there's our catastrophe

ACTION: Tuesday 16 April @ 11am

RELEASE THE ASIO POLITICAL PRISONERS

The Minister for Immigration can release these people.

Meet at Brendan O’Connor’s electoral office:
13-15 Lake Street, Caroline Springs

27 refugees, all indefinitely detained because of ‘adverse’ ASIO assessments are on the 8^th day of a hunger strike at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) in Broadmeadows. 56 refugees plus children detained with their parents, have been given refugee status but are imprisoned indefinitely on the basis of ‘adverse’ ASIO assessments.

A new review process is expected to take months and leave ASIO and the Immigration Minister with the final say. New statements of reasons given to refugees by ASIO are a joke, they are a few lines long, and provide no evidence for ASIO ‘beliefs’, or any reason why these refugees would be a threat if released. The refugees have already been held for periods of up to 4 years, and do not know whether they are ever going to be released. They are desperate for a resolution “Four years is more than enough, let us be free. Death is better than live hopelessness” reads one of their banners “We are very very innocent” reads another.

“There is no legislation that says refugees with ‘adverse’ ASIO assessments must be detained, this is a decision of the Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor, who has the power to release all these refugees today” said Sue Bolton for the Refugee Advocacy Network

“The Refugee Advocacy Network calls for the immediate release of all refugees with ‘negative’ ASIO assessments.”

For more information ring Sue Bolton on  0413 377 978 or Pamela Curr 0417 175 075 

januarydaze:

ahipstory:

“In return for Malaysia taking the asylum seekers, Australia will resettle 4000 refugees, mostly Burmese. This resettlement - 1000 people to arrive annually for the next four years - will occur regardless of whether Australia sends 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia. The policy, significantly expanding offshore processing, was immediately condemned by refugee advocates and the Greens because of Malaysia’s record of mistreating its 90,000 refugees. A recent assessment by the United Nations refugee agency said refugees in Malaysia were vulnerable to arrest and ”may be subject to detention, prosecution, whipping and deportation”.”

—

And now for Julia Gillard’s Asia solution

Malaysia treats refugees SO BADLY. you can’t work, study or anything as a refugee here. You will never be granted citizenship (I don’t know how those 800 seekers will be accepted here? Perhaps they’ll be allowed to live here with some papers - but will never be given citizenship?).

They have this crazy police force called ‘Rela/wan’ which is volunteer police - crazy patriots who sign up to be a VOLUNTEER for the police - they are given almost as many powers as the real police without any proper training or pay- and they have quotas of ‘illlegal people’ they have to catch per week. there are many cases of them catching UN documented refugees, ripping up their papers, and using their arrests to fill their quotas….

(I am working in a kitchen that feeds refugees and studying some at uni here in KL)

file under: shit I did not know