Australia to shut most detention camps for asylum seekers
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 | 10:05 AM ET
CBC News
Australia's Labour government is ending the controversial practice of putting all asylum seekers in detention camps in various Pacific Ocean islands.
Minister of Immigration Chris Evans announced Tuesday that detention will now be a last resort and no children will ever be held in such camps.
"This isn't about a mass opening of the gates," he added. "This is about a more humane treatment of asylum seekers, a more humane detention policy, and we think this will allow us to maintain strong border security but also treat people with human dignity."
The policy, dubbed the "Pacific solution," was adopted by the country's former Conservative government after the 2001 attacks against the United States, at a time when Australia was experiencing a wave of asylum seekers arriving by boat, many of them barely seaworthy.
The policy called for everyone seeking asylum in Australia — including children of claimants — to be detained in the island camps.
Evans said the policy change introduced Tuesday includes a "robust system" to assess claims of those seeking what in Canada would be refugee status, on the basis that they fear persecution or physical danger in their own country.
"If they're found to be owed protection, they'll be granted protection and will get a permanent visa," he said. "If they're found not to be owed protection, they'll be returned to their country of origin."
One camp will be retained on the Australian territory of Christmas Island, near Indonesia, for claimants thought to pose a higher security risk. However, camps built on Nauru and in remote parts of the Australian Outback will be shut.
Security threat remains: opposition
Evans said the practice of locking up asylum seekers had caused "enormous damage" to Australia's international reputation, but some political opponents rushed to defend it Tuesday.
"We don't have the detail as to what is to happen to these people if they are released into the community," said Chris Ellison, the immigration spokesman for the opposition Liberal-National coalition. "These people have been found to be over-stayers, to have breached their visa conditions, and it is appropriate that they be detained until they're granted a further visa or the matter is resolved one way or the other."
Human rights groups have applauded the Labour government's decision.
At times, detainees who had spent years in the camps launched violent protests. Some even stitched their lips closed to symbolize their predicament.
With files from the Associated Press
