Why Australia hopes to soon seal a refugee deal with United States
The Australian government is close to sealing a deal that will send 1,800 refugees to the United States, according to reports, the result of a negotiation to exchange its asylum seekers for refugees from US-supported camps in Costa Rica.
The deal would most likely conclude next January, Australia's defense industry minister Christopher Pyne told The Wall Street Journal. Several sources told local paper The Australian that it may even come as early as this week.
After Tuesday's presidential election, the sense of urgency may have heightened over Australian ministers' fears that President-elect Trump鈥檚 stated desire for stricter immigration controls could quash the agreement. But for the Australian government, the passage of the settlement is crucial, especially as it is increasingly under fire for its treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in its two contentious offshore immigration detention centers for people who try to arrive by boat聽鈥� a hardline strategy the government says is meant to deter migrants, and smugglers, from the dangerous journey.聽
鈥淲e鈥檇 all dearly love to see Nauru and Manus empty,鈥� Mr. Pyne said, referring to Australia鈥檚 two detention centers in the Pacific islands of Nauru and Papua New Guinea鈥檚 Manus Island, which critics call Australia鈥檚 鈥淕uantanamo Bay.鈥�
The deal with the US would resettle detainees processed on the two islands who are found to be refugees, many of who are from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, and Sri Lanka.聽Some have lived on the islands with uncertain statuses for years.
Following reports over the years from newspapers and international groups such as Amnesty International and United Nations Human Rights Commission that reveal human rights violations in the camps, the Australian government has been driven to with the 396 people currently in Nauru and 873 in Manus Island, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.聽
The Nauru Files compiled by The Guardian, for example, being physically and sexually assaulted by guards. Aid workers were or removing children from harm, as a former Save The Children Australia worker told NPR in August.
The need for resettlement became even more pressing after Papua New Guinea detention center in April, claiming a breach of constitutional right to freedom for the people held there. Another $55 million deal in March to send some .
But a path for the refugees or asylum seekers to live in Australia itself doesn鈥檛 seem likely.聽Since 2001, refugees and asylum seekers attempting to arrive at Australia by boat were聽intercepted and聽have been sent to the islands for offshore processing. Even if they are found to be refugees, they haven鈥檛 been able to settle in Australia. The restrictions have grown more stringent in recent years, culminating in a bill passed in the lower house of parliament on Thursday that will who arrived by boat from ever receiving an Australian visa.聽
鈥淭hey must know that the door to Australia is closed to those who seek to come here by boat with a people smuggler:,鈥� said Malcolm Turnbull, the prime minister of Australia. 鈥淲e accept thousands of refugees and we do so willingly. But we will not tolerate any repeat of the people smuggling ventures which resulted in over 1,200 deaths at sea under the Labor party, and 50,000 unauthorised arrivals.鈥�
Some of those currently on the islands are relieved to be free from their current conditions, The Guardian reports. But others want to they have received.
鈥淔or me it鈥檚 hard to accept to go to America because [the Australian government] has tortured me for about four years, and now to say 鈥榞o to America鈥�, I question the Australian government,鈥� Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian journalist detained on Manus Island, told the paper. 鈥淗ow can I get what鈥檚 right from a country like Australia that violated my human rights?鈥�
