<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/12/australias-inhuman-offshore-detention-regime-denounced-by-global-human-rights-organisation>
"Australia’s reputation on human rights took a hit on the world stage last
year, Human Rights Watch’s latest annual report has said, after the Labor
government returned asylum seekers to offshore immigration on Nauru less than
three months after the last detainees were removed.
Despite labelling Australia as a “vibrant democracy” that “mostly protects the
civil and political rights of its citizens”, the Australian chapter of the
global human rights advocacy group has levelled heavy criticism at the federal
government’s decade-long “inhumane” offshore detention regime, with Australian
director Daniela Gavshon describing the policy as “embarrassing” for the
country.
Guardian Australia reported in October last year the Albanese government had
quietly sent a group of asylum seekers to the Micronesian country just months
after the last known detainees had been removed.
Gavshon said Australia had earned an international reputation for abuses
against refugees and asylum seekers that countries, such as the UK, were
looking to emulate.
“We have seen that other countries are looking to copy it,” Gavshon told
Guardian Australia. “It’s embarrassing that this would be something that
Australia would export, or be known for.”
Labor and the opposition share bipartisan support on offshore detention, with
both sides saying it is a deterrent against people-smuggling operations.
But Gavshon said Australia was a signatory of the Refugee Convention, which
obliges countries protect people fleeing persecution.
“Detention, in any situation, should be used as an option of last resort, not
as a deterrent,” she said.
“It’s just not good enough that they’ve become this intractable – they need to
be issues that are being seriously addressed.”
Elsewhere, the report noted ongoing issues with Indigenous incarceration rates
and the unsuccessful referendum to establish an Indigenous voice to parliament.
There were 19 Indigenous deaths in custody over 2023, and Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people made up one-third of adult prison populations despite
being just 3% of Australia’s population."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
