International Day Of Action To Free Tamil Refugees

As part of an international call to action, a number of organisations in New Zealand will join protesters from Australia, Canada USA, England, Indonesia and Malaysia to demand that the Australian Government take responsibility and accept the asylum seekers of Tamil origin who are moored off the coast of Indonesia.

As part of the Australian Government’s ‘Indonesian Solution’, Kevin Rudd personally requested that the Indonesian Navy intercept the boat to stop the people from entering Australian waters.

As of Monday, it will be 100 days since 254 Tamil Asylum Seekers refused to leave the boat for fear of being locked up in an Indonesian detention centre or being deported back to Sri Lanka.

The refugees are rightly demanding that they be given basic human rights and that Australia, as a signatory of the UN Refugee Convention, adhere to its international responsibilities.

The terrible treatment of desperate asylum seekers is a issue that is occurring in our own Asia-pacific region and it is imperative that New Zealand and Australia as one of the only signatories to the Refugee convention and a member of the Commonwealth Family, play a leadership role and maintain their moral authority with regard to issues that pertain to rights and responsibilities outlined in International Law and help maintain stability in this region.

Vigil Details
Date: Monday 18th January
Start Venue: Australian Consulate, Opposite Price Waterhouse Coopers Tower
186-194 Quay St, Auckland
Start Time: 4pm
The protest will be followed by a March up Queen Street
March Time: 5pm
Venue Completion Venue: Opposite Aotea Square (360 Queen Street)

Background Information:

1.0 Sujendran's voluntary return and forced imprisonment

Gunasekaram Sujendran (aged 25) voluntarily got off the boat and returned back to Sri Lanka after hearing of his mother’s sickness. Upon his return to be at his mother’s beside, he was arrested at Colombo airport and not been heard from until 7 December when his family members were permitted to visit him. Sujenran has not been charged but has been told that he will be kept in jail for three months.

2.0 Preventable death of Mr George Jacob Samuel Christin

On 23 December 2009, Mr George Jacob Samuel Christin (aged 29) died due to lack of medical attention. On 22 December, Jacob started to vomit blood and food however how denied medical attention by the International Organisation for Migration. Through the night, Jacob kept vomiting but was still denied medical attention. As Jacob started to lose his eye sight, an ambulance was called by naval personnel, which arrived 4 hours later. After medical checks Jacob was discharged from the hospital with medication as IOM was unwilling to pay his medical expenses to remain in hospital.

At 6pm on 23 December, Jacob started to vomit blood and unidentified body parts. With his loss of sight reoccurring and temperature fluctuating, IOM still refused to admit Jacob to the hospital which resulted in Jacob entering an epileptic seizure and dying.

The Asylum Seekers wished that a priest would be allowed on the boat to perform rituals for the deceased, however he was denied access. He was also denied access on Christmas.

3.0 Asylum Seekers Interrogated

Three Sri Lankan Navy officers have been allowed access to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees currently in Immigration Detention in Jakarta in Indonesia.

The asylum seekers have fled persecution by the Sri Lankan government, yet Captain Kapil from the Sri Lankan Embassy along with two other Sri Lankan Navy officers were brought into the Indonesian detention facility by Indonesian Immigration Officials today. While the other two Navy officers stayed outside, Capt Kapil held discussions with 8 Tamil asylum seekers who had completed Indonesian immigration forms two days prior. These 8 asylum seekers had disembarked from the boat currently moored at Merak in Indonesia several weeks ago. Captain Kapil threatned the refugees and said that Sri Lanka would deport and jail other people from the Merak boat
.

4.0 Asylum Seekers held in detention

Twelve asylum seekers who left the boat have been held in a 15 metre square cell for 24 hours daily. Seven of them have been held for over two months in the cell without UNHCR access. These Asylum Seekers were left the boat because they were promised that UNHCR access and that they would be held in a hostel. They get only two meals per day and fruit only once a week.

Along with human rights abuses, the asylum seekers are faced poor conditions on the boat:
1.Food provided is unhygienic
2. Medical services are severely restricted and delayed;
3.No education or social activity available to the children;
4.Only one toilet is available for 250 asylum seekers;
5.Water supply is limited and further results in poor sanitation;
6.Fuel is not provided so unless private arrangements are made by donors, electricity on the boat from its generators cuts out and water pumps for showers and taps can’t operate and the recharging of mobile phones for medical emergencies is prevented.
7.The boat has no anchor and only 18 adult life jackets. During a prior storm, its mooring was torn, resulting in danger of the boat drifting off to sea;
8.Tarpaulins covering the boat are torn, resulting in no protection from the rain; and
9.Family and friends are not permitted visits.
10.IOM services were withdrawn from the vicinity of the boat in November and subsequent
11.Medical attention is delayed. Medical services have been restricted to reduce cost.
12.Cramped conditions in the boat with no additional shelter in the vicinity of the boat
13.No Access to humanitarian and welfare NGOs, UNHCR or independent monitors and media.

Current Situation:

Indonesian Officials have announced that they will force the Tamil asylum-seekers into immigration detention by the end of next week, at gunpoint if necessary.

Current Situation in Sri Lanka:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8446849.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2010/01/100105_kilinochchi_idp.shtml

Latest news about the boat:

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/01/06/tamil.asylum.seekers.australia/index.html
Note: UNHCR has NOT be allowed to process Refugee applications
http://www.theage.com.au/national/tamil-refugees-questioned-by-sri-lankan-officials-20100109-lz4q.html
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/sri-lankan-navy-forcing-refugees-further-afield/story-e6frg6nf-1225797145692
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/jakarta-set-to-force-refugees-off-boat/story-e6frg6nf-1225818996412

ENDS

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