December 27, 2001
Australia has decided not to grant asylum to 1,600 East Timorese who have been waiting in the country for up to eight years. Australia's Immigration Minister, Philip Ruddock, said that now safety had returned to their country, it was not unreasonable for them to go home. But lawyers for the refugees say it is still not safe for some of the East Timorese to return, and have asked the government to reconsider their applications.
The move by the Australian Government follows its decision to suspend the claims of Afghan asylum seekers on similar grounds. Mr Ruddock said the refugees could appeal against the decision.
New-found security
"Australia has put an enormous amount of effort, as part of the international community, to secure for the people of East Timor a country in which East Timorese can live with safety and build for the future," Mr Ruddock told Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio. "It is not unreasonable when it is safe and secure for people who may be found not to be refugees and have no other compelling compassionate circumstances associated with their claims, to go home," he added.
But the United Nations refugee agency said asylum applications should be considered on a case-by-case basis. A worker with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Jake Morland, said some East Timorese could face problems because of links to the former administration, or simply because of the amount of time already spent away.
Lifestyle consideration
"Even non-refugees would understand that eight years is certainly a very long time. You've put down new roots, you have children born in these new countries, they are educated there, it would be difficult for anyone to then think of uprooting again. "These people aren't objects. These people are individuals with their own stories, their own histories and they need to be dealt with consideration," argued Mr Morland.
Australia has been intimately connected with the crisis in East Timor - a Portuguese colony which was annexed by Indonesia in 1975 and voted for independence from Jakarta in 1999, sparking a bloody rampage by Indonesia's army and anti-independence militias. Australia committed 1,600 military personnel to a UN peacekeeping force which was sent there to quell the violence.
Earlier this week, Mr Ruddock announced that because the Taleban was no longer in power in Afghanistan and an interim government was now in place in Kabul, Australia was halting Afghan refugee claims until more information could be sought on their situation.
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