Date: November 10, 2012
Daniel Flitton
Senior Correspondent
Concerned
... UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. Photo: Reuters
THE
chief rights advocate for the United Nations has expressed alarm at a new push
by Australian immigration authorities to immediately reject a number of Sri
Lankan asylum seekers.
UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is in Bali for a democracy
summit, also attended by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Ms
Pillay said she had heard numerous concerns that asylum seekers could languish
indefinitely on Nauru and Manus Island under Labor's revived Pacific Solution
and was especially worried over the plight of children.
''I
am highly concerned that detention in regional offshore processing centres such
as in Nauru could result in indefinite detention and other human rights
violations,'' she said.
Advertisement
''All
people, including migrants, have the right to the highest attainable standard
of physical and mental health, and this form of detention has been shown at
times to violate this right.
''It
could well end up as indefinite detention, and people in indefinite detention
suffer significant mental health issues - and Australia should be well aware of
this.''
The
number of people arriving in recent months has already far exceeded the planned
capacity for the two centres in the Pacific.
In
a bid to toughen the deterrent, Labor plans to remove the Australian mainland
from the migration zone.
The
Immigration Department has sent home dozens of Sri Lankans - from Christmas and
Cocos islands - deemed not to have a refugee claim.
But
Ms Pillay said Sri Lanka was still volatile, despite the end of the civil war
in 2009.
''Now
that was a conflict area, matters have not stabilised as yet.
''All
the reports reaching me are that people are concerned over controls being
imposed over them,'' she said.
''So
I can understand if they'd be leaving out of fear or for their personal
security, and it really cries out for all the refugee protections, asylum
seeker protections to be made particularly applicable to them.''
Ms
Pillay visited Australia last year, meeting with Ms Gillard, and visiting
detention centres in the country.
''They
were all [in] very good condition, but not the detainees.
''These
are, after all, not people who are criminals and so they were handling the
detention badly; many attempts at self-harm, and I'm still receiving reports of
self-harm, suicide attempts and protests at the off-shore processing
facilities. And these are all highly worrying - and unfortunately it was a
predictable outcome.''
Ms
Pillay said that combating people smugglers was important to protect people's
rights and praised regional talks.
''But
I must stress that these should be underpinned by strong legal protections in
line with the government's human rights obligations.''
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/un-alarm-at-detainee-push-20121109-293fy.html#ixzz2Bz1M65W8
