The Australian government last month announced plans to deport “fake refugees” if they do not submit an application for a protection visa by the 1st October. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton set what he calls a "non-negotiable" cut-off date for thousands of asylum seekers to make protection claims.
Advocacy groups are accusing the Federal Government of changing the rules. The government claims some asylum seekers have had five years to lodge applications.
Refugee advocate Roj Amedi says that "those 'five years' were marred with the deaths of people who were under our care and our custody.”
Amedi is a former committee member and strategist for asylum-seeker support organisation Road to Refuge as well as a writer (with columns in Right Now and The Saturday Paper) and speaker with various institutions (including the Human Rights Law Centre and the Wheeler Centre) on the subjects of refugee justice, human rights, and public policy at large. As she fled Iraqi Kurdistan as a refugee herself, it's little wonder she's become such a fierce advocate for refugee rights.
"You have to clearly detail every experience of trauma."
Dutton's recently announced measure is expected to impact upon about 7,500 asylum seekers that are in Australia who were given just four months notice to meet the new deadline.
Amedi tells SBS Kurdish it is difficult for asylum seekers to meet the tight deadline as, "there is no access to legal assistance, the forms are incredibly complicated and one document for an entire family could go for about 180 pages."
She adds, "you have to clearly detail every experience of trauma."
And this is where it can get even more complicated for asylum seekers, as Ms Amedi explains, "…when we understand people who have experienced trauma, there are a lot of issues with memory loss, depression…and other mental health concerns, which are only compounded by the experiences in our detention centres.”
The Federal Government is also under fire from refugee advocacy groups for its controversial off-shore processing. The fate of some asylum seekers on Australian off-shore detention centres are unknown. Some of the detainees will be resettled in the USA, after a thorough security screening.
Although the government claims that its harsh policy for maritime arrivals has been successful in “stopping the boats," Amedi argues that, "it's also been affected by a lack of transparency and a lot of money spent pretty much torturing people."
"It is an attempt to de-humanise them and to break them and also make them an example for anyone else considering the various options to seek safety."
She elaborates, "The whole intent, when I talk to people on Manus and Nauru is that people are actively denied their humanity and denied due process."
"It is an attempt to de-humanise them and to break them and also make them an example for anyone else considering the various options to seek safety."
Ms Amedi suggests that “a great solution that would actually undermine the black-market industry of boat arrivals is to actually set up regional processing centres through the UNHCR and various other multi-lateral organisations, that actually support people to apply for refugee status.”
The Government has announced the Manus detention centre will shut down on October the 31st with asylum seekers tp be given the option of settling in Papua New Guinea, transferring to countries other than Australia or returning to their countries of origin.
Related: Listen to SBS Kurdish''s recent interview (in English) with Behrouz Boochani, Kurdish journalist and human rights activist, who has been detained on Manus Island for almost four years:In regards to Australia’s response to the crisis in Syria and Iraq , according to the Australian Immigration and Border protection website, “as of 21 March 2017, visas have been granted towards all 12,000 additional places.”
Amedi says “the figure is relatively not very generous."
"If you look through the west of the Middle East there are various countries that are supporting millions of refugees, and that we have to have a global perspective, if we’re going to be acting on a global scale, we need to understand the consequences on a global scales as well”.
Roj Amedi is also critical of the selection criteria of these refugees by the Australian government. She believes “…only supporting those people who the Australian government deem worthy, creates a hierarchy of need that shouldn’t be there.”
Listen to Roj Amedi's full interview with SBS Kurdish (in English) here:
