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Keywords: Sri Lanka

  • RELIGION

    The 747 or the leaky boat

    • Frank Brennan
    • 21 June 2010
    14 Comments

    As the election lather on the asylum seeker issue continues, let's ask, 'Why is it right to treat the honest, unvisaed boat person more harshly than the visaed airplane passenger who fails to declare their intention to apply for asylum?'

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Australia in Crisis Group firing line

    • Eve Lester
    • 01 June 2010
    12 Comments

    Some countries including Australia turned a blind eye to atrocities committed during the Sri Lanka conflict. The International Crisis Group has called upon these countries to ensure proper international investigation of war crimes. This includes granting asylum or other protected status to witnesses.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Coalition's new nasties for asylum seekers

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 31 May 2010
    22 Comments

    The Coalition's new asylum seeker policy returns to the policy it put into practice under Mr Howard, adding new nasties. The Government's asylum seeker policy is bad; the Coalition's is worse. It is designed to appeal to human baseness, not to human generosity.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Abbott's immigration paranoia

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 17 May 2010
    25 Comments

    Abbott's 'red arrows' asulym seeker ad is reminiscent of the 'reds under the beds' hysteria of the '50s and '60s. With an election on the way, the immigration policy reform agenda has been put aside as both Government and Opposition harden their policies.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Refugee backflip misses what matters

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 12 April 2010
    23 Comments

    The decision to suspend the processing of future asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka does not respect the dignity of asylum seekers. Now that the Government has bent to the populist winds fanned by an opportunistic Opposition, there are grounds for fearing the claims of asylum seekers will be judged in a way that unduly reflects the interests of the Australian Government.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Immigration control versus human rights

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 30 March 2010
    4 Comments

    Once again the coalition is inflaming passions about what is actually an insignificant number of people arriving in Australian waters and claiming asylum. Unfortunately the Government is getting caught up in this debate because it insists on maintaining the excision and Christmas Island Centre.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Precarious lives: Involuntary displacement of people in Asia Pacific today

    • Mark Raper
    • 18 January 2010

    Significant agreement was achieved in Copenhagen on the present and future forcible displacement of people because of climate change and environmental degradation. Can global cooperation for the protection of vulnerable displaced persons be renewed to meet new circumstances?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Another 'certain maritime incident'

    • Tony Kevin
    • 05 November 2009
    11 Comments

    Peter Costello draws a long bow in presuming smugglers provided the boat that sank off the Cocos Islands this week. As with the sinking of the SIEV X, it is unfortunate that it takes a tragedy to remind us that at the heart of this issue are desperate human beings.

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  • EUREKA STREET/ READER'S FEAST AWARD

    The spider-web fisherman

    • Arnold Zable
    • 04 November 2009

    Observing this unique means of fishing, I realised an alternative intelligence was at work, born of the islanders' relationship to the environment. Ironically, this island is one of a growing number facing inundation by rising waters due to climate change.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    'Indonesia solution' is immoral

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 02 November 2009
    10 Comments

    The reception of asylum seekers is to be judged by the human reality of those who seek asylum, not by convenience of those on whom they make a claim. It is morally unjustifiable for Australia to transfer its responsibilities to Indonesia.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Stop Sri Lanka, not its refugees

    • Michael Mullins
    • 19 October 2009
    45 Comments

    The Rudd Government is pursuing the same unprincipled border protection strategy for which it criticised the Howard Government. It could better assist these refugees by asking the Sri Lankan Government why so many Tamils are fleeing the country, especially if the war is over.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Refugee hysteria breeding Pacific Solution 2.0

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 15 October 2009
    17 Comments

    A hysterical response to the arrival of boats in Australia could undo the progress we have made away from unjust policy. Most asylum seekers have already experienced serious trauma. To return to a temporary visa regime will separate families for years and cause anxiety.

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