Unaware of U.N. help available to asylum seekers in
Indonesia
'Mirafghan,' an Afghan refugee who tried to enter
Australia by boat in the months prior to September 2001, explained
why he did not try to contact UNHCR in Jakarta in between his many
failed attempts: "At the beginning I had never heard of their
system. The smugglers kept us away from such information. We were
told that the U.N. would make problems for us, so I never really
understood about their role until I sat in my [asylum] interview
[after being forced back to Indonesia by the Australian navy]. I had
no contact with any asylum seekers registered with UNHCR during
those months when I was trying to take the boats."
(Human Rights
Watch interview no. 26, Mataram, Indonesia, April 17, 2002. "By
Invitation Only," Page 37.)
Violence during interception by the Australian navy
'Faizan,'
an Afghan refugee, described being detained under the deck of a boat
("SIEV 7") by the Australian navy in October 2001: "They threw
things down to hit the ones they could not reach with their sticks.
Then they threatened to close it, and this made us become quiet
because we knew we would all suffocate very quickly if they closed
the hatch. Soon afterwards they brought back the families. One tall
man among us, who could see over the edge of the hatch, asked what
had happened to the families and why were they all crying. They [the
women] told us they had been beaten. When one woman knelt down to
speak to us through the hatch, an Australian officer struck her with
his fist to the back of her neck. This made me so angry that I
started to try to climb up again, but they said 'If you come up,
we'll shoot you.'"
He also remembered seeing two Australians
cry. "I asked them why they were crying, and they said, 'We are also
human, but we can't do anything because these are orders from our
superiors. If it were possible I would take you back to my own
home…'"
(Human Rights Watch interview no. 24, Mataram,
Indonesia, April 18, 2002. "By Invitation Only," Page 44.)
Detention inside Australia
A fifteen-year-old Iraqi boy
detained by Australia for over two years while his family sought
asylum, described his desperation that he has not been allowed to go
to a normal school for the duration of his detention: "I am like a
person who is drowning and is holding themselves up by one arm, but
my arm is getting tired and it will soon be easier to just let go."
He had already attempted suicide on more than one
occasion.
(Human Rights Watch interview no. 38, Villawood
Detention Centre, Sydney, Australia, April 6, 2002. "By Invitation
Only," Page 80.)
The endless search for legal status
An Iraqi Kurdish woman
who, though recognized as a refugee, had been granted only a
Temporary Protection Visa by Australia, which means that she lives
in perpetual fear of return, and that she will never be able to
apply to bring her parents or brother over from Iran to join her.
"My biggest worry is that we will be sent back when our visa
expires. It is a kind of permanent insecurity. No one will give us a
legal visa: not the Iranians, not the Australians…I have never had a
stable condition in my whole life, since I was born until now [she
is 27]. I am frightened that my child will have the same
life…"
(Human Rights Watch interview no. 43, Sydney, Australia,
April 21, 2002. "By Invitation Only," Page 88.)
