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Kevin Rudd - Source: Reuters -
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Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has defended a blanket freeze on the
processing of Afghan asylum seekers amid warnings of a
deteriorating security situation in the war-torn country.
As authorities on Sunday morning intercepted another asylum seeker
boat on its way to Australia, Rudd stood by the decision to suspend
the processing of claims for asylum seekers from Afghanistan for
six months.
The opposition has attacked the move as an election fix.
The latest boat, carrying 25 passengers and two crew, is the 41st
so-called illegal entry vessel to be intercepted this year and the
third since the suspension came into force.
While the government has not yet confirmed the nationalities of
those on board, it is likely they are from Afghanistan or Sri
Lanka.
The government has suspended processing suspected asylum seekers
from Sri Lanka for three months.
The latest intercepted group is being taken to Christmas Island
where they will join about 50 other asylum seekers already in limbo
after the decision last week to suspend the processing of
claims.
Rudd defended the suspension, saying the introduction of the policy
was based on information concerning changing security circumstances
in both countries.
"Our obligations are to deal with genuine asylum seekers, and those
who are not genuine asylum seekers, to send them back to their
countries of origin," he said.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said fear of persecution was
different to questions of "straightforward security of a
country".
"We have not and will not return people to their countries of
origins if there is fear that they will not be safe, if there is
fear that they will be persecuted," he said.
But the group representing Australian not-for-profit aid and
development organisations rejected the government's claims, saying
Afghanistan remained the most dangerous place for civilians in Asia
and one of the three most dangerous places in the world.
Marc Purcell, the executive director with the Australian Council
for International Development said conditions in Afghanistan were
only set to worsen in the next six months.
Figures from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR) showed there were an estimated 274,000 internally displaced
people across the country, he said.
"Violence is growing and it is inevitable that refugee flows will
increase this year as the war escalates," Purcell said.
Among the most severely affected were Afghanis in the southern
provinces, including Oruzgan, where Australian forces were based
and where fighting was fiercest, he said.
"The government's decision to suspend processing of asylum seekers
from Afghanistan flies in the face of overwhelming evidence that
the situation is deteriorating rapidly and people's lives are at
grave risk."
The comments come after the UNHCR, which is reviewing its
protection guidelines for both countries, also criticised the
move.
"I'm not aware of suspensions like this applying in any other part
of the industrialised world," said UNHCR's regional representative
Richard Towle.
Amnesty International has expressed concerns the move will result
in the arbitrary detention of people who have genuine protection
claims.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said he doubted whether a processing
freeze would reduce the flow of asylum seekers to Australia.
"It's not so much what's happening in the region, it's the fact
that the government has added to the pull factors by effectively
dismantling the border protection policies of the former
government," he said.
"Certainly, the people smugglers, I think, will remain in business
because they suspect, as I do, that this is an election fix. It's
not a solution."
Rudd rejected suggestions the policy was in contravention of the
United Nations Refugee Convention, to which Australia is a
signatory.
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