Coroner & Legal
ICC asked to prosecute Abbott government. Refugee Convention Death Knell …
ICC REQUESTED TO INVESTIGATE PROSECUTION OF ABBOTT GOVERNMENT
The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, and eminent human rights advocate and lawyer, Greg Barns, have formally requested the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigate crimes against asylum seekers by members of the Abbott Government. Download a copy of the letter below …
“The actions of the Prime Minister and members of his Government against asylum seekers are criminal,” Mr Wilkie said. “Actions such as forcible deportation, detention without trial, detention of children and conditions of detention constitute breaches of Article 7 (Crimes Against Humanity) of the Rome Statute, the treaty that governs the jurisdiction of the ICC.
“The Abbott Government’s conduct in relation to asylum seekers also contravenes the Refugee Convention, Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“The Government is pandering to racism, xenophobia and selfishness instead of acting like leaders. This is why I’ve asked the Prosecutor to initiate an investigation into the Prime Minister and the Cabinet because, if they won’t listen to the swathe of community outrage, then hopefully they’ll listen to the International Criminal Court.”
“The ICC clearly has jurisdiction in relation to the Abbott Government’s systematic mistreatment of asylum seekers. Australia is a signatory to the Rome Statute,” Mr Barns said.
“Article 7 of the Statute defines ‘crimes against humanity’ to mean acts such as deportation, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law, torture and other similar acts that are committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population.
“There is little doubt, and in fact it is well documented, that the Abbott Government’s mandatory detention of men, women and children in inhumane conditions, and the forcible deportation of individuals, are of a systemic nature and designed to deter.
“What Mr Wilkie and I are asking the ICC Prosecuting authority to do is to gather information, analyse evidence and make a report to the pre-trial chamber of the ICC asking it to authorise an investigation into the commission of offences by the Cabinet of the Abbott Government”.
Download:
Andrew_Wilkie_Letter_to_the_ICC.pdf
• Sister Brigid Arthur, Pamela Curr: Death Knell to Australia’s commitment to Refugee Convention
“In this week when we mourn the passing of Gough Whitlam, we remember a day in 1975 when he welcomed 200 Vietnamese refugee babies in “Operation Babylift” . The babies were evacuated in shoeboxes from the terror of Vietnam. My nephew is married to one of these babies. His wife, a teacher and mother is now a member of our family having been welcomed at a time when Australia was a kinder, more open hearted country,” says Sister Brigid Arthur of the Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project.” I contrast this sadly with the treatment of babies who under this Bill will,be condemned to the tent camps on Nauru.”
“If the Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Bill 2014 (The Bill) becomes law, thousands of lives will be at risk,” says Sister Brigid.
Sister Brigid Arthur and Pamela Curr have come to Canberra to talk to the politicians about the people affected by this legislation. “We know and visit the people and children in detention and in the community whose very lives hang in the balance of this bill,” they say.
“This Bill changes Australia’s approach to asylum seekers to one of deterrence, punishment and lack of protection. It strips rights even further and places Australia in default of our responsibilities to the Refugee Convention.
The Bill allows the Australian Government to disregard the risk of persecution and even death with clauses demanding that a person only has a well-founded fear if that person has a ̳real chance‘ of persecution in all areas of the receiving country(p.10}This is called the real chance test{p.10}. Further, the bill disallows a reasonableness test. “We believe that the Bill is unreasonableness itself” says Pamela Curr. “The Bill imposes unreasonable expectations for a person to prove themselves and paves the way for people to be deported back to danger.”
The Bill will place lives in limbo with no surety of a future and no chance of family reunion,” says Pamela Curr of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.“We know of young men whose dearest wish is to see their mothers, husbands and wives separated from each other and their children who may never see their loved ones again under the provisions of this Bill.”
It is not reasonable or possible for the immigration department to reassess thousands of temporary visas every three to five years.This is a short term measure designed to try to turn Australia into an Asylum Seeker free zone at a time when global wars and civil unrest have sent more people fleeing than since the second world war.
Australia as a mid range power could be leading the conversation on the world refugee displacement instead of practising a form of ethnic cleansing by deterring and punishing those who knock on our door for protection.
“We have come to Canberra to meet the politicians whose decisions could destroy our current refugee process and redefine what it means to be a refugee and breeches our international human rights obligations in the process” says Pamela Curr.