Oliver Laughland theguardian.com, Wednesday 25 June 2014
Exclusive: extraordinary footage emerges showing Australian immigration minister calling on detained asylum seekers to leave
A filmed message intended for asylum seekers, featuring immigration minister Scott Morrison.
Extraordinary film footage has emerged of Australian immigration minister Scott Morrison directly threatening asylum seekers detained in Australia’s offshore detention centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru to return to the countries they have fled from or spend a “very, very long time” in detention.
The footage, obtained by Guardian Australia, shows the immigration minister staring down the lens of a camera and telling asylum seekers in a pre-recorded message: “There are new rules in place under this government so I urge you to think carefully about your next decision and to make a decision to get on with the rest of your life and to not remain here and take the option to go back to the country from which you’ve originally come.”
It is further evidence of the concerted attempts by Australia’s right-wing Coalition government to coerce asylum seekers to return and follows news published by Fairfax newspapers that some are being offered an increased repatriation incentive of $10,000.
Australia is a signatory to the Refugee Convention, of which non-refoulement – the rule of not returning asylum seekers to persecution – is a core principle.
Before urging asylum seekers to return, Morrison warns: “If you choose not to go home then you will spend a very, very long time here and so I urge you to think carefully about that decision and make a decision to get on with the rest of your life.”
Guardian Australia understands the video message was recorded in early September, soon after the Coalition government gained power, but was never shown to asylum seekers.
At this point asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and other war-torn countries were detained on Manus and Nauru.
Uncertainty over processing times has been identified as a key factor leading up to the unrest in the Manus centre which left one Iranian asylum seeker, Reza Barati, dead and dozens injured. Morrison has used numerous media appearances to argue that processing of asylum claims is being done in a timely manner.
Guardian Australia has previously revealed how Syrian asylum seekers on Manus were offered repatriation despite articulating fears of certain death if returned, which Human Rights Watch say is in contravention of international law.
The video message is understood to have been recorded before Morrison visited Manus in late September, where he directly addressed some detained asylum seekers, telling them they would never be resettled in Australia under the government’s hard-line “PNG solution”, which sees all asylum seekers who arrive by boat processed and resettled offshore.
Whistleblower and former Manus guard Martin Appleby told Guardian Australia that Morrison’s September address on Manus “put people’s security at risk, including his own” and sent tension in the camp soaring afterwards.
The minister delivered a similar address to asylum seekers detained on Nauru. Footage obtained by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre showed Morrison telling asylum seekers: “You will not be getting what you got on that boat for, and anyone else who tries to come will not get what they got on that boat for.”
At the start of the video address Morrison tells asylum seekers they have entered Australia illegally and that the new Australian government “will not be putting up with those sorts of arrivals”.
Ben Pynt, the director of human rights advocacy at Humanitarian research partners, said the video showed the immigration minister’s “callous disregard for the mental health of asylum seekers detained offshore”.
Pynt said it highlighted the government’s attempt to actively coerce people into returning to their country of origin.
“This isn't just a violation of the technicalities of international law, this violates the fundamental object and purpose of the Refugee Convention and other human rights treaties that Australia's governments have undertaken to protect.
“The message is 'we don't want you and nobody else does either, so you might as well go home,'” Pynt said.
A spokeswoman for Scott Morrison did not respond to detailed questions but appeared to suggest that the threat to return was not a blanket one to all asylum seekers detained offshore.
“It is true that people assessed as being found not to be owed protection who refused to go home would have to remain at offshore processing centres for a long period of time,” the spokeswoman said.
“Those whose asylum claims have failed should explore their options to return.”
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