the law being violated by Australia is very clear. Article 33 (1) of the UN Refugee Convention states: No Contracting State shall expel or return (refouler) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Article 33 (1) is arguably the most important provision in the Refugee Convention. The convention was adopted in part to ensure that the international community would never again turn its back on people fleeing persecution. Many nations were committed to prevent the recurrence of what happened to Jewish refugees who were handed back to their persecutors during some of the darkest periods in Europe’s history. Australia voluntarily signed on to the Refugee Convention and therefore has willingly adopted a legal obligation to refrain from returning refugees to harm. Many people of Tamil ethnicity may have a well-founded fear of being persecuted in Sri Lanka. Handing refugees back to their persecutors is a violation of this obligation. Australia is also a party to the UN Convention Against Torture, which clearly states in Article 3(1) that: No State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. Given the continuing allegations of the torture of Tamils in Sri Lanka, Australia may be in violation of its obligation to protect at least some of the asylum seekers from torture. The asylum seekers being handed over to the Sri Lankan government may have travelled to Australia via India. This does not in any way diminish Australia’s obligations to any of the asylum seekers who are refugees. Australia became legally responsible to protect refugees from being returned to Sri Lanka the moment it intercepted them and transferred them to Australian vessels. India is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention and refugees are not granted protection in India. Read more: https://theconversation/handing-over-tamils-to-the-state-they-fled-breaks-international-law-28767
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 02:22:41 +0000
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