June 23, 2014 – Reported by the Human Rights Law Centre: Australia’s unlawful and increasingly punitive treatment of asylum seekers has once again been condemned on the world stage.
Overnight a statement prepared by the Human Rights Law Centre was delivered to the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, the world’s peak human rights body.
The statement called on the Human Rights Council and member States to condemn Australia for ignoring its international human rights obligations and to remind it that countries need to share, not shift, responsibility for refugee protection.
“Australia is violating the rights of asylum seekers who arrive in an attempt to scare off others thinking of coming. It’s using cruelty to ‘stop the boats’ instead of working to address why people get on them in the first place,” said HRLC Director of Legal Advocacy, Daniel Webb.
The statement also updated the Council on the situation inside the Manus Island detention centre, where in February this year an Iranian asylum seeker, Mr Reza Berati, was killed and around 60 others seriously injured. To date, not a single refugee has had their claims determined and been resettled.
