THE Australian Catholic Social Justice Council (ACSJC) has called for an end to the Federal Government’s Pacific Solution for asylum seekers, describing it as ‘a fundamental inversion of values’.
In a position paper released last Tuesday, the ACSJC says the Pacific Solution places the values and interests of the state, or of national security, before ‘protection of the dignity of asylum seekers and refugees’.
The position paper, called ‘The Pacific Solution’, sets out the ACSJC’s reasons for opposing the strategy.
We believe that everyone intercepted in Australian waters or on our territory seeking asylum in Australia should have their claims to refugee or humanitarian status determined in Australia,’ the paper says.
They should not be diverted to other countries for processing.
It also says it is unrealistic of Australia to ‘expect the poor countries of our region to be the major countries of first asylum’.
It says the problem of asylum seekers is an international one and its root causes must be addressed. Poverty, political instability, discrimination, and human rights abuses cause involuntary movement of people, it adds.
