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ASAP Supports the Call for a Royal Commission into the Treatment of Refugees

Media Release - December 7, 2001

On the eve of immigration minister Philip Ruddock’s departure for Geneva to attend a landmark ministerial conference called by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
and the Swiss government, refugee rights proponents have launched a call for a royal commission into the federal government’s treatment of asylum seekers.

Former Labor Senator and UN Association President Margaret Reynolds, Amnesty International’s refugee campaign coordinator Graham Thom, radio presenter Philip
Adams, author and historian Humphrey McQueen, Indonesia specialist Max Lane and journalist and film-maker John Pilger are among a growing number of high profile
people who have endorsed the call.

Only a royal commission can undertake a thorough investigation of Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers, from mandatory detention and the effect of temporary
protection visas and denial of family reunion, to the detention of asylum seekers on Pacific Islands, say the endorsees. (See below for the full text of the call for a royal
commission.)

Max Lane, chairperson of Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP) said a commission was needed "to uncover the lies and deceit the government is relying on
to promote its inhumane asylum-seeker policy.

"What were the real considerations behind the decision to use the navy against the refugees - 'border protection' or votes? How legal is this, both in terms of Australian
common law and international agreements? What pressure was used on the Pacific Islands to get them to take the refugees?", asked Lane.

Australia is among the 142 states that signed the 1951 refugee convention, and the meeting on December 12-13 will be the first meeting of the signatories as well as other
states which have yet to sign on. According to the UNHCR High Commissioner, Ruud Lubbers, the meeting is "the most important global meeting on refugees since the
convention was first drawn up 50 years ago".

Margaret Reynolds called on Mr Ruddock to indicate his preparedness to review the policy of detaining children.

"Australia is the only country in the world which detains children", said Reynolds. "Mr Ruddock has the power to immediately end this cruel practice and should do so
before he leaves for Geneva."

Margaret Reynolds and Max Lane will be attending the Human Rights Day rally in Sydney on Sunday, December 9. They are available for interviews on: Max Lane 0402
301 290, Margaret Reynolds 0418 181 843.

Call for a Royal Commission into the Commonwealth Government’s Treatment of Asylum Seekers

In the past three months, the Australian government's treatment of asylum seekers has caused outrage among many in the Australian and international communities. No
other government has gone to such great lengths to close its borders to people fleeing repression and terror. No other government has turned away leaking boats full of
asylum-seekers and refused to take responsibility for the consequences. No other government has so openly violated its international human rights obligations.

Just days before the November 10 federal election, the Australian navy revealed that it had not told the government that asylum seekers were throwing their children into the
ocean. Did the government lie about this incident to fuel its campaign to demonise asylum seekers? If this was a politically motivated lie, what else has been fabricated or
covered up? Nothing less than a royal commission would have the power and authority to thoroughly investigate the Howard government's policies and actions toward
asylum-seekers, and the extent to which they violate international law and human rights.

We, the undersigned, call for the establishment of a royal commission to:

• Investigate the policy, enacted since the Tampa crisis, of intercepting asylum-seekers coming to Australia by boat;
• Investigate the policy of mandatory, non-reviewable detention;
• Investigate the pressuring of Pacific Island nations to take asylum-seekers seeking to come to Australia and the export of Australia’s detention policy to Pacific island nations through funding detention facilities;
• Investigate the legality of the new laws enacted in September, in particular, the excision of parts of Australian territory from the Migration Act, the permanent ban on family reunion for asylum seekers deemed to have arrived "illegally", the effective removal of the right to judicial review, the government-legislated right to discriminate against refugees without documentation and those who have spent more than seven days in a third country on their way to Australia;
• Investigate the process of refugee application and appeal, including the obligation to inform people of their rights and explain the processes so they can exercise those rights, and the need for access to legal representation;
• Investigate the denial of family reunion rights to temporary protection visa holders, a restriction in place since 1999;
• Investigate whether temporary protection visas and the system of mandatory detention violate the refugee convention, which forbids discrimination or punishment based on the method of arrival in Australia;
• Investigate the denial of work rights, Medicare, English classes and welfare access to those who apply for refugee status more than 45 days after arriving in Australia.

• John Pilger, journalist, writer and film-maker
• Humphrey McQueen, author and historian
• Wendy Bacon, Associate Professor, Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, University of Technology Sydney
• Philip Adams, journalist and ABC radio presenter
• Anne Coombs, Rural Australians for Refugees
• Dr Graham Thom, Amnesty International's refugee campaign coordinator
• Professor Margaret Reynolds, President, United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA)
• Salvatore Scevola, former Chairperson, NSW Ethnic Communities Council
• Max Lane, Chairperson, Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific
• Thang Ngo, Unity Party spokesperson, Fairfield councillor
• Father Nguyen Van Cao, Director, Jesuit Refugee Service
• Sister Susan Connelly, Mary McKillop Institute for East Timorese Studies, Sydney
• Beryl Mulder, President, Multicultural Council of the Northern Territory
• Trish Corcoran, Free the Refugees Campaign group, Sydney
• Ian Rintoul, Refugee Action Coalition, Sydney

For more information, contact justice4refugees@yahoo.com.au or Pip Hinman on 0412 139 968.