The United Nations’ refugee agency has condemned Australia’s forced return of an asylum seeker to Sri Lanka without any assessment of his claim for protection, saying the man is at serious risk of persecution in his homeland, the Guardian reported today.
The UNHCR had sought assurances from the Australian government the man would not be removed from the country and would be allowed to apply for protection.
But on Wednesday, the man was forcibly removed, in handcuffs, from Villawood detention centre and flown back to Sri Lanka.
The Australian government has maintained that the man was removed because he missed its October 1 deadline to apply for protection, and was deemed not to be seeking protection.
A spokeswoman for the UNHCR, Catherine Stubberfield, said the UN was aware of a number of asylum seekers who were unable to meet the government’s deadline of 1 October to submit their applications for asylum.
It was a worrying breach of Australia’s international legal obligations, Stubberfield said.
“In this context, the return of an asylum-seeker - whose claim for international protection was not considered on its merits - presents a serious risk of return to danger or persecution.”
Australia’s department of immigration declined to comment on the specific case of the man deported on Wednesday, but has commented on the return of Tamils generally, and its non-refoulement obligations.
“Australia does not remove people to Sri Lanka who engage Australia’s non-refoulement obligations,” a spokesperson said last week. “Australia takes its non-refoulement obligations seriously.”
Leave your comments
Login to post a comment
Post comment as a guest