"The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission is calling on the federal government to abandon its plans to toughen asylum seeker laws.
Under the new laws, all asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat would have their claims assessed overseas.
The proposed laws were originally going to be introduced into Parliament last week.
But a group of Coalition backbenchers are concerned about the laws, and are holding negotiations with the Immigration Minister, Senator Amanda Vanstone on the issue.
The Human Rights Commissioner, Graeme Innes, has used World Refugee Day, to express his concern about the proposed laws.
“The government, over the past couple of years, has made some very progressive steps in terms of the way we treat asylum seekers. [But] this bill proposes to put children back in detention. The (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that we should take into account the best interests of the child and that detention should be a measure of last resort. This bill makes it a measure of first resort,” Mr Innes said."
The campaign against these draconian measures is having an impact. Keep up the good work all those making the effort. It all helps.
No comments:
Post a Comment