Pakistanis among first refugees resettled in Nauru, PNG: Australia

[Devil Soul]

Pakistanis among first refugees resettled in Nauru, PNG: Australia
By AFP
Published: May 22, 2014

Part of the Manus Island Regional Processing Facility. PHOTO: AFP

SYDNEY: More than 20 asylum-seekers have become the first refugees to be resettled on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea as part of Australia’s tough boatpeople policies, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday.

Thirteen asylum-seekers, nine from Iran and four from Pakistan, spent their first night outside detention on the Pacific island of Nauru on Wednesday, while a further seven had their refugee applications rejected.

Another 11 – four Iranians, three Pakistanis, an Afghan, an Iraqi, and two men with nationalities yet to be established – were resettled on Manus Island where an outbreak of violence at the Australian detention centre earlier this year left one man dead and more than 70 injured.

“There is an initial six-week intensive resettlement arrangement and it is all designed to get people standing on their feet within 12 months,” Morrison said of the refugees resettled in Nauru.

“They are on a temporary visa which enables them freedom of movement, enables them to work, enables them to leave the country and re-enter the country … but they will not be able to enter Australia.”

Under Canberra’s punitive offshore detention policy, asylum-seekers attempting to arrive by boat are transferred to camps in Nauru or Papua New Guinea for processing and permanent resettlement outside Australia.

The rejected applicants on Nauru were four Iranians, two Pakistanis and one Cameroonian.

Another 15 asylum-seekers who had their resettlement applications rejected on Manus Island were “primarily Iranians”, Morrison said.

The latest immigration department figures, to the end of April, show there were 1,177 people in the Nauru camp and 1,273 at Manus Island.

The minister said the refugees released on Nauru would be provided with living allowances and accommodation and given access to vocational training and trauma counselling, while children would be schooled at a local Catholic college.

Nauru’s Justice Minister David Adeang added that his country was “ready to welcome our new guests and we have put in place a ‘buddy system’ to help them integrate into island life”.

The first resettlements came as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Cambodia – which has agreed “in principle” to join Nauru and PNG in taking Australia-bound asylum-seekers – was looking for people to contribute to their communities.

“They’re very keen to have people working,” Bishop told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about the possible deal with one of Asia’s poorest nations, which has been criticised by Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

“They’re looking for people who are able-bodied who would be able to contribute to Cambodian society. If people are seeking to flee persecution, they’ll be looking for a safe haven and that’s what Cambodia is offering.”

On Tuesday, Morrison dismissed concerns that any money given to Cambodia to resettle refugees could end up in the pockets of corrupt officials.

 

[Nike]

Cambodia? what they can offer? I can see the ending of this matter

Free forced labor

 

[Secur]

What if these people want to return back to their country ? What then ?

 

[Kompromat]

Afghanis with Pakistani passports.

 

[VCheng]

Afghanis with Pakistani passports.

If they have Pakistani passports, then they are legally Pakistani citizens.

 

[Kompromat]

If they have Pakistani passports, then they are legally Pakistani citizens.

Legally yes.

Most Afghanis have a foul mouth full of worms against a country that gave them shelter and identity.

 

[VCheng]

Legally yes.

Most Afghanis have a foul mouth full of worms against a country that gave them shelter and identity.

Gratitude can be expected, but it is not a requirement. The legal status is, however, what is recognized.

 

[Kompromat]

Gratitude can be expected, but it is not a requirement. The legal status is, however, what is recognized.

When an Afghani abuses your country after using your soil, resources and passport, it does piss you off.

 

[VCheng]

When an Afghani abuses your country after using your soil, resources and passport, it does piss you off.

Yes, that is understandable. But if they hold Pakistani passports, legally, they are the responsibility of the Pakistani government.

 

[cyphercide]

When an Afghani abuses your country after using your soil, resources and passport, it does piss you off.

Has it been proven that these refugees are indeed Afghans? Going through the trouble of getting a different passport for illegal immigration sounds counterproductive. It's not like Pakistan has no refugees of her own, is it?

 

[shuntmaster]

Australia offers Pakistani asylum-seekers $3k to return home: report
By AFP
Published about 23 hours ago

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said “return packages” were standard practice but would not reveal what the maximum payments had been. File Photo
SYDNEY: Australia is offering Pakistani asylum-seekers in its Pacific immigration camps up to Australian $3,300 if they voluntarily return to their home country, a report said Saturday, prompting outrage from refugee campaigners.

Fairfax Media reported that those returning to Lebanon from detention centres on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island and the tiny Pacific state of Nauru were offered the highest amount of $10,000 (US$9,400).

Iranians and Sudanese were given $7,000 if they dropped bids for refugee status, Afghans $4,000 and those from Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar $3,300, the report in The Sydney Morning Herald said.

The Herald said under the previous Labor administration — in office until last September — the payments were much lower, ranging from $1,500 to $2,000.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said “return packages” were standard practice but would not reveal what the maximum payments had been.

“It has been the standard practice for more than a decade for settlement packages to be offered to those who voluntarily return home,” Morrison told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The packages are tailored individually for every person who decides to voluntarily return home, he said.

“The packages range (in terms of) value and it's not just in terms of any financial element, but also training, support and other issues to assist people to get on their feet when they return,” he added.

Labor's immigration spokesman Richard Marles said the government should be ensuring that asylum-seekers' claims were being properly processed, not issuing “blank cheques”.

“When Scott Morrison was in opposition, he opposed Labour's own reintegration packages and now he is offering sums which are triple the amount,” Marles told the ABC.

Australia has toughened its policy on asylum-seekers in recent years, with those arriving on unauthorised boats now refused residency in Australia even if they are deemed refugees.

Instead they are held in detention camps on Manus and Nauru and are expected to be resettled in those countries if their claims are valid.

Since the policy was introduced, more asylum-seekers have chosen to voluntarily return to their country of origin while the number of people attempting to reach Australia by boat has dried up, with no vessels arriving for six months.

Morrison's office said 283 people had voluntarily returned home from offshore processing centres since shortly after the conservative government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott won power in September.

Refugee campaigners criticised the idea of the payments, and said returning asylum-seekers could still face persecution back home.

“The idea that you would put people in a hell-hole like Manus Island, treat them abysmally and then try to bribe them to go back to the appalling circumstances they left shows just how morally bankrupt this government is, “Greens party leader Christine Milne said.

Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition said he had spoken to detainees in PNG who had accepted the money to return home, adding the amounts had risen several times after an Iranian asylum-seeker died in riots on Manus in February.

“The money that's being offered to some people... it's straight out bribery,” he told AFP.

But he added: “Relatively few people are taking the money.”