Radio Australia Today Editorial

Asylum Seekers. Day 11 and no change

29 October 2009

Everyone seems to be losing patience.

Certainly the 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers still on the Australian customs vessel Oceanic Viking are losing patience. They are refusing to disembark. Indonesia says it will not use force to get them off. And neither should it. The agreement between Australia and Indonesia said nothing about Indonesia having martial control over the asylum seekers. This leaves Australia with two options as far as I can see. It can (1) use force to get the Sri Lankans off the customs ship, or it can (2) turn around and bring the passengers to Australia.

According to international refugee law expert Professor James Hathaway, who I spoke to this morning, this second option is exactly what Australia is obligated to do.

According to an international treaty that Australian signed nearly sixty years ago, any ship that picks up asylum seekers at sea is obligated to bring them to the ship’s country of origin. The other alternative is that the ship’s country of origin can negotiate with another treaty signatory. Indonesia is not a signatory, so according to James Hathaway, Australia is in breach of its treaty obligations by doing the deal with Indonesia.

Professor Hathaway says there should never have been an ‘Indonesian Solution’ as there should never have been a ‘Pacific Solution’ which was formulated by the Howard government some years ago. The only proper course in both countries, he says, is an Australian Solution.

Australia currently takes one tenth of one percent of world refugees. Opinion polls in Australia might sugest that many Australians fear being swamped by asylum seekers, and this is a fact that must weigh on the minds of those in government.

But that Australia may be in breach of international obligations only adds to the problems mounting for the government. The world is watching, and the Australian government is learning the hard way that when it comes to the tricky issue of asylum seekers, there are no quick and easy political solutions.

- Phil Kafcaloudes