Australian government condemns Tamil refugees to years of incarceration

The callous indifference to the plight of the traumatised refugees was summed up by comments to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) last Friday by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews. “Ideally we wouldn’t want people coming to Australia in boats whatsoever. The question in these circumstances is what will be the strongest possible message of deterrence,” he declared.

The Tamils are the latest of many hundreds of “boat people” who have been incarcerated by the Howard government as a “deterrent” to others contemplating the “crime” of fleeing intolerable circumstances.

Over the past year, the Sri Lankan government has plunged the country back into civil war, blatantly flouting its 2002 ceasefire with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. At least some of the refugees come from Sri Lanka’s eastern province, where the military’s offensives over the past six months have displaced tens of thousands of people.

Thousands of Tamils have fled to southern India and other countries to escape the dangers of war and the systematic anti-Tamil discrimination which lies behind it. Most of the 83 seeking asylum in Australia are young—one is only 17—and face even greater risks. Already, hundreds of young Tamils have been killed or “disappeared” by death squads operating in close collaboration with the military. Many others have been forcibly recruited into the LTTE or into various Tamil paramilitaries working with the Sri Lankan armed forces.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/mar2007/tami-m21.shtml