BRISBANE’S Catholic Justice and Peace Commission has welcomed the Department of Immigration’s decision on March 22 to grant temporary protection visas to 42 of a group of 43 West Papuan asylum seekers who arrived on a boat in Australia in January.
The commission’s executive officer, Peter Arndt, said the decision showed the West Papuans’ claims of persecution at the hands of Indonesian security forces were accepted by the department.
Mr Arndt said the commission still wanted Catholics to urge the Federal Government to do more to challenge the human rights abuses which are occurring in West Papua.
Meanwhile, Jesuit Refugee Service director Fr David Holdcroft voiced concern over the “second rate protection” offered to refugees who seek asylum in Australia.
While welcoming the decision to allow 42 West Papuan refugees to stay in Australia on temporary protection visas, he said, “temporary protection is essentially second rate protection and it’s just not good enough”.
