Amnesty: Australia maritime border control abusing asylum seekers

The report claims that government officials were "complicit in a transnational crime" in May when they paid people smugglers $32,000 (29,255 euros) to take a boat carrying 65 asylum seekers bound for New Zealand to an Indonesian port.

The rights group claimed there had been criminal activity by government officials, including pay-offs to boat crews and abusive treatment of women, men and children seeking asylum.

"Such turnbacks violate the principle of non-refoulement, which says refugees can not be sent back to countries where they are at risk, and also deny people the right to have their asylum claims assessed".

Human rights organization Amnesty global says it has "damning evidence" Australian officials paid human smugglers to turn boats with asylum seekers and migrants around.

"We have used a whole range of measures to stop the boats, because that's what the Australian people elected us to do", he said.

A second and third photo show Australian border force ships, viewed from the deck of the asylum seekers' boat.

The Australian government did not respond to Amnesty International's request for comments on the report's findings, but told BBC Australia that passengers on the vessels are "held legally in secure, safe, humane and appropriate conditions" by the Australian Border Force and Australian Defence Force.

On Thursday, the unnamed spokesman for the Immigration Minister underlined that the Government will always act in the best interests of the Australian people.

"A few hours later, one of the boats ran out of fuel".

Tony Abbott, Australia's former prime minister, adopted one of the world's toughest approaches to asylum seekers arriving by boat, including deploying the navy to tow rickety boats back to Indonesian waters.

"The crew members told me they received the money and the Indonesian officials told me that this money was found on them".

"Our government should be making how we feel crystal clear to our neighbours across the ditch, as well as reassuring Kiwis it has had no involvement in any of this", David Shearer says.

It says Australian officials paid the six crew members who were taking a boatload of 65 people to New Zealand in May to turn back to Indonesia and provided fuel, Global Positioning System equipment and maps showing where to land on the Indonesian coast.

Opposition parties on Thursday called for the Government to assure New Zealanders it had not known about or been involved in the bribery of people smugglers.

The Australian committee is compiling its own report on the controversy that is due early next year.

"The evidence collected by Amnesty worldwide about the events of May 2015 indicates..."

"The head of Australian National University's College of Law, Professor Don Rothwell, said that Indonesia was unlikely to pursue the range of legal options it had on Australia's alleged breaches of worldwide law: "[Indonesia has] been in possession of these facts for a very long period of time now, yet it's chosen to deal with the matter by diplomatic means".

"Turnbull dismissed the Green's push for an inquiry saying "We [the government] are quite satisfied that our agencies are operating within the law and that's to say they are operating legally".


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