Updated 6 November 2012, 17:11
AEST
The
International Organisation for Migration has backed the Australian government's
view that some of the Sri Lankans arriving in Australia by boat are economic
migrants, not refugees.
Audio:
IOM
says some Sri Lankan asylum seekers really economic migrants
The IOM
is working with Australia trying to convince Sri Lankans not to make the
dangerous journey and helping repatriate those who chose to return home rather
than wait for years in detention centres.
Since
Australia restarted offshore processing 138 asylum seekers have elected to
return to their home country and 125 of them have been Sri Lankans.
Correspondent:
Stephanie March
Speaker:
Richard Danziger, Chief of mission, International Organisation for Migration in
Sri Lanka.
MARCH:
The number of Sri Lankans trying to reach Australia by boat has increased
dramatically over the past 12 months.
Last year,
there were 211 so-called irregular maritime arrivals from Sri Lanka.
So far in 2012,
there have been more than 5,300.
Richard
Danziger is the Chief of Mission for the International Organisation for
Migration in Sri Lanka.
DANZIGER: In the last few months
coastal security has really been loosened up by the Sri Lankan government.
During the war and the months after that, there were a lot of restrictions on
fishing and so forth and that is no longer the case so boats can leave more
easily.
MARCH: But he says one of the
biggest driving factors is Sri Lanka's economy.
Last week
Australia's Immigration Minister Chris Bowen sent 26 men back to Sri Lanka who
had arrived by boat, suggesting they were economic refugees.
Richard
Danziger says many of those who have chosen to return to Sri Lanka rather than
wait to be processed on Nauru or Australia originally left their homeland in
search of work.
DANZIGER: You know that is often what
we hear, people tell us they were just seeking better lives, jobs, money and so
forth.
MARCH: The asylum seekers who do
chose to go home often return to tough financial times, with debts owing to the
people smugglers who helped them get to Australia.
Richard
Danziger says some are facing pressure from their own families to stay in
Australia or Nauru and persist with their claims.
DANZIGER: I certainly know of one case
of a guy who came back from Christmas Island and his family were very annoyed,
saying he had given up, he wasn't thinking of them, and he was weak etc etc.
He was facing a hard time on his way back, so I think that must be the
case for others.
MARCH: The Australian Government is
offering assistance packages worth several thousand dollars to those who return
voluntarily, and are not deemed to be members of people smuggling crews.
DANZIGER: What we did ten days ago or
last week, some of the returnees we had them on a skype call, established
Sri Lankans in Nauru, so they could tell their friends or the other Sri Lankans
there, it is actually(words indistinct) in Sri Lanka and basically tell them
yes, that what they've been told in terms of the passage is true.
MARCH: The IOM is also working with
Australia's Department of Immigration to warn people who do try to come to
Australia by boat that they face being detained for a length period, without
work rights.
Richard
Danziger has been visiting some of the poorest, coastal communities speaking
with fishermen, and religious leaders trying to get the message out.
DANZIGER: It is very difficult to get
the message across. People believe what they want to believe. And I've seen
this in so many different contexts around the world. People just bear in
mind the success stories. So they will think of their neighbour or their
friend that made it to Australia, not the 20 that didn't make it.
MARCH: He says the desire to
migrate is often more powerful than any rational argument.
DANZIGER: I was actually in Indonesia
in 2001 during the Siev X tragedy, I was with those that went down on the way
to Australia from Indonesia, it was 400 people drowning. Well out of the 50 or
so survivors, half of them were ready to get back on the next boat.
MARCH: The monsoon season will soon
start, making it more dangerous for those who do chose to make the journey to
Australia by boat.
Richard
Danziger says while that may deter some from coming, it will be hard to convince
those Sri Lankans who are in search of a better life to stay put.
DANZIGER: First Sri Lanka is a country
of migrants. A quarter of the workforce is abroad legally, whether it's in the
Middle East, Europe, North America, Australia. So the idea of migrating for
work is not limited to a small number of people, and the legal opportunities
for working abroad can't satisfy everybody. So that's when people resort to
irregular means.
MARCH: So you think really it's
going to take obviously a lot of time before there's any substantial change in
the number of people prepared to board boats and head to Australia?
DANZIGER: I'm not sure about that. It
is one thing to want to leave, it's another to be able to leave. So I think the
new policy will help, the monsoon season will make it more difficult for people
to leave and maybe that will be an opportunity, the monsoon season, for us to
get the information out about risking a very dangerous journey.
