“Nauru Asylum camp degradingâ€ÂÂÂ, says Amnesty International
Posted on November 24th, 2012
Asada M Erpini
A BBC report on 23 November quotes Amnesty International (AI) as saying that an Australian asylum camp in Nauru is ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-cruel and degradingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.
The Nauru camp holds attempted illegal immigrants to Australia: many among the detainees are Tamils from Sri Lanka, who have paid vast amounts of money ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” on occasion amounting to US $40,000 per head ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” to human smugglers.
AI is shedding bucketfuls of tears that the hastily erected tents in Nauru accommodate 16 or 5 men. The group, whose avowed goal is the protection of human rights, adds that the detainees are treated like criminals. How sad!
People who enter any sovereign nation illegally are guilty of an offence under the immigration laws of the country concerned. They should not ever expect to be treated as the legal residents: the latter would have been either there for many years with their forefathers having entered the country a couple of hundred years back or are recent immigrants who went through the stipulated immigration formalities and had obtained permanent resident (PR) status or citizenship after qualifying for it fulfilling many criteria.
AI, at least for a change, should be concerned about the welfare of the people who have genuinely lost their human rights without doing anything illegal. There are hundreds of thousands in many countries, with quite a few of these nations being among the darlings of the West, especially of the US, where multitudes of misguided immigrants, who had ventured out from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or other resource-limited countries seeking a better life for themselves and their families, languishing in deplorable states. Once these unfortunates enter the promised land that flows in milk and honey, all that they get is accommodation with eight or ten to a room, tin shacks with no air conditioning where the summer temperatures go above 50ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚°C, or meagre salaries that are often not paid for months on end. And, this is after the poor souls have gone through all the immigration formalities, had obtained legal entry visas and had paid a hefty sum as authorised recruiting agentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s fee.
As regards Sri Lanka, AIƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s record of human rights protection is nothing enviable. As long as the LTTE terrorists were active in the country, blasting the innocent civilians of all ethnic groups to smithereens, it was ready to justify the motives behind their actions: it rarely condemned the terrorists, who, incidentally, had been banned in many countries. The Sri Lankan government, which was exercising its right to defend its territory, was always at the receiving end of the blame and was the implied culprit.
While AI is lamenting the lack of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”five star hotelƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ facilities at the Nauru detention camps, the Australian Immigration and Citizenship Department has commended the Sri Lanka Navy for the role the latter has played in combating human smuggling to Australia, according to local media. It is time that AI shifted its focus to genuine refugees and those whose human rights have been taken away for no fault of theirs. Illegal immigrants to Australia knew what they were doing and were ready to take the risk.
November 24th, 2012 at 7:20 pm
Sri Lanka should have a Task Force under the defense ministry to counter and answer all the allegations, reports or any adverse news reports where ever it appears. Nothing should go unanswered. Part of the two billon dollar defense budget should be used for this. It should also be used to lobby/buy politicians in the west , journalist in all major newspapers around the world and to hold seminars and workshops in major western countries. After all this is also part of national defense. Use few hundred million dollars. You bet all.. the sucker bones will be working on behalf of SRI-LANKA
We cannot depend on our diplomats. Except for exception few, all others are Ba, Ba, Boos…
Justice department should form a war crimes desk. They should research and frame, file war crimes charges, send arrest warrants and prosecute all the LTTE Terrorist and backers oversees and in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka should grow up fast to fight a professional war on the propaganda front just like we did during the war from a ceremonial military to one of the best in the world. NOW.. without taking that long
November 25th, 2012 at 6:08 am
‘epaasni’ Thank you – Just the thing we need to combat the bogus diaspora propaganda- now a long overdue action. Our foreign missions packed generally with incompetent stooges as you say is good for nothing! The GoSL has to wake up from its deep slumber and act fast with a credible action plan and backed up by competent overseas personnel. While jumping up shouting “we won the war” will be an empty and meaningless boast the more time the GoSL allows to pass just glorifying the past victories but doing nothing more! – S de Silva – London
November 25th, 2012 at 6:49 am
Had there not been many Tamil illegal immigrants, seeking residency in a developed nation such as Australia, I doubt whether AI would have bothered to inspect these camps in Nauru. This is probably the same reason Navi Pillai visited these camps to give a similar report. We await such a visit and a similar report from the other NGOs such as the HRW, ICJ etc who have been batting for the Tamil Tigers in other forums.
Why wont they visit camps in Tamilnadu, Indonesia, Malysia ets to see the appaling conditions, the refugees are housed in?