Drew Warne-Smith; 24/10/09; (3 Items)
An Australian citizen who escaped the largest internment camp in Sri Lanka earlier this year has warned that the Tamil asylum-seekers currently held in West Java could be killed should they be forced to return to their embattled homeland. Muthu Kumaran, an ethnic Tamil and civil engineer from Sydney’s west, was swept up in the renewed hostilities in Sri Lanka, having travelled there in February 2007 ahead of what he anticipated would be the establishment of an independent Tamil state. Staying in the northern city of Kilinochchi, Kumaran had been working alongside a number of international NGOs when the Sri Lankan government withdrew from a ceasefire arrangement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in January last year, and launched the final offensive to destroy the separatist militia.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26252687-5013404,00.html; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26252679-5013404,00.html; Former Tigers in our midst: leader; Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta correspondent; 24/10/09; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26252686-5013404,00.html; Tamils herded into disease-ridden camps seek any escape; Drew Warne-Smith; 24/10/09; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26251506-28737,00.html; Second-class solution; Mike Steketee; 24/10/09; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26247468-7583,00.html; More straight talk, we’re Australians; 24/10/09; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26251597-23069,00.html; Labor in hold on refugee numbers;George Megalogenis; 24/10/09; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26252626-7583,00.html
Dreams of freedom drive Tamils onto boats
Matt Wade: 24/10/09
In A grim, windowless hut on the outskirts of Colombo sits Kevin Rudd’s nightmare. ilvarajah, a frightened Sri Lankan Tamil, 48, will soon get on a boat with his wife and three children and sail for Christmas Island. “I know the trip to Australia will be dangerous,” he says. “But it’s cheap. Getting to the Europe or Canada is much more expensive.” With so many would-be asylum seekers clamouring for spaces on Sri Lankan boats, Vilvarajah (not his real name) fears he will lose his spot to someone with more cash to offer. “I know at least 100 who are ready to leave,” he says The “agent” arranging for Vilvarajah’s journey is part-smuggler, part fellow-traveller. An experienced fisherman, he has made the voyage to Australia before. But this time he has decided to seek asylum himself.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/national/dreams-of-freedom-drive-tamils-onto-boats-20091023-hdfa.html; So easily the words slip from politicians’ mouths; Tony Wright: 24/10/09; http://www.theage.com.au/national/so-easily-the-words-slip-from-politicians-mouths-20091023-hdfb.html; Christmas Island ‘violates’ rights; Yuko Narushimo; 24/10/09; http://www.theage.com.au/national/christmas-island-violates-rights-20091023-hdfg.html; The man who gambles with human cargo; Lindsay Murdock; 24/10/09; http://www.theage.com.au/national/the-man-who-gambles-with-human-cargo-20091023-hdfi.html; Sri Lanka rejects abuses claim; Matt Wade; 24/10/09; http://www.theage.com.au/world/sri-lanka-rejects-abuses-claim-20091023-hdeb.html; Ad hoc solution no long-term answer; Phillip Coorey; http://www.smh.com.au/national/ad-hoc-solution-no-longterm-answer-20091023-hdcr.html; An agonising wait; David Marr; 24/10/09; http://www.smh.com.au/world/an-agonising-wait-20091023-hdbs.html
Arrest in migration scam
Chris Johnston; 24/10/09
An un-registered migration agent was arrested in a raid at her suburban home yesterday and is set to be charged with multiple migration fraud and identity crime offences over Melbourne’s biggest international student cash-for-certificates scam. The Chinese-born woman was taken from her Carnegie home by members of the Australian Federal Police Identity Security Strike Team and federal immigration officers. The office of her ”migration and legal service” in Queen Street in the city was then raided and computers and documents seized. An Immigration Department spokesman said an ”unlawful non-citizen” was also arrested at the Queen Street office. The spokesman said: ”It is alleged that, for a fee, those involved have been providing clients with fraudulent education qualifications and bogus documentation to support their permanent residency applications.”
See: http://www.theage.com.au/national/arrest-in-migration-scam-20091023-hdfr.html
Tags: Australia, Indonesia, Migrants & Refugees, Sri Lanka, Terrorism