Doubts raised about whether Australia told UN of decision to ban refugees
|
Version 0 of 1. Secret federal government documents cast doubt over whether Australia told Indonesia and the United Nations about a retrospective ban on taking refugees from official channels. Related: Indonesia says Australia's decision to reject refugees creates bilateral tension In November last year Australia announced it would no longer accept refugees who applied for resettlement through the UN’S refugee agency in Indonesia. The ban applied to anyone who registered with the UNHCR from 1 July 2014. An undated draft talking point document, released by the department of immigration under freedom of information, suggests Jakarta and the UNHCR were not consulted before the changes were made public. “It has always been our intention to discuss these measures with the government of Indonesia and the UNHCR before any announcement was made,” the talking points say. It was regretted information about the measures had “entered the public domain before these discussions could take place”. But another document said the Australian embassy in Jakarta briefed Indonesian officials in September and November last year before an official ministerial announcement on 18 November. The department insists the first document was a draft and was not used. Related: Australia is blocking refugees registered in Indonesia. What will happen now? According to the UNHCR, there were 11,186 refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia in December 2014. The documents show the federal government cut the refugee intake – for those who were registered with the UNHCR before the deadline – to 450 in the 2014-15 financial year. The figure was 150 fewer than the previous two years. The documents blamed an increase in places allocated to Syrians and Iraqis from the Middle East for the cut in refugees in Indonesia. “This measure is designed to reduce the movement of asylum seekers to Indonesia and encourage them to seek resettlement in countries of first asylum,” they say. Australia accepted more refugees from Indonesia than any other resettlement nation. In 2013 New Zealand resettled 78 refugees, Sweden seven and the US five. More than 186 refugees were resettled by other countries last year. |