WRITTEN QUESTION P-0642/02

by Giovanni Pittella (PSE) to the Commission

(28 February 2002)

Subject: Australia's position regarding right of asylum

Australia's hard-line position on the right of asylum is once again attracting international attention, since it entails the compulsory internment and detention of all clandestine immigrants, including families with children and minors without families. The Australian Government continues to show little sensitivity to this issue, despite the first angry demonstrations calling for the closure of detention centres. Its policy towards this disadvantaged group of people does not take account of international obligations regarding asylum and the protection of minors.

In view of this, can the Commission state its views and list the measures it intends to take to find a favourable solution to this difficult problem affecting a country which has always been a land of immigrants and now seems to have lost its sense of history?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(26 March 2002)

Australian history is based on a tradition of immigration. It is a party to the 1951 Geneva Convention and its 1967 Protocol on the status of refugees. It has also put in place a specific channel for receiving refugees via a resettlement program by which refugees having found a first country of refuge can enter Australia in a legal and orderly manner with a view to enjoy protection and become legal residents. Like the Member States, Australia is faced with new forms of influx of asylum seekers for a certain number of years. It should be noted that, since 1945, more than half a million people have arrived in Australia under the country's refugees and humanitarian program and that in 2000-2001 Australia granted almost 14 000 humanitarian visas, 8 000 of which were issued overseas.

The Commission acknowledges that the policy of detention of asylum seekers is a controversial matter in Australia and in Europe. Article 31 of the Geneva Convention regulates the situation of refugees who enter and stay illegally on a Contracting State territory. Against the background of the Global Consultations which is a multilateral effort launched in 2000 by the International Community under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in order to strengthen the international protection system and in particular the application of the Geneva Convention, it was recognized that the implementation of article 31 and the issue of detention of asylum seekers needed particular attention. Australia is an active participant to the Global Consultations process.

In the current steps towards the establishment of a Common European Asylum System, the Commission, guided by the European traditions and Tampere's conclusions, has introduced standards about detention of asylum seekers in its legislative proposals for Directives on asylum procedures(1) and on reception conditions for asylum seekers(2) currently under negotiation. Several principles form the core of these standards. Asylum seekers must not be detained for the sole reason they are asylum seekers or arrived illegally. However, there may be legitimate reasons during the asylum procedure justifying a period of restriction of movements. Such restrictions may be implemented only if and for as long as it is strictly necessary. Regular scrutiny of the need to detain must be implemented and a special situation of minors must be taken into account. During detention, human conditions and respect of basic rights must be ensured.

The Commission intends to continue supporting multilateral dialogue on these complex matters, exchange of good practices and UNHCR efforts to cooperate with the states concerned when questions about implementation of the Geneva Convention are raised. The Commission and Australia will have the opportunity to discuss asylum and migration issues in the coming weeks.

(1) OJ C 62 E, 27.2.2001.

(2) OJ C 213 E, 31.7.2001.