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AUSTRALIA announced on Wednesday plans to swap its detained
boatpeople with those held by the United States, a move immediately
denounced as “bizarre” by rights groups and opposition
politicians.
The deal would see mainly Asian refugees
intercepted on their way to Australia considered for resettlement in
the United States, while Cuban and Haitian asylum-seekers hoping to
live in the US could be dispatched to Australia.
The exchange would involve boatpeople held by
Australia on the remote Pacific island of Nauru and refugees held by
the United States at its naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, said
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews.
Australia and the US shared a similar problem
with boatpeople breaching their international borders, said Andrews,
who signed an agreement on the deal with the US on Tuesday.
“Some, for example, are held at the Guantanamo
Bay naval base—not the prison—and those cases, the Cubans and
Haitians, if they’ve got genuine refugee claims, the United States
might say to us, ‘Would you consider settling some of these
people?’ and we would give consideration to it,” he said.
“Equally, we might say we have people that
have sought to illegally enter Australia who have a refugee claim
and we could say to the United States, ‘Would you consider
settling them?’”
Prime Minister John Howard said the scheme would
deter boatpeople-seeking asylum from attempting to come to
Australia.
“It will drive home the point that this
country will not compromise in relation to illegal immigration,”
he told ABC radio.
Howard said the exchange would not involve large
numbers of refugees and would only happen on a case-by-case basis.
But opposition politicians and refugee rights
groups slammed the scheme.
“If you are in one of the refugee camps around
the world, there is no more attractive destination than to think you
can get a ticket to the USA,” Labor Party spokesman Tony Burke
said.
“What John Howard is doing is saying to the
people around the world: if you want to get to the US, the way to it
is to hop on a boat and go to (Australia’s) Christmas Island.”
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said the plan could
encourage more boatpeople to make the treacherous crossing to
Australia.
“It’s a very bizarre suggestion being put
forward by the Howard government,” she said. “I think that a
shortcut for a Green Card into the United States is going to
encourage asylum-seekers.”
--AFP
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