Two batches of volunteers return home:

Change of Australian policies dims hopes for boat people

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in Australia Thisara Samarasinghe

Navy Commander Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage

For thousands of Sri Lankans, especially for those in the North and the East affected by decades of terrorism, risking their lives for better opportunities was not something unusual. They opted to risk their lives to reach whatever destination they were told was better for their life, despite the obstacles they may have faced on the way.

Many of them would have dreamt of an easy life, struggling to restore their lives after resettlement in their villages in the North and the East after years of displacement from their native places. The freedom of movement they enjoyed after the end of two and a half decades of terrorism in Sri Lanka would have inspired them to think of Australia as a safe haven.

The message they were getting from Australia was encouraging, the promise of a better life for their families. For many of them who had risked their lives, crossing mine-fields and braving LTTE bullets, a risky sea journey on rickety wooden boats for weeks did not prove to be daunting.

When dozens of people met their death on the way to Australia, they continued to take that risk; messages were not effective enough to discourage them to abandon their planned journey, paying whatever wealth they had to the boat operators.

The boat loads of people who dreamt of embracing that dream life in Australia continued, as Australian authorities welcomed them in their soil, while the lawmakers debated the issue of asylum seekers, creating room for many human smugglers to take advantage of the situation to make money.

Offshore processing

By the time Australian authorities realised the gravity of the issue, 3,621 Sri Lankans among 10,528 others from various parts of the world had arrived in Australia to grab whatever they may have. If the Sri Lanka Navy could not stop 2,300 boat people within the territorial waters of Sri Lanka, the number of boat people reaching Australia would have easily exceeded 6,000 this year.

However, things are now swiftly changing as Australian authorities have decided to change their policy towards asylum seekers and adopted offshore processing of their asylum claims. With this shift, many people waiting for their asylum claims had to think twice when Australian authorities transferred them to the Pacific island of Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island.

Australia’s Minister of Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen announced on September 14 that Australia had commenced offshore processing of claims by asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat.

Thirty Sri Lankan males were among the first group transferred from Christmas Island to Nauru.

Minister Bowen said the transfer of Sri Lankan asylum seekers demonstrates that people smugglers cannot guarantee that people attempting to reach Australia by boat will have their claims processed in Australia. Under the new Australian offshore processing policy, anyone coming to Australia by boat would be transferred to Nauru without exemptions.

“The message for people smugglers and asylum seekers in the region is clear: If you arrive in Australia by boat you can be taken from Australia by aeroplane and processed in another country”, Bowen said.

“Transfers to Nauru will now continue to take place regularly”, he said.

He also emphasised that Sri Lankans considering joining a people smuggling ring should be aware that if they try to travel to Australia by boat without a visa, they will not be able to earn money in Nauru to send back to their families in Sri Lanka.

Under Australia’s revised policy, asylum seekers will not be able to sponsor family members to join them under Australia’s humanitarian program and they could be resettled in another country, not Australia.

The Minister said Australia will continue to return those who are found to be non-refugees to their own countries.

On September 22, Bowen announced changes to the Special Humanitarian Program (SHP), removing family reunion concessions for boat arrivals to further discourage people from risking their lives at sea.

He said the Australian government had accepted, in principle, the recommendations of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers, which included barring people arriving by boat after August 13, 2012 from proposing family members under the humanitarian program. “These changes will remove the incentive for people to travel to Australia by boat with the intention of bringing out their families on humanitarian visas,” Minister Bowen said.

Dangerous journey

“We don’t want people risking their lives at sea on dangerous boat journeys and together with the implementation of the other panel recommendations, this measure provides clear evidence of the government’s determination to break the people smugglers’ business model.” For those who arrived by boat before August 13, 2012, the changes mean they will now need to meet all criteria to be granted an SHP visa. “Until now, the offshore spouse, dependent children and, in some cases, parents of refugees in Australia could be granted an SHP visa, solely on the basis of that relationship, regardless of whether they were in humanitarian need themselves,” Bowen said.

“This created a situation where, for example, the head of a family would arrive in Australia alone, apply for asylum and then seek to bring out several members of his family as humanitarian migrants.

“Decisions on the applications made by families of adult boat arrivals who arrived prior to August 13, 2012 will now take into account any discrimination or persecution they face in their home country, their connection to Australia, their protection options elsewhere, and Australia’s capacity to help. Their applications will also be given lowest processing priority.

“These changes will ensure that highest priority is given to the applications of families of people who were granted refugee and humanitarian visas overseas and migrated to Australia in a safer and orderly manner.”

In accordance with the Expert Panel’s recommendation, applicants proposed by unaccompanied minor refugees who arrived before August 13, 2012 will still be eligible for SHP visas on the strength of their family relationship alone. Bowen said people affected by changes to the SHP would be able to sponsor their family through the regular family stream of Australia’s Migration Program. “To accommodate the resulting increase in demand for visas in the family migration stream, and in accordance with the Expert Panel report, the government will increase the number of places by 4000 per year,” he said. “Applicants sponsored by people who arrive by boat will need to meet the same requirements as everyone else applying for migration through the family stream, including the relevant visa application charges.”

Policy changes

The Minister said, subject to the Governor-General’s agreement to the regulations, the policy changes announced on September 22 will be effective in the coming weeks.

Following the change of policy by Australian authorities, 18 Sri Lankans opted to return to the Island rather than going to Nauru for the processing of their asylum claims. The Australian authorities took measures to bring them back in a chartered flight from Christmas Island to the Katunayake airport. The second batch of 28 voluntary returnees were also scheduled to arrive at the Katunayake airport yesterday.

Immigration officials, the Criminal Investigation Department and the TID released them after recording their statements. According to Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana, the 18 males who arrived at the Katunayake airport were released without much delay at the airport and without producing them before Courts though they have violated the immigration laws of Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Australia Thisara Samarasinghe welcomed the decision by Australian authorities to send back the asylum seekers who volunteered to return to the country.

He said Australian authorities have realised that asylum seekers in Australia were not genuine asylum seekers and their arrival is only for economic benefits. “Now there is no room for false propaganda by pro-LTTE lobbies as they have been countered effectively by our efforts through the Ministries of Defence and External Affairs”, he said. He said he continued to emphasise that there should be visible expatriation of people if the Australian government genuinely wanted to discourage boat people and he made submissions to the expert panel on asylum seekers.“I am happy today that they are implementing those measures to discourage people coming to Australia by boat, risking their lives”, he said. Navy Commander Vice Admiral Jayanath Colombage, who assumed duties as the 18th Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, also welcomed the decision by the Australian authorities to change their policy towards the boat people.

Relaxed laws

The Sri Lanka Navy always maintained that Australia has very relaxed laws with regard to illegal immigrants and people exploited those laws. The recent change of their policies will discourage Sri Lankans from taking that risky journey to Australia, seeking asylum”, he said.As the former Commander of the Eastern Naval Area prior to his appointment as the Navy Commander, colombage had directly been involved in nabbing boats taking illegal immigrants to Australia.“During the past two months we arrested over 1,000 illegal immigrants and within the past week, we see a lesser number of boat people”, he said.

“They are leaving Sri Lanka not because of any problem here. They left as they were welcomed by the Australian authorities. They want to earn big money at once. Some of them went due to the influence of certain groups to tarnish Sri Lanka’s reputation, he said.

“The illegal immigrants had the idea that they will not be sent back to their countries once they reached Christmas Island, Cocos Island or any other island in Australia. They thought that they will be welcomed, allowed to work and obtain citizenship there.

That was an encouraging factor for the illegal immigrants, the Navy Commander said.“With the recent change of policies, there has been a reduction in the number of boat people during the past week as they get the message that they will be sent to other islands for the processing of their asylum claims”, he said.

“The volunteer repatriation of some illegal immigrants very clearly indicates that they have left, not due to a problem in Sri Lanka, but for other reasons. We hope this number will decrease further once they get a clear message from the Australian side”, he said.