Boat people - what is the solution?

[Aussie]

Rudd addresses the issue here Roach. Watch:

[Rorschach]

From the ABC and the IOM...

Sri Lankans heading to Australia 'economic migrants', not refugees: IOM
By Canberra correspondent Stephanie March
Updated Wed Nov 7, 2012 7:49am AEDT

The International Organisation for Migration has backed the Australian Immigration Minister’s view that some of the Sri Lankan's arriving in Australia by boat are economic migrants, not refugees.

The number of Sri Lankan's trying to reach Australia by boat has increased by 25-fold over the past 12 months, from 211 irregular maritime arrivals in 2011, to more than 5,300 already this year.

The Chief of mission for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Sri Lanka, Richard Danziger, told Radio Australia coastal security has "really been loosened up" by the Sri Lankan government.

"During the war and the months after it there were a lot of restrictions on fishing and so forth and that is no longer the case so boats can leave more easily," he said.

Economic factors

Mr Danziger says one of the factors driving Sri Lankan's to board boats to Australia is their economic situation.

The IOM is working with the Australian Government helping repatriate the Sri Lankan's who chose to return home rather than wait for years in detention centres in Australia or on Nauru.

He says many of those who have chosen to return to Sri Lanka voluntarily originally left their homeland in search of work.

"That is often what we hear, people tell us they were just seeking better lives," he said.

Last week, Australia's immigration minister Chris Bowen sent 26 men back to Sri Lanka who had arrived by boat, suggesting they were economic refugees.

"We have, of course, developed robust procedures for dealing with genuine claims for asylum, but we will not have people who do not have genuine claims to make be going through our system," Mr Bowen said.

Tough times

The men who have chosen to go home often return to tough financial times, often with large debts to people smugglers who helped them get to Australia.

Mr Danziger says some are facing pressure from their own families to stay in Australia or Nauru and persist with their claims.

"I certainly know of one particular case of a guy who came back from Christmas Island and his family were very annoyed, saying he had given up, he wasn't thinking of them, that he was weak etc etc and he was facing a hard time on his way back so I think that must be the case for others," he said.

The Australian Government is offering assistance packages worth several thousand dollars to those who return voluntarily and are not deemed to be members of people smuggling crews.

"What we did 10 days ago was get some of the returnees on a Skype call with some of the Sri Lankan's on Nauru so they could tell their friends exactly what awaits them in Sri Lanka and that what they have been told in terms of the package is true," he said

Warnings unheeded

The IOM is also working with Australia's Department of Immigration to warn people who do try to come to Australia by boat that they face being detained for a length period, without work rights.

Officials have been speaking with fishermen and religious leaders in some of the poorest coastal communities trying to get the message out.

"It is very difficult to get that kind of message across," he said.

"People generally believe what they want to believe".

Richard Danziger says the upcoming monsoon season may deter some Sri Lankan from trying to reach Australia by boat but that it will be hard to convince those who are in search of a better life to stay put.

"Sri Lanka first of all is a country of migrants.One quarter of the country is abroad legally whether it is in the Middle East, Europe or Australia," he said.

"The idea of migrating for work is not limited to a small number of people and the legal opportunities for working abroad are not enough to satisfy everybody so people resort to illegal means.

"The monsoon season ...will certainly make it more difficult for people to leave and maybe that will be a window of opportunity for us to get the information out about it not being worth investing in a very risky journey".

[Rorschach]

Rudd addresses the issue here Roach. Watch:

[

I watched it when it was on dopey.
Bolt should have nailed him for the liar he is.
Mind you he probably believes all the shyte he mouths these days
I have already addressed it.
Are you trying to tell me you are stupid enough to not know the truth and you believe all the crap that comes from his mouth?

Resurrected prime minister Kevin Rudd has backed Carr, saying there were a "whole bunch of people" arriving by boat as economic migrants purporting to be refugees.

The government's view is that many are middle class Iranians and Sri Lankans, in particular, who are fleeing for economic reasons.

"There've been some boats where 100% of them have been people who are fleeing countries where they're the majority ethnic and religious group, and their motivations is altogether economic," Senator Carr said last week.

[Aussie]

Bolt should have nailed him for the liar he is.

But........he failed to nail him, and I doubt you will either.

[Jovial_Monk]

Bolt is good for finding crazy denialist sites and writing a bit of a blog for those of IQ under 100 but is he much of an interviewer? I never watch his show, bits of comment I have seen indicates I haven’t missed much.

[mantra]

The civil war is finished has been for years. So why are they coming? They are largely economic refugees the numbers returned when in detention make that an obvious fact.

That is the claim of the Sri Lankan government, but human rights are still being seriously violated and alleged Tamil Tigers' sympathisers continue to be tortured. Just because a war is officially over doesn't mean that peace reigns and life returns to normal. Punishment and retribution is always meted out for years afterwards.

The Sri Lankan government is being accused of using rape and sexual assault as a way of extricating confessions from suspected Tamil Tiger sympathisers.

A Human Rights Watch report has detailed what it says is widespread rape and torture by Sri Lankan security forces.

Their report comes after 75 Sri Lankan Tamils, male and female, recounted their experiences of torture, rape and forced confessions.

Sexual violence was common during Sri Lanka's civil war, that ended in May 2009, but Human Rights Watch says the use of sexual assault continues.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-27/s ... re/4542128

[Rorschach]

Bolt should have nailed him for the liar he is.

But........he failed to nail him, and I doubt you will either.

I already have... if only you had at least 1/2 a brain, you'd know that already.
How many times does one have to repeat something before your brain recognises it?

[Rorschach]

That is the claim of the Sri Lankan government, but human rights are still being seriously violated and alleged Tamil Tigers' sympathisers continue to be tortured. Just because a war is officially over doesn't mean that peace reigns and life returns to normal. Punishment and retribution is always meted out for years afterwards.

sigh... no that is the claim of the IOM, Bob Carr, The Immigration Department and is backed up anecdotally by the numbers who return rather than stay in detention... I gather I have to post the same things and in giant font several times before you get it too?

That is all rather tedious BTW.

[IQS.RLOW]

4 people in detention.... 4
vs
50,000 people in detention... 50,000

hmmm which party's policies worked.
only an idiot would even try to deny the reality.

Living in the past, and pretending that circumstances have remained unchanged in almost ten years is what I call denying reality.

Parroting ALP spin The same tired old transparent spin that has everyone guffawing at his audacity to even try to spin away a problem that anyone with half a working brain could see that his "changed circumstances" was a euphemism for "I, Kevin completely and undeniably fucked it up"

The only circumstance that changed was Rudd dismantling the border protection that was in place. That you even try to use his pathetic line of spin shows how shallow and fucked up your thinking is.

The country needs to be rid of dishonest vermin like you.

[IQS.RLOW]

Another 111 of Kevs "changed circumstances" arrives...