Tag Archives: Australia
11 May 2014
Indonesian foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa launched a veiled attack on Australian policy, saying the region should be looking at ‘shared responsibility’ for the irregular movement of refuges, ‘not shifting responsibility’. The remark represented the opening statement of a conference that was opened on 5 May in Jakarta in order to discuss the protection of refugees in the region. 15 states, including Australia took part in this conference. (more…)
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald | UN representatives criticise Abbott government's boat tow-back policy
22 April 2014
In response to Australia’s policy of returning boatloads of refugees back to Indonesia, the Indonesian government called on other states to stop ‘shifting responsibility’ for asylum-seekers. Asylum-seekers often use Indonesia as a transit state to cross over to Australia, and with the Australian policy of returning asylum-seekers before they touch Australian soil has forced Indonesia to take on the burden of these asylum seekers. During an international meeting in Jakarta regarding asylum-seekers, Indonesian Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegawa, stated that the commitments made by states at a conference last year regarding asylum-seekers ‘confirmed our shared responsibility – shared responsibility, not (the) shifting of responsibility. Shared responsibility requires coordination and cooperation.’
Source: The Jakarta Post | Indonesia speaks out on boatpeople amid Australia tension
10 April 2014
The New York Times reports that Britain has increasingly invoked its power to strip citizens of their British citizenship. Furthermore, Prime Minister David Cameron’s government is promoting legislation that would increase this power to revoke citizenship, as a result of concerns that British Muslims traveling to fight in Syria will pose a threat upon their return to Britain. Britain is one of the few countries, including Israel, which can revoke citizenship of dual nationals, if suspected or convicted of terrorist offenses. However, the proposed legislation would expand such practice to naturalised citizens that have no other nationality, resulting in the statelessness of that person. Home Secretary Theresa May stated that citizenship is a ‘privilege, not a right.’ The purpose of this power is to disrupt the terrorist threat and other countries are taking note. For example, in Canada there is a bill before parliament including some deprivation powers. Additionally, Australia and the Netherlands are also considering such legislation. (more…)
Source: The New York Times | Britain Increasingly Invokes Power to Disown Its Citizens
3 April 2014
The exchange of information between Dutch intelligence services and the United States National Security Agency (NSA) is no longer taking place entirely outside the public eye. After a graph published in German news magazine Der Spiegel in August 2013 initially seemed to suggest that the NSA had intercepted 1.8 million records of metadata from Dutch phone calls in the period of December 2012 to January 2013, it became clear this February that Dutch intelligence services had gathered these records themselves, and had subsequently shared them with the NSA. This information consisted of metadata records gathered in the context of anti-terrorism and military operations abroad.
A substantial share of Dutch intelligence efforts is directed towards Somalia, and millions of Somali phone calls have been intercepted from both the Dutch town of Burum and Dutch navy ship HMS Rotterdam. The Netherlands has been collecting this information in order to support the Dutch contribution to the navy missions combating piracy in the Gulf of Aden. The (meta)data is shared with the NSA (who do not have access to Somali telephone traffic) and in return the US has provided the Netherlands with technical support needed to intercept local telephone traffic from the HMS Rotterdam.[1] (more…)
19 February 2014
During a riot in a detention camp in Papua New Guinea, one asylum seeker was killed and at least 77 were injured. Accounts as to what caused the riot differ; Australian authorities claim the violence began when detainees forced their way out of the center, but refugee advocates insist it was sparked when local residents and police stormed the facility, attacking the asylum seekers.
The facility is part of Australia’s Pacific Solution on the basis of which Australia processes and detains asylum seekers in centers on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru. The asylum seekers are sent there after trying to get to Australia, often in unsafe boats and with the help of people smugglers in Indonesia. (more…)
Source: Reuters | One dead, many hurt as asylum seekers riot at PNG detention camp