Irene Khan
Amnesty International’s annual report highlights the human rights failings of Howard’s government on several fronts. ABC Online reports that AI Secretary General, Irene Khan, has accused Australia of encouraging terrorism and fuelling instability around the world by betraying international standards on human rights.
On immigration detention the report card is particularly damning.
“The catalogue of injustices also criticises Australia's policy of mandatory and indefinite detention for refugees and asylum seekers.
Amnesty refers to the case of asylum-seeker Peter Qasim, who has entered his seventh year in indefinite detention.
It says thousands of refugees remain in a state of uncertainty after the Government amended Temporary Protection Visa regulations.
It also again questions the need to detain children.
Amnesty's Australian director, Mara Moustafine, says the policy is a stark reminder of how the Federal Government is breaching its human rights obligations.
"Amnesty has maintained for a long time that the Australian Government must support the rights of of refugees to seek asylum, rather than punish them for it," she said.”
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