Australia and U.S. in refugees swap

God, I thought it was a hoax, but I see it is reported in a number of places.


I can't believe it.

Oh, it's true, alright.

Those refugees wanting to live in the US end up in Oz detention centres.

Those seeking asylum in Oz end up in US detention centres!

Makes legal support for asylum seeking rather difficult, doesn't it?

I wonder if the UN has anything to say about this cozy "arrangement"?

Refugees 'not washing machines'
April 18, 2007 - 4:57PM/the AGE

Refugee advocates have expressed outrage at a plan to swap asylum seekers intercepted en route to Australia with those detained while trying to enter the United States, describing the scheme as a "dark and murky" political fix.

Under the new refugee exchange scheme announced by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews, asylum seekers detained on Nauru would be taken to the US and Cuban refugees held at Guantanamo Bay would be resettled in Australia.

"This is not a container load of washing machines that we've decided to reject. This is human beings," Asylum Seeker Resource Centre spokeswoman Pamela Curr said.

The comment came amid a torrent of opposition to the new scheme, with Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd describing it as "strange" while Greens senator Kerry Nettle calls it "bizarre".

The program signals further changes to the Pacific solution, after the Nauruan government moved to place time limits on the processing of Australia-bound boat people sent to the remote island.

Up to 200 asylum seekers could be exchanged under the scheme, with the first to go expected to be the 83 Sri Lankans and eight Burmese currently having their asylum claims processed on Nauru. ... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/refugees-not-washing-machines/2007/04/18/1176696902281.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

From Oz newspapers today:

.... & this:

Two countries that trade inhuman misery
David Corlett
April 20, 2007/the AGE

REFUGEES intercepted by the United States and taken to Guantanamo Bay will be resettled in Australia under a deal signed this week by the US and Australian governments. In return, refugees caught by Australian authorities and taken to the remote Pacific island of Nauru will be resettled in the US.

There is a symmetry to this new arrangement that is at the same time natural and alarming. Both the US and Australia operate highly controversial programs for intercepting non-citizens who attempt to arrive in their territories by boat without authorisation. Those intercepted include people who are seeking protection from persecution and other human rights violations.

The US system involves differential treatment depending on the nationality of the non-citizen. Haitians who are caught seeking to enter the US by boat are summarily returned to Haiti. Their only chance of gaining protection in the US is if they somehow "manifest a fear" for their safety that enables them to be placed in a process for determining how credible their fear is. Most intercepted Haitians are simply turned back to Haiti.

Cubans who seek to enter the US by boat without approval are subject to the bizarre "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy. Those who make it to landfall ?- those with "dry feet" ?- are entitled to remain in the US.

Cubans picked up at sea, while less fortunate than their "dry-foot" compatriots, are entitled to greater rights than intercepted Haitians. "Wet-foot" Cubans are told that they will be returned to Cuba unless they have "any concerns about returning to Cuba". Those who identify such concerns are taken to Guantanamo Bay, where their claims for protection are ultimately assessed against the United Nations' refugee definition.

It is these people who will now be resettled in Australia.

The US interception program was the forerunner to Australia's Pacific Solution. ... <cont>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/two-countries-that-trade-in-human-misery/2007/04/19/1176697001723.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

... & this.:

Sounds like the US wants to back off a bit ... from publicity about the arrangement, at least.
But it has been widely reported in all "respectable" Oz media outlets, so ..... :

Refugee swap not binding, says US
Cath Hart
April 20, 2007/the AUSTRALIAN

THE US denies it has a legally binding agreement with Australia to swap up to 200 refugees a year between the two countries.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews announced this week that an agreement had been signed with the US to "provide mutual assistance for the resettlement of people in need of international protection".
Under the scheme, Australia would send asylum-seekers held in its offshore processing facilities to the US; in return it would take Cuban refugees held by the US at Guantanamo Bay.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormick yesterday described the scheme struck between Washington and Canberra as a non-binding "informal arrangement for mutual assistance".

"There is an informal arrangement for mutual assistance that provides that each will consider resettlement of people interdicted at sea and found to be in need of international protection," he said.

"The arrangement does not create legal obligations."

The scheme was negotiated by Immigration Department secretary Andrew Metcalfe in Washington last week but the Government has refused to confirm which country initiated the deal.

The Australian Government announced that 83 Sri Lankans and eight Burmese asylum-seekers detained on the Pacific island of Nauru were likely to be the first refugees to be resettled in the US under the scheme.

In return, Australia is likely to resettle Cuban refugees picked up by the US Navy on their way to the US mainland.

A spokeswoman for Mr Andrews said the comments by the US State Department did not diminish the deal. .... <cont>

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21588498-601,00.html