Morrison silent on details of boats carrying more than 200 asylum seekers

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/30/morrison-silent-asylum-seeker-boats

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A boat carrying 153 asylum seekers from Tamil Nadu in southern India to Australia has not been heard from for nearly two days, while reports of another boat from Java carrying 50 asylum seekers surfaced over the weekend. Both were reportedly heading for the Australian territory of Christmas Island, and according to reports have been intercepted by customs vessels used as part of “Operation Sovereign Borders” the military-led campaign to prevent asylum seekers reaching Australia.

Christmas Island shire president Gordon Thomson told Guardian Australia on Monday that more than 130 beds had been prepared in one of the detention centre compounds on the island that had recently been closed, but there was still no visible activity indicating an arrival.

The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, has declined to give any information on either boat and on Tuesday his office did not respond to a request for comment from Guardian Australia. Over the weekend the minister called a near farcical press conference, resulting in this exchange:

Question: So could you clarify, sir, for us at what point does an event become a significant event involving a boat on the water?

Morrison: When you see me here standing and reporting on it.

Question: And you are standing here reporting.

Morrison: I am not. I am saying there is no such report for me to provide to you today. There is therefore no significant event for me to report at sea.

Irrespective of what the minister is willing to comment on, there are differences between the likely fate of each boat carrying asylum seekers seeking protection in Australia. Each potential outcome raises questions about Australia’s obligations under international law.

The first boat, from India, was last heard from about 175 nautical miles west of Christmas Island. The boat was leaking oil and was likely to have run out of fuel around lunchtime on Saturday, according to Ian Rintoul of the Refugee Action Coalition in Sydney, who has spoken to those on board.

If these reports are accurate it is likely the boat will have been stranded between Christmas Island and another Australian territory, the Cocos Islands.

In October, Morrison announced that a boat carrying 79 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka landed on the Cocos Islands and all but six were returned to Sri Lanka within a week under the government’s controversial “enhanced screening” process, which allows for rapid assessment of claims, mostly without the presence of a lawyer (the remaining six were also screened out and presumably returned at a later date after receiving medical assistance). The UNHCR has described enhanced screening as an “unfair and unreliable” process for determining refugee claims.

Given the Australian government has no history of towing boats back to Sri Lanka or India, it is likely those on board will be subject to the enhanced screening process and may all be returned to Sri Lanka involuntarily, regardless of where the boat began its voyage.

On Monday, the Sri Lankan high commissioner in Canberra reaffirmed the Rajapaksa government’s support for Australia’s policy of involuntary returns to Sri Lanka.

If any of those on board are “screened in” they will eventually be transferred to detention centres on Papua New Guinea or Nauru. Their claims will take months, if not years, to be assessed, and under current government policy they will be resettled only in those countries, not Australia.

The second boat from Java is likely to be subject to the controversial practices of “Operation Relex II”, under which Australia turns around or tows back boats carrying asylum seekers from Indonesia.

It is not known how many of these controversial towback operations have occurred, with the first reported in early January, but estimates suggest about a dozen have been executed since the federal election in September.

The UNHCR has warned that boat turnarounds are likely to be in breach of international law and Australia’s obligations under the refugee convention, a criticism rejected by Morrison.

The Indonesian government has also voiced significant criticism about these operations and has been particularly critical of incursions into its territorial waters by Australian vessels involved in Operation Sovereign Borders, which have occurred six times.

With Indonesia voting for a new president next week, any turnback operation is likely to meet with vocal criticism from many sides of Indonesian politics. But the Australian Coalition government has not let such considerations dissuade it in the past.

In short, the border policies of the Australian government make it near impossible that any of the asylum seekers on board these boats will reach Australia, let alone be allowed to lodge a claim for protection there.