October 30, 2009 – 2:28 pm
Comments about Tamil asylum seekers by the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia, Mr Senaka Walgampaya, provide a strong reason why the asylum seekers should not be returned to Sri Lanka. Is also makes it almost certain they will meet the criteria of Refugee Convention, even if they didn’t before.
Mr Walgampaya, who speaks of course [...]
October 2, 2009 – 12:50 pm
The slow increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australian waters is creating a slowly increasing number of antagonistic public comments and complaints. Immigration Minister Chris Evans understandably points to the deteriorating position in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan as a factor, as well as noting a “second supply chain” from [...]
The savage warfare and the well-documented human rights abuses by both sides of the entrenched conflict in Sri Lanka seems to have been going on for so long that it can be easy to forget about just how terrible the current situation is for the thousands of Tamil civilians currently trapped in the so-called “no-fire [...]
April 14, 2009 – 12:46 pm
The Torres News – newspaper for the Torres Strait and the Northern Peninsula Areas of Cape York – has a piece on their website (and the front page of their dead tree version) about the recent arrival of fifty Tamil asylum seekers in the region.
They raise the curious question of “why the vessel and its occupants [...]
January 23, 2009 – 1:20 am
I used the focus on Barack Obama’s extraordinary achievement recently to write a post about some other politicians who overcame even higher odds at greater personal costs in 2008.
Of course many people who aren’t politcians show even greater perseverance and courage. Many of them remain anonymous, but some become known and on occasion they can [...]
