Immigrants being treated like 'criminals'

From Australia to Zambia, several Commonwealth countries are treating irregular immigrants like criminals just because these have moved around without official permission, according to humanitarian organisations.

Detention of asylum seekers is a very widespread problem within the Commonwealth, Melanie Teff, International Advocacy Coordinator for JRS said.

In many African countries refugees were being locked up because they have left an area where the government has decided they must stay; in India it may be refugees trying to return to their own country without permission; in European Commonwealth countries like the UK and Malta, it may be asylum seekers being locked up while their case is decided or after their case has been rejected.

The UNHCR guidelines on detention of asylum seekers state that detention is inherently undesirable.

During a human rights forum meeting at St James Cavalier last Wednesday, Ms Teff gave an overview of JRS's work in a number of Commonwealth countries.

Zambia: All refugees are required to reside in one of five refugee camps or settlements, unless they have a work or study permit, or have been given permission to stay in an urban area on medical or security grounds.

For a refugee to obtain a self-employment permit, he must have $25,000 in assets. A work permit costs $400 and a study permit $100.

"It is quite obvious that most refugees cannot afford to pay these amounts of money," Ms Teff argued.

It is easy to see, she said, that the system is open to abuse by immigration and police officers who frequently round up and detain refugees and asylum seekers for unspecified periods of time. Cases of officers soliciting bribes from their victims are "very common", she claimed.

South Africa: According to the South African Constitution every person detained has the right to challenge the lawfulness of the detention in person before a court. However, a UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention recently found that unfortunately this does not happen in practice.

The Working Group also expressed concern about the high number of deaths in police custody.

Malawi: JRS reports that refugees are sometimes detained in Malawi. In one prison there are 12 cells and between 1,500 and 2,000 prisoners. The detainees' diet is inadequate and unbalanced. Bedding and toiletries are very rare.

Tanzania: Refugees are required at all times to be in their camp, otherwise they risk being arrested.

Uganda: In practice Uganda does not detain asylum seekers while their status is being determined. However, JRS Uganda reports incidents where refugees have been unjustifiably arrested and even tortured.

Jamaica: JRS reports that the Cubans and Haitians arriving by boat are deemed to have broken Jamaican law by entering the country illegally and are usually detained.

India and Sri Lanka: In a policy that seems to be in total contradiction to the policies of most other countries concerning refugees, India is preventing many Sri Lankan refugees from returning to their country of origin.

When immigrants in India and Sri Lanka are arrested for not having proper documentation, they are detained in jail along with convicted prisoners.

Australia: This country has been singled out for setting some "very disturbing precedents" in its treatment of refugees and asylum seekers.

Asylum seekers who arrive in Australia without adequate documentation are held in immigration detention pending the outcome of their asylum claim. Immigration detention cannot be reviewed by the courts and rejected asylum seekers may be subject to indefinite detention pending removal.

This may result in a lifetime of detention without charge, trial or access to an effective remedy. According to Amnesty International, Australia's longest serving immigration detainee, a rejected Kashmiri asylum seeker, has been in detention for seven years.

The Australian government has also had a policy of interception of persons reaching Australian waters likely to claim asylum and taking them to offshore facilities (in Nauru and in Papua New Guinea) to process their claims.

Aware of the destructive impact of migration-related detention on so many people's lives, JRS came together with other NGOs to build an international coalition aimed at protecting the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in detention.

The following recommendations were adopted by the human rights forum:

¤ Commonwealth states should only use administrative detention as a last resort, only in exceptional circumstances where non-custodial measures have proved ineffective.

¤ Procedures and conditions of detention in Commonwealth states must comply with international laws and standards and sufficient resources must be made available to enable this.

¤ In a spirit of international responsibility-sharing, industrialised Commonwealth states should host a significant number of asylum seekers and refugees, sharing this responsibility equitably. They should also provide generous development assistance to refugee-hosting areas in developing countries.