Australia court blocks migrants' return to Sri Lanka

Australia doesn't have a commendable human rights record be it with the Aborigines or those who seek asylum.  Like South Africa Australia once had a whites only immigration policy yet the government likes to bill the country as being multicultural.  For more than twenty years successive governments have instituted policies meant to keep out those demand undesirable; you know anyone one who isn't of white European descent.  

      Human Rights Watch says successive Australian governments continue to engage in scare-mongering politics at the expense of the rights of asylum seekers and refugees."Successive governments have prioritised domestic politics over Australia's international legal obligations to protect the rights of asylum seekers," the report said.
"Too often, the Government has attempted to demonise those trying to reach Australia by boat and has insisted that officials refer to all asylum seekers who do so as 'illegal maritime arrivals'."

World Human Rights Day comes at a time when Australia’s human rights record is less than impressive, tarnishing Australia’s reputation both at home and abroad.
The past year has seen human rights take a backseat to political point-scoring, undermining the country’s ability to take on a leading human rights role in the region.
By re-establishing the Pacific Solution, the Australian Government has repackaged failed policies of the past by choosing to outsource its obligation to protect those fleeing war and persecution.
Under the Government’s ‘no advantage policy,’ some of the world’s most vulnerable people are now languishing on Nauru in unacceptable conditions and with no end in sight.
Offshore processing on Nauru and Manus Island will only serve to break vulnerable people, who have fled unimaginable circumstances, only to find themselves detained in these limbo camps.

The Australian government's attempt to return 153 asylum seekers to Sri Lanka has been blocked by the high court.

The move comes after Australia confirmed on Monday it had returned 41 people to Sri Lanka after screening their asylum claims at sea on Sunday.

Politicians and rights campaigners say the asylum seekers, who include Tamils, could face persecution back home.

Australia and asylum

• Asylum seekers - mainly from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Iran - travel to Australia's Christmas Island on rickety boats from Indonesia
• The number of boats rose sharply in 2012 and the beginning of 2013, and scores of people have died making the journey
• The previous government reintroduced offshore processing in Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Any asylum seekers found to be refugees will be resettled in PNG, not Australia
• The new government has toughened policy further, putting the military in charge of asylum operations and towing boats back to Indonesia
• Rights groups and the United Nations have voiced serious concerns about the policies. Australia says no new asylum boats have arrived for 200 days

Right on cue the Sri Lankan government whose human rights record is a hundred times worse than Australia's made this announcement concerning those forcibly repatriated by Australia:

Sri Lanka has said that those returned would be charged with leaving the country illegally and those found guilty would face "rigorous imprisonment".
Last week, the UN refugee agency UNHCR expressed "profound concern" about the reported situation.
Sri Lanka has been under heavy international pressure over alleged human rights violations during the final phase of the war against Tamil separatists, which ended in 2009.
Rights groups say Tamils still face violence at the hands of the military.