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Submission to the National

Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention

Australian Human Rights Medallists

An Open Letter from Australian Human Rights Medallists

We appeal to the

humanity, decency and sense of fairness of our fellow Australians in respecting

the human rights of men, women and children escaping persecution.

We urge all Australians

to remember that:

In 1954, under the

Menzies Government, Australia adopted the International Convention

on the Status of Refugees as part of the law of this land. Since then,

we have had a proud and compassionate tradition of accepting a flow of

asylum seekers fleeing persecution. We have been glad to accord them refugee

status after due process. Such people are neither 'illegals' nor migrants

for they have a right to claim asylum as refugees.

This Refugee Convention

is part of our international law obligations, but it has now been undermined

in two ways. First, by the withdrawal of some Australian territory from

the application of the processing provisions of the Australian Migration

Act; and secondly, by the active removal of asylum seekers to Pacific

nations where the Refugee Convention does not apply and the processing

of their applications for refugee status will be carried out by the United

Nations at our expense.

This is not our normal

policy towards refugees. Our multicultural society formed over the past

fifty years, has been founded on the non-discriminatory entry of people

who have arrived either through the official migration program, or from

the relatively small number of asylum seekers granted refugee status.

There is no queue in Australia for admission as a refugee because our

refugee quota remains unfilled. Both of these groups, migrants and refugees,

have always been a major factor in helping the Australian economy and

community life to expand and grow in wealth and diversity.

We urge the Australian

people:

• Not to turn away asylum seekers from our shores but, with compassion, to imagine their despair. Let there be no more inhumanity to man, woman or child in our land.
• Not to approve the setting up of detention camps in neighbouring countries where all refugee applications for asylum will be processed by the United Nations at enormous cost to the Australian taxpayer, with the result that many of those accepted as entitled to refugee status will either remain stranded or eventually be admitted here anyway.
• Not to discriminate against a particular racial and religious grouping of people (including children) fleeing from persecution and seeking asylum with us. We now add to their suffering, instead of helping them as was previously our normal practice. Why treat in this way a group of refugees whom we used to welcome? It may be discrimination that breaches Australian anti-discrimination law. Such negative stereotyping of a particular racial and religious group of people can be a warning of a disastrous future for our country. Is there any 'fair go mate' left at all?
• To call upon the government to reform the conditions and treatment of asylum seekers held in detention centres run by punitive regimes, and seek alternatives to the policy of mandatory detention itself. These camps have been described by Malcolm Fraser as 'cruel' and 'brutal'; some are extremely isolated and some, due to lack of facilities, are filthy and unhealthy. Such treatment by Australia of these people, particularly of the children, is both unwarranted and avoidable. Let us once again be a nation that is held in high repute by the international community because of our respect for the dignity and human rights of all those people who seek our help. We did not fail them in the past as we are failing them now.

We call for:

• the immediate removal of all children and their families from mandatory detention
• a judicial inquiry into the conditions and treatment of asylum seekers held in detention camps inside and outside Australia
• a change in present government policy towards asylum seekers and a return to the normal non-discriminatory welcoming policies adopted by past Australian governments.

Signatories:

Australian Human Rights

Medallists

• 1987 - Rose Colless

• 1988 - Reverend Dorothy McRae-McMahon

• 1989 - Reverend Robert Ridley

• 1992 - Father David Passi and James Rice.

• 1993 - Barbara Hocking

• 1994 - Dr Robert Sykes

• 1995 - The Hon. Elizabeth Evatt AC

• 1996 - Rebecca Peters

• 1997 - Dr Faith Bandler AM

• 1998 - Vivi Germanos - Koutsounadis

• 1999 - Helen Bayes

• 2000 - The Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser

Last

Updated 9 January 2003.