Asylum seeker mistreatment claims are 'urban mythology', Bob Carr says

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/09/asylum-seeker-claims-mythology-bob-carr

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Former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr has dismissed concerns about returning asylum seekers to Sri Lanka, and said allegations of mistreatment were “urban mythology”.

In an interview on ABC Radio National on Wednesday Carr said while he was minister, the Australian high commission in Sri Lanka repeatedly said there was no evidence of mistreatment of those who were returning.

He said the high commission in Sri Lanka had tried to determine if there were cases of mistreatment, but there “were no cases they could find”.

The comments follow the federal government giving an undertaking not to return a group of 153 asylum seekers to Sri Lanka without 72 hours notice after an urgent hearing in the high court on Tuesday.

“The idea there is some sort of entrenched apartheid in the country … just can’t be sustained when 30% of Colombo is Tamil … and [there is] a high level of co-operation between the racial groups,” he said.

“Repeatedly our high commission in Colombo said there was no evidence of mistreatment of those we are returning … they are treated in accordance with law, interviewed and released.”

Human rights groups have documented ongoing instances of abuse in Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009.

The Human Rights Law Centre’s Emily Howie on Tuesday said that Sri Lanka was inherently a refugee-producing country.

“Human Rights Watch has documented 75 cases of torture in security force custody since the end of the war, including the rape of men and women. A report from earlier this year outlines horrific torture and sexual violence in Sri Lankan custody suffered by 40 Sri Lankans who fled to the UK,” she said.

On Wednesday, Amnesty International issued a statement following the high court proceedings to reiterate concerns about Sri Lanka’s human rights abuses.

“Asking asylum seekers only four questions each before handing them back to Sri Lankan authorities runs an extremely high risk of returning genuine refugees to torture, persecution or death,” said Amnesty International Australia’s refugee spokesman Graeme McGregor.

“If the Australian government wants to address the loss of asylum seekers’ lives, it should not be returning them to a country where their lives may be in grave danger.

“Australia stands alone in failing to recognise the ongoing human rights violations taking place in Sri Lanka.”