150 Days at Merak: Protests Call to Resettle

150 Days at Merak: Protests Call to Resettle the Refugees, End the Indonesia Solution

Protests in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and London on Wednesday 10 March will mark the 150th day of the asylum boat stranded at Merak and coincide with the Indonesian President Yudhoyono's visit to Australia.

Refugee advocates and representatives of the Tamil communities are calling on the Australian and Indonesian governments to end the misery of the Tamil asylum seekers at Merak. The asylum seekers - among them 109 UNHCR certified refugees - have been stranded at Merak for five months.

If they had been allowed to come to Christmas Island their refuge determination process would be completed. Some of them would be probably already be living in the Australian community,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition

"There is no future for them in Indonesia. The detention centres are full. It seems the Indonesian government has nowhere to accommodate them even if they would get off the boat. UNHCR processing can take years, with no guarantee of re-settlement to a third country. There is no incentive for them to leave the boat until there is a guarantee of re-settlement.

"A long term solution for a humane regional refugee policy must include an agreement with Indonesia for the processing and re-settlement of refugees. Although Australia is the only signatory to the Refugee Convention in the region and the only re-settling country, Australia took only 32 UNHCR refugees from Indonesia last year.

"Until there is an agreement that deals with resettlement, asylum seekers will be a source of tension between the two countries. Simply paying for Indonesia to effectively out-source Australian detention centres is only making the situation worse.

Australian government Ministers and the Prime Minister have publicly states that Australia will play a role in resettling refuge from Merak after UNHCR processing. So has the US State Department. But so far Australia has avoided giving any specific undertaking to Indonesia regarding re-settlement.

"The Merak refugees are the meat in the sandwich. The Indonesian government can act immediately to immigration verify and allow UNHCR processing to begin while the Tamils are still on board. The ball will then be in Australia's court to commit to resettling the Merak people,” said Rintoul.

** The Sydney protest will be held, Wednesday 10 March, 12.30pm at 70 Philip Street, City. Speakers will include representatives from the Tamil community.

** A delegation of refugee advocates and Tamil community representatives (including Sara Nathan, who was deported from Indonesia in January following a humanitarian mission to the Merak boat) will deliver a letter for the Indonesian president to the Sydney Indonesian consulate at 236 Maroubra Rd, Maroubra, 10.30am Thursday 11 March.

ENDS

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