At the ASRC as a human rights lawyer I have witnessed first hand thousands of times over, the human cost of countries whose government believe that they are above the law and should not be subject to the oversight of their own courts. I have sat face to face with men and women who have
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It’s the 19th of January 2002 and there is news of 58 asylum seekers in Woomera having sewed their lips together in protest of the delays in processing their refugee applications. We fast forward to the 19th of November 2010 and news breaks of 10 people seeking asylum who have sewed their lips together on
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Last week the ASRC published a blog revealing how the The Sunday Telegraph was fuelling myths that asylum seekers were unlawful queue jumpers who cheat Australia’s otherwise generous and orderly refugee program. The Telegraph was at it again last weekend (06 Nov 2010) with an article by Piers Akerman who wrote, “Gillard has been forced
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This past week the Immigration Department released new refugee selection criteria, applicable only to Afghan asylum-seekers. Under the new guidelines it is set to be significantly more difficult for Afghan nationals to be recognised as refugees, having to prove they face a ‘real chance’ of persecution, rather than one that is not ‘remote or far-fetched’.
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“Come by boat and get a visa.” That was the headline in an article published in last weekend’s Sunday Telegraph (31 Oct 2010). To reinforce the message is a picture of an intercepted vessel headed for Christmas Island. Accompanied by a couple of uniformed Australian officials are a dozen huddled asylum seekers seated next to
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