official and refugee advocate, expressed her disapproval of the hard-line border protection practices of the Howard government, which the Rudd government has dropped.

Opposition attributes the new government’s policy, which abandoned temporary protection visas and ended mandatory detention practices, to the rise in the number of asylum-seeker boats over the last year.  The Rudd government must act now, rather than simply letting Indonesia do the “heavy lifting”, says spokeswoman Dr. Sharman Stone.

This year alone, thirty-two boats carrying 1706 asylum seekers and crew members have been intercepted and detained at the Christmas Island detention facility.

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the sinking of Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel (“SIEV”) X, when 353 asylum seekers, of which 146 were children, attempted to make the dangerous journey to Australia via boat.  Only forty-four individuals survived.

For more information, please see:
The Australian – Jakarta alliance hit by both sides – 19 October 2009

ABC News – People smuggling on Rudd’s Indonesia agenda – 18 October 2009

Brisbane Times – Border policies ‘ strike right balance’ – 18 October 2009

News.com.au – ‘Rudd should pressure Indonesia on refugees’ – 18 October 2009

New York Times – Australia Seeks Indonesia Asylum – Seekers Deal – Paper 16 October 2009

Leader of Tonga’s For Women and Families Group Fasts for Women’s Rights

By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga – The President of Tonga’s For Women and Families group, Ma’a Fafine Moe Famili’s Betty Blake, has taken a controversial step towards women’s rights. As part of the protest against the Tongan parliament for ignoring women’s rights, Blake has committed herself to fasting until the government makes some significant changes.

Recently, the Tongan government rejected the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). As a result, women who seek refuge from abuse are not receiving the adequate help they need. General Manager Ofa-Ki-Levuka Guttenbeil Likilliki for the Tonga National Centre for Women and Children (TNCWC), an NGO that provides refuge and advocacy for victims of abuse, states that women who seek refuge from abuse have no access to land or financial support because of the Tongan government’s resistance to implement CEDAW.

Tonga’s long history of ignoring women’s rights has brought international human rights concerns. After 15 years of struggling for women’s rights, Betty Blake has resorted to prayer and fasting.

Betty Blake is fasting in support of a petition calling for the removal of the Prime Minister and his deputy from office. Betty Blake states that she is committed to fasting from 6 am until 6 pm until the leaders are replaced.

In offering the reason why Betty Blake has resorted to prayer and fasting, she stated: “We see that they don’t really consider the status of our people. That’s why we are fasting. That’s why we are crying to God. Because we know that there are a lot of things we’ve done in this country but it’s almost like it lands on deaf ears on the people in policy and people in decision-making. So we thought this is the last thing we can do, is to fast and pray.”

Betty Blake further urges the leaders of overseas governments and the international women’s community to fight for change, and join the petition to replace the Prime Minister and his deputy.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Fasting last resort for head of Tongan women and families group – 16 October, 2009

Island Voices – Tongan leader for women and families group resorts to fasting for women’s rights – 13 October, 2009

Matangi: Tonga Online – Tongan parliament blatantly ignores women’s rights – 19 September, 2009