AUSTRALIAN Catholics have been called on to exercise compassion and remain informed in order to ensure a “fair go” for Sri Lankan and Afghani asylum seekers.
Advocates for refugees and asylum seekers have also called on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to take action to pressure for the release of Tamil civilians being detained in camps run by the Sri Lankan military.
The calls follow ongoing controversy about Mr Rudd’s decision to contact Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono earlier this month to organise the interception of a boat load of 260 Sri Lankans bound for Australia.
Australian Catholic Bishops Con-ference delegate for refugee and migrant issues Bishop Joseph Grech and Brisbane archdiocesan director of the Centre for Multicultural Pastoral Care Clyde Cosentino made separate pleas to all Australians to stop and think why asylum seekers are seeking to escape their homeland.
Brisbane archdiocese’s Archdiocesan Catholic Justice and Peace Commission executive officer Peter Arndt said the “silence and inaction of the Prime Minister on the plight of Tamils in camps in the north and east of Sri Lanka was unacceptable”.
Mr Cosentino called on Australians “not to return to the bad old days of fear and misunderstanding and not being informed of the facts” in the latest debate on asylum seekers.
“There are genuine reasons why these people are seeking asylum – in Sri Lanka’s case, the end of a 25-year war in which tens of thousands have died has meant many Tamil civilians are now fleeing,” he said.
“In the case of Afghanistan, not since the 2003 invasion has there been such a high level of violence and dislocation in the country.”
Mr Cosentino said he was “very concerned that the whole issue of asylum seekers is again becoming over politicised”.
“This leads to too much focus on border protection and people smugglers and not enough on the plight of those seeking protection in our country,” he said.
“I would hate to think that the lessons of the past haven’t been learnt – that if we don’t see these people as being in need of our support and compassion we become hard of heart.”
Mr Cosentino said such attitudes “run against the grain of our multicultural society”.
“We need to focus on the compassionate and caring role Australia has played towards refugees and asylum seekers in the recent past,” he said.
“This was most recently seen in the case of some 9000 TPV (Temporary Protection Visa) holders who’d arrived on our shores mainly from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Dominican Father Pancras Jordan, who has a Tamil background, visited Sri Lanka in May soon after the final battle between Government troops and the opposing Tamil Tigers.
He said seeing detention camp internees having to wait in 500m queues for toilets and of joining others in throwing plastic bags of food over the fence to relatives and friends, many of whom looked malnourished.
In recent weeks the Brisbane-based priest said he had been speaking “to a lot of people – not just Tamils but local Church members” about the current situation.
He has also addressed parliaments in NSW and Canberra.
Dr Brian Senewiratne, who has connections to Sri Lanka’s ruling Singhalese class, said the Australian Government’s attitude to the asylum seekers was not only inhumane but contrary to international law as Australia had
humanitarian obligations under United Nations charters.
“These people are being held without charge or trial, in violation of the UN International Convention of Civil and Political Rights, and in violation of Sri Lanka’s own constitution,” he said.
Mr Arndt said the silence and inaction of the Prime Minister on the plight of Tamils in camps in the north and east of Sri Lanka was unacceptable.
“Why is Mr Rudd so blistering in his attacks on people smugglers while he remains silent about the appalling conditions faced by hundreds of thousands of Tamils locked up in camps in Sri Lanka?” he said.
“Why is Mr Rudd so keen to stop Sri Lankan asylum seekers from finding refuge from the horrors they have faced at home, yet is so reluctant to take action to challenge the legality of Sri Lanka’s detention of its own citizens?
“Other governments such as Great Britain, France and Sweden are sending senior ministers to Sri Lanka and preparing to impose sanctions on that country, but all Mr Rudd’s Government is doing is trying to keep suffering Sri Lankans out of Australia.”
Mr Rudd was recently reported as saying that Australia is “monitoring human rights in Sri Lanka”.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Australian Government had made repeated calls to the Sri Lankan Government during the Sri Lankan conflict and since the end of military hostilities in May for the welfare and protection of civilians to be the absolute priority.
“The Australian Government continues to raise the issue of access of humanitarian organisations to internally displaced persons’ (IDP) camps, including with the Sri Lankan Government,” the spokeswoman said.
“(Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith) has spoken to Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister (Rohitha Bogollagama) about IDP camp access by humanitarian organisations on a number of occasions in 2009, including over the phone and in the margins of multilateral meetings.
“In addition, in the margins of the Non-aligned Movement Summit in Egypt in July, Mr Smith spoke to Sri Lanka’s President (Mahinda Rajapaksa) and Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister about the need to ensure the protection of civilians and the need for reconciliation in Sri Lanka.
“Australia’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka has raised at a high-level in the Sri Lankan Government Australia’s concerns regarding the protection of the IDPs in northern Sri Lanka, their freedom of movement and ultimate resettlement, and other matters of humanitarian and human rights concern.”
