Amnesty’s disturbing report …

Amnesty International’s recent report, By Hook or by Crook makes for troubling reading.

Having collected evidence from asylum seekers and crew who were forcibly returned to Indonesia by Australian officials after money changed hands, Amnesty is now calling for a Royal Commission to be held.

Australia appears to have breached the UN convention on transnational organized crime and the Protocol against the smuggling of migrants by land, sea and air that we both signed and ratified.

In aiming to stop people smuggling have we now become people smugglers ourselves?

5 May 2015: a well-equipped and provisioned boat with a large cabin, indoor galley and toilet, left Pelabuhan Ratu, SW Java (Indonesia) with 65 passengers and 6 experienced crew members on board.

The boat was reportedly headed for New Zealand and passengers had paid around US$4000 for their passage.

17 May 2015: The boat was intercepted by 2 Australian ships; Border Force Patrol personnel boarded and left passengers with leaflets saying they can never enter Australian waters not even en-route to another destination.

They followed the boat for several days and then boarded again on May 22 and escorted the boat to Green Hill Island near Darwin.

Passengers were told they could bathe if they went on board the Border Patrol ship.

Fifty went, including the women and children. The others plus crew stayed on their boat. It is at that point, on the original boat, that money is alleged to have changed hands.

30 May 2015: In the evening, after 7 days in poorly aired, prison-like cabins with no access to their medications, passengers were informed they would be transferred onto 2 new boats and were directed to go to Rote Island (Indonesia ).

These new boats were not as well equipped as their original boat and carried little fuel. They were first escorted by Australian Navy and Border Patrol ships which left on 31 May.

A few hours later, one of the boats ran out of fuel and all the passengers and crew had to transfer to the remaining boat. The boat made it to Landu Island, near Rote Island, struck a reef and the passengers were rescued by locals.

24 May 2015: According to Amnesty’s evidence it was around this date that Australian officials appear to have organized or directed the crew to commit a people-smuggling offence.

It was allegedly under Australian officials’ instruction and with their material assistance (including two boats, fuel, maps, and GPS) that the offence of smuggling people into Indonesia took place.

The Australian officials who paid $US32,000 to the crew may also have participated as accomplices in the transnational crime of people smuggling.

The way in which the May 2015 turn-back was carried out, in overcrowded vessels with insufficient fuel, would qualify as an aggravating circumstance because it endangered lives and involved ill-treatment.

Contrary to Australia’s assertions both the crew and the asylum-seekers – interviewed separately – consistently told Amnesty International that the boat was not in distress at the time of either interception on 17 or 22 May,

July 2015: There was another incident with 15 people on the boat. This time the boat was in poor condition and taking water and people indicated they were in distress and needed help. The boat was shadowed by two Australian ships and then boarded on the 25 July and taken to a Navy ship .A day later people were moved to cells on a Border Force ship. The crew was accommodated separately.

On 1 August they were then transferred to a small boat similar to their original vessel, provided with a minimum of safety equipment and directed to go to Rote Island. The boat ran out of fuel before it reached land but luckily was intercepted by Indonesian police officers and they were taken to Tablogong, Indonesia.

Several passengers also said that the crew had two bags that they had not had before being intercepted by the Australian authorities.

These events are very troubling. We should demand clear answers from the Federal Government. We all have a responsibility to reflect, question, and put pressure on our elected Members of Parliament.

Only the thorough examination of a Royal Commission will give us the answers we can trust.

Sylvia Merope is a Human Rights activist and a Qigong teacher leaving near Cygnet. Born and brought up in France, she sailed to Tasmania with her husband and young children twenty years ago. Her interests include social justice, indigenous rights, world politics and the environment. She’s a teacher of the beautiful Wild Goose Qigong system and a follower of Lao Zi: “I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These are your three greatest treasures. Simple in actions and in thoughts, you return to the source of being. Patient with both friends and enemies, you accord with the way things are. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world” Lao Zi

• Refugee Action Committee: How Australia Violates Human Rights

• ABC, The Drum: Here’s how we can better manage refugees

• ABC Religion and Ethics: Do Ends Justify the Means? Australia’s Unprincipled Refugee Policy