‘Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution’
Article 14, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Detention

ACMRO advocates for Australia to end mandatory detention.

ACMRO also advocates that families with children and unaccompanied minors should never under any circumstances be kept in detention.

Detention in Australia remains mandatory for anyone seeking asylum without a valid Australian visa. The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) concludes that Australia’s Immigration Detention system breaches fundamental human rights. The following is several key points made by AHRC in their 2010 report on Christmas Island;

• Many are subject to prolonged detention and there continues to be no set time limit on the period a person may be detained.
• Children continue to be subject to mandatory detention on Christmas Island, in breach of Australia’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
• The detention facilities on Christmas Island (described by AHRC as prison-like) are not appropriate for asylum seekers, particularly families with children and unaccompanied minors. The facilities are currently overcrowded placing further strain on limited communication facilities, recreational facilities, educational activities and opportunities for people to leave the detention environment
• There is no psychiatrist on Christmas Island and limited access to medical specialists and dental care. AHRC reported a number of self-harm incidents between May and June 2010.

Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states,

‘No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.’

Mandatory detention policies violate the prohibition on arbitrary detention.  

Isolation of Detention Facilities

ACMRO advocates for Australia to close offshore detention facilities.

The first recommendation of the 2010 AHRC report;

“The Australian Government should stop using Christmas Island as a place in which to hold people in immigration detention. If people must be held in immigration detention facilities, they should be located in metropolitan areas.”

Isolation severely diminishes the ability for government and non-government services to be administered to asylum seekers.

Refugee right to work

ACMRO advocates that detainees who have passed health and security checks be allowed to work under a bridging visa while they await the outcome of their assessment.

The right to work is essential to human dignity and is a fundamental human right recognised in many international and regional human rights instruments, including the 1951 Refugee Convention and under Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For refugees and asylum seekers, the right to work is fundamental to their protection – which must not be confused with the reasons for their flight. Unable to return home, and being without the protection of their own country, refugees must have rights to work in the country of asylum. Denial of the right to work, compounds the persecution, fear, and displacement they have already suffered. It is also in Australia’s best interest. The ability to engage in decent work empowers refugees, enabling self-reliance and contribution to the economy and society.

Excision Policy

ACMRO advocates for the Australian government to end the excision policy and process all claims under RSD.

Currently, asylum seekers who arrive onshore are treated in one of three ways depending on their mode of arrival.

1. Persons arriving with a valid visa undergo Australia’s Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process (governed by the Migration Act) and are permitted to live in the community while their claims are assessed. They can appeal to the Refugee Review Tribunal if their claims are unsuccessful (on grounds of merit or procedural unfairness).
2. Persons arriving on the mainland without a valid visa undergo the same process but are placed in detention for the duration of the assessment process.
3. Persons arriving on an excised offshore place (Christmas Island, Ashmore Reef, etc) without a valid visa are barred from the RSD process and instead undergo a non-statutory process known as Refugee Status Assessment (RSA). They have no legal right to apply for a visa. To apply, the minister for immigration must personally intervene and allow the person to make a valid application (does not guarantee visa grant). This process of ministerial intervention is non-compellable and non-reviewable. This policy was developed during the Howard Government to keep control over boat arrivals in the hands of parliament and away from the legal system. In February, the current Minister Chris Bowen, made this process more transparent (fairer) and faster. However, excised applicants, without legal rights, have no access to the Refugee Tribunal. As such, they cannot have the merits of their case reviewed and cannot challenge the lawfulness of their detention.

Link between onshore and offshore humanitarian schemes and the misconception around queue jumpers

ACMRO advocates that each visa category should have its own target to avoid this link which has led to a very negative portrayal of boat arrivals in the media.

ACMRO also advocates that the total target of 13,750 needs to be more flexible to account for humanitarian emergencies.  

Currently, the total refugee and humanitarian granted are separated into three categories

DIAC Annual Report 2009-10

Offshore refugee visas are part of Australia’s 6,000 visa commitment to UNHCR to resettle refugees. This 6000 figure is understood not to fall below 6000 visas. UNHCR would like Australia to increase this number to 10,000.

DIAC targets between 13,500 and 13,750 each year. If more boat arrivals (Onshore Protection visas) are received, Australia grants less Offshore Humanitarian visas. The 13,750 target is maintained regardless of what happens in the world. Therefore, this policy creates the notion that those who arrive by boat are taking places off other refugees (who are sitting in a 10.4 million long queue).

Increase quota on Humanitarian resettlement

ACMRO advocates that Australia’s target of 13,750 should be increased to 20,000.

By the end of 2009, there was an estimated 10.4 million refugees, 1 million Asylum seekers and 27.1 million Internally Displaced People. A total of almost 40 million worldwide are in refugee and refugee like circumstances. In response, Australia granted 13,770 visas under the Humanitarian Program in 2009-10.

Complementary Protection

ACMRO welcomes the complementary protection bill, however only on the condition that the excision policy and mandatory detention be terminated.  

At the end of February 2011, Minister of Immigration Chris Bowen introduced a complementary protection bill to parliament. The bill covers (non refugees) those in need of protection who do not satisfy the legal definition to be awarded refugee status under the 1951 Refugee Convention. This bill will grant protection to those who face serious human rights violation such as torture, honour killings, cruel or inhuman treatment, arbitrarily deprived of life and the death penalty.