obligations to asylum seekers/refugees v national interests

• Under Article 33 of Refugee Convention, State parties: ‘shall not expel a refugee lawfully in their territory save on grounds of national security or public order’
• ASYLUM SEEKER RESOURCE CENTRE

  • Military-led response to ‘combat people smuggling and protect [Australia’s] borders’. 
  • Its aim is to stop asylum seekers reaching Australia by boat, and to deny such asylum seekers resettlement in Australia
• Policies of OSB

  • Turning back boats, including providing support to source and transit countries to intercept asylum seekers departing their shores. 
  • Increasing the capacity of offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru, and denying those in offshore detention resettlement in Australia, even if found to be bona fide refugees.
• UNSW

  • Deterrence and interdiction are pursued instead of operations focused on ensuring the safety and rights of refugees and asylum seekers at sea. 
  • Such interventions neglect human rights and jeopardise the principle of ‘non-refoulement’. 
• • Results from the 2017 Lowy Institute Poll reveal how Australians feel about refugees being settled in Australia. 
  • Almost half (48%) of the 1200 Australians surveyed believe that refugees [at the time] in Nauru and Manus Island detention centres should never be settled in Australia 
  • Moreover, almost 40% see asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat as a ‘critical threat’ to Australia’s interests.
• How Does Offshore Detention Jeopardise Non-Refolument?

  • Offshore detention is designed to be so brutal that asylum seekers are forced into despair and agree to go back home to whatever they have fled.
  • 'Languishing in transit countries or in offshore detention centres, adding to their trauma and mental anguish’.