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.  

 

Mahinda Rajapaksa: 'This is all propaganda'

Sri Lanka's president discusses a recent UN report accusing him of pushing the country into an authoritarian direction.

The report paints a grim picture of the country: The military is dominating Sri Lanka's life in many areas; critics of the government are abused, silenced or killed; and minorities such as Buddhists, Christians and Muslims are attacked, the report stated. All under the watch of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was elected in 2005 and re-elected by his people three years ago - a man who is pushing the country, the UN says, in an authoritarian direction. These accusations have been vehemently dismissed by the government and its supporters in a war of words suggesting the report is coloured by the personal background of its responsible official, Navi Pillay, the chief UN officer for human rights whose own ancestors trace back to Sri Lanka. According to reports, some Sri Lankan officials were even resorting to name calling labelling her the "Tamil Tigress of the UN" - remarks Pillay calls offensive.

The Tamils presently living in the northeast of the country were brought to Sri Lanka by the East India company from southern Indian state of Tambu-Nadal as source of cheap labour. The descendants of those labourers still live in Sri Lanka. In 1956 the government passed and enacted Sinhala Only Act making Sinhala the official language while outlawing English. The act also failed to give official recognition to the Tamils. 1977 riots in Sri Lanka

After the independence and especially after the 'Sinhala only act" of 1956, Tamils parties were asking for more power for North and east of Sri Lanka where Tamils are the majority. Some have gone further asking for a federal system. There were many agreements (at least two) with the Prime ministers, but nothing implemented. Finally, the desperate Tamil leaders decided that there is no point in co-existence and only solution is a separate state. In 1974, all major Tamils parties representing Tamils in the North east tamils came under one forum (named as Tamil United Liberation Frunt - TULF) and in 1976 they adopted a resolution at their party convention in Vaddukoddai, Jaffna calling for a separate state (Tamil Eelam). In the election of 1977 happened on July 21 1977, the Tamil districts voted almost entirely for the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF)[citation needed], a political party in Sri Lanka to openly advocate separatism of the Tamil regions of the country. For some years, there had been sporadic attacks on army and policemen in the Jaffna region, by militant Tamil youth groups which consited a handful of members advocating separation through violent means. The new prime minister, Junius Richard Jayewardene, was convinced there was a link between the TULF and the militants, and wanted to suppress both.