Biloela or bust! Tamils, torture and political opportunism

Biloela or bust! Tamils, torture and political opportunism

By Ranting Panda, 21 June 2021. 

Australia has a long sordid history of brutalising, torturing, imprisoning, victimising, and demonising innocent people. It started with European settlement, when indigenous peoples were murdered, incarcerated, raped, forcibly removed from the own lands, stolen from their families, and forced into slave labour for little if any recompense. It continues to this day, with an over-representation of indigenous people in prison, and a significantly high number of indigenous deaths in custody. This is a horrendous blight on the Australian character. So it is no surprise, that for more than 20 years, Australia has brutalised, tortured, imprisoned and demonised asylum seekers and refugees. 

Ironically, the leaders of Australia who have implemented and boasted of these brutal, racist policies, claim to be Christian and enjoy the support of many churches. Which is interesting, because the Bible has numerous verses about welcoming migrants into the land and treating them well. 

These leaders also claim to be defending Australia's national interests, even though the National Anthem declares, 'For those who've come across the seas we've boundless plains to share'. These are rather empty words for a government that has shored up its power through demonising migrants. 

Religion and nationalism ... what could go wrong?

There have been numerous high-profile incidents over the last two decades regarding asylum seekers and refugees. What each of these incidents revealed was that the Australian government lied and pandered to racism and xenophobia for political point-scoring by demonising and brutalising traumatised people who had simply requested protection from war and persecution. 

There was the Children Overboard scandal, in which a Senate inquiry found that the Howard government lied about refugees throwing their children into the sea. It wasn't the refugees who lacked morals, it was the Howard government. 

Remember Baby Asha? The Australian Medical Association accused then Immigration Minister, Peter Dutton, of state-sanctioned child abuse over his detention of a baby girl and his threats to send her to the desolate detention centre on Nauru. Dutton made false allegations about the girl's mother physically abusing her. 

Most recently, there has been the case of the Murugappan family. Nades Murugappan arrived by boat in Australia in 2012. Priya Nadesalingam arrived by boat in 2013. They were both Tamils from Sri Lanka. Both were seeking protection in Australia. The Tamil couple met in immigration detention and married in 2014. That year they were both released into the community on four-year protection visas. While in the community, they had two children; one born in May 2015 and one in June 2017. The family had settled in the rural Queensland town of Biloela. Nades worked in the local abattoir. The family was doing their best to settle into Australia and be productive members of society. No doubt, they hoped they were worthy of permanent visas. 

Murugappan family (Photo: Semmler, 2021)

In 2018, their temporary visas expired and the entire family was detained by Australian Border Force, even though their two children were Australian-born. The family were transferred to an immigration detention centre in Melbourne. The Biloela township campaigned for their release. The family was popular in the town and welcomed by the community. This is significant, given that rural Queensland tends to be politically conservative. 

On 29 August 2019, after several unsuccessful appeals by the Murugappans, the government placed the entire family on a plane bound for Sri Lanka. However, an injunction was granted before the plane left Australian air-space, prohibiting the family from being removed from Australia because the younger child had not been assessed for a protection visa. The plane landed at Darwin. The family was then transported to the Christmas Island detention centre. In May 2021, the youngest daughter, Tharnicaa, became severely ill with septicaemia. Tharnicaa and her mother were flown from Christmas Island to a hospital in Perth for treatment.

It is not illegal to arrive in Australia without a visa and then request protection because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group (Home Affairs, 2020).

Following Sri Lanka's independence in 1948, Tamils have faced discrimination and marginalisation. Tamil's are predominantly comprised of Muslims and Christians. In 1978, the Sri Lankan constitution established Buddhism as the foremost religion, vesting the Sinhalese majority with more rights than others in the country. In 1983, following years of ethnic oppression, Sri Lanka descended into civil war between the Sinhalese government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Around 100,000 people were killed and 800,000 displaced. 

Since the war ended, the Sri Lankan government has increased its military presence in northern Sri Lanka, where the majority of Tamils live. This has increased the fear of persecution for those living there, and for those who wish to return. Sri Lanka has one of the highest rates of enforced disappearances in the world. 

Unfortunately for the Murugappan's, Australian courts have found that they do not have a well-founded fear of persecution. However, this defies the concerns held by the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and human rights groups, for the safety and welfare of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The United Nations Human Rights Council is investigating allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. There is increasing evidence of Tamils who have returned to Sri Lanka being subject to 'abductions, sexual and physical violence, and state-sanctioned torture'. (Walden 2021)

It appears that the Australian courts' determination is based on flawed country advice regarding the safety of Tamils in Sri Lanka. A British court has challenged the veracity of these country reports used by both Australia and Britain (Walden 2021). Although politically convenient for the anti-refugee policies of the Australian government, these decisions can cost lives. The government inaccurately demonises the Murugappan's as 'illegal', but it should be kept in mind that refoulement is illegal under international law. Article 33 of the UN Refugee Convention states: 'No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion' (United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 2010).

There have been dozens of documented cases of asylum seekers forcibly returned by Australia who have been killed, tortured, detained or disappeared on their arrival in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka (Doherty & Geraets, 2020). The Asian Human Rights Commission has identified more than 400 cases of Tamil and Sinhalese asylum seekers being tortured on their return to Sri Lanka (Doherty & Geraets, 2020).

The government tries to argue that showing compassion to the Murugappans would signal to people smugglers that Australia was 'open for business', and the boats would start up again. This argument is not rooted in fact, but in emotion and fear for political purposes ... again, pandering to xenophobia in the Australian community. 

Australia can show compassion without brutalising and torturing innocent people. The United Nations has determined that Australia's harsh detention of asylum seekers breaches the international Convention Against Torture (Human Rights Law Centre, 2015). Further, Australia's immigration detention policies breach the Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations Human Rights, 2019). 

The Murugappans have committed no crimes, but were detained for years without charge. While they were on protection visas, they did everything that could be expected, including maintaining employment and integrating into the community. The Murugappans are an asset to Australia, they are not a liability, they are not criminals, they are not a burden on society. 

This week, after significant campaigning by human rights groups and the community, the government released the Murugappans into community detention in Perth. However, they are not allowed to return to Biloela despite the contribution they made to the town. 

The government has created an expensive problem through its brutal treatment of asylum seekers. Its refusal to allow genuine refugees to be granted permanent protection visas has resulted in a legacy case-load of more than 18,000 asylum seekers accumulated over the last 15 years or so, to whom the government refuses to issue permanent visas, even though each one of them renews their visas every few years by proving they still face a well-founded fear of persecution (Speers, 2021). The Australian government has spent more than $6 million on the three year detention of the Murugappan family (Mao, 2021). 

Hannah Arendt believed that everyone had the 'right to have rights' and to belong somewhere safe, where their rights will be respected (Hirsch & Bell, 2017). Australia is a country that is generally safe and is a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, so it should be a safe haven for refugees. Australia should not be eroding people's rights or forcing innocent people into dangerous, and possibly deadly, situations. 

Instead of torturing innocent people, instead of detaining children and their hard-working parents, instead of forcibly removing loyal parents and their Australian-born children, Australia would benefit from the government granting permanent protection visas to Nandes and Priya; a couple who have demonstrated their desire and ability to integrate into the community. 

References

Department of Home Affairs, 2020, Refugee and Humanitarian program - Australia's protection obligations, viewed 20 June 2021, https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/refugee-and-humanitarian-program/about-the-program/seek-protection-in-australia/australia-protection-obligations. 

Doherty, B, & Geraets, N, 2020, Deported to danger and death: Australia returns people to violence and persecution, The Guardian, 14 December, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/14/deported-to-danger-and-death-australia-returns-people-to-violence-and-persecution.

Hirsch, A, & Bell, N, 2017, What can Hannah Arendt teach us about today's refugee crisis?, University of Oxford, Faculty of Law, 10 October, viewed 21 June 2021, https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2017/10/what-can-hannah.

Human Rights Law Centre, 2015, UN finds Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers violates the Convention Against Torture, 9 March, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/un-finds-australias-treatment-of-asylum-seekers-violates-the-convention-against-torture. 

Mao, F, Biloela family: Locked up by Australia for three years, BBC News, 10 May, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-56768529. 

Semmler, E and staff, 2021, Biloela family asylum-seeker girl evacuated from Christmas Island with suspected septicaemia, ABC News, 7 June, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-07/biloela-girl-in-medical-evacuation-from-christmas-island/100196456.

Speers, D, 2021, The government has 18,000 reasons not to grant the Murugappan family permanent visas, ABC News, 17 June, viewed 21 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-17/government-18000-reasons-not-grant-murugappan-biloela-visas/100220476. 

United Nations High Commission for Refugees, 2010, Convention and Protocol relating to the status of Refugees, viewed 20 June 2021, http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/3b66c2aa10. 

United Nations Human Rights, Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2019,  Concluding observations on the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Australia, 1 November, viewed 20 June 2021, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC/C/AUS/CO/5-6&Lang=En.

Walden, M, 2021, Australia deems Sri Lanka safe for Tamils like the Murugappan family from Biloela. But is it?, ABC News, 17 June, viewed 20 June 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-17/sri-lanka-tamil-asylum-explainer-australia-deportations/100213684.

Related Ranting Panda articles 

Peter Dutton versus Baby Asha, AMA & the UN, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2016/02/peter-dutton-versus-baby-asha-ama-un.html

Howard's Legacy & the Haughty Hypocrisy, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2012/03/howards-legacy-haughty-hypocrisy.html

Refugees represent the vanguard of their peoples, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2014/06/refugees-represent-vanguard-of-their.html. 

Australia - aiding and abetting global brutality, https://thepandarant.blogspot.com/2014/12/australia-aiding-and-abetting-global.html.