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2014 Castan Human Rights Report: Asylum seekers punished more every year
By Azadeh Dastyari The human rights of asylum seekers and refugees, in particular those who arrive in Australia by boat, continue to be gravely compromised. Australia has instigated a military response to ‘unauthorised maritime arrivals’ titled Operation Sovereign Borders, led by a three-star General. We are concerned that the emphasis on denying asylum seekers access…
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An open letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott
On 2 March, over 500 academics from more than 30 Australian universities (including Castan Centre Directors and Associates) signed a letter to the Prime Minister calling for the immediate closure of the detention centres on Manus Island and in Nauru. Academics can still add their names at this link. We have reprinted the full text of the…
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Is Australia’s new asylum policy the harshest in its history?
By Azadeh Dastyari Last week’s announcement is perhaps harsher than any asylum policy we have had in our recent history. It attempts to achieve what the Howard government’s Pacific Solution could not: that is, to ensure that no refugees are in fact resettled in Australia. Whether it can achieve this aim is a big question.…
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The Return to Rudd: a turn for the worse on asylum seeker policy?
The night of Wednesday 26th of June was full of surprises. We got an old/new Prime Minister in Kevin Rudd, found out that our first female Prime Minister was quitting politics, and learned what the Foreign Minister Bob Carr thinks of refugees and our international obligations to protect them. Not much as it turns out.…
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Circumventing the system: no, not the asylum seekers, the government
By Azadeh Dastyari On 9 April 2013, 66 Sri Lankan asylum seekers sailed into Geraldton harbour in Western Australia. Their arrival was met with great alarm by politicians and the media. It had been a long time since any asylum seekers had reached the mainland, and none had ever made it so far south. The…
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Refugee tribunal a check against the culture of no
By Adam McBeth The Australian, on March 18, 2013, reported (paywall) on Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) figures that showed a remarkable 74 per cent success rate in the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) since July 2012 among people who arrived by boat. That figure is inflated somewhat by omitting cases that were withdrawn before a hearing…
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law 