Five of the six asylum Seekers in the town Kiunga on October 13
The Freedom Flotilla to West Papua and Papuan Behind Bars have said that six West Papuans who sought asylum in Australia have been sent to a refugee camp in East Awin. The asylum seekers said they had been persecution for their part in a ceremonial event where they engaged with the Freedom Flotilla.
The ceremony was about the benign handing over of sacred water and ashes and for this it has been alleged they were detained, and relocated by armed officers to the regional town of Kiunga on the morning of October 12 and on October 15 they were sent the East Awin camp.
Thousands of West Papuan refugees languish in the border camp having fled West Papua to Papua and New Guinea for safe haven. Spokesperson for the Flotilla, Ruben Blake, said that the Papua and New Guinea government has stood by a harsh policy of locating refugees to remote camps, where they are isolated. He said that their only hope lies in their patience, for it may take years for any of them to secure a “residency permit”, which is the only way they can first leave the camps.
Mr Blake said he is disturbed by Australia’s role, complicity, deaf ears and blind eyes.
“It is disturbing that Australia would be complict in a policy of dumping refugees in a remote border region and leave them to fend for themselves,” said Mr Blake.
“Australian mining company BHP Billiton dumped its tailings from the Ok Tedi mine into our rivers, and now Australia is dumping its refugees into the area.” BHP Billiton is a multinational.
A local West Papuan who grew up in East Awin after his family was located there by the Papua and New Guinea government said that he held grave concerns for the refugees. “Living in East Awin was really a challenge, life there is very hard.”
“The nearest town is Kiunga, which is 50 kms from the refugee camp. During the rainy season cars cannot operate so they only way to get to the town is walking the 50 kms to the town.”
He said that “thousands of West Papuans have died of malaria” at the East Awin camp.
“We were denied the right of citizenship, we were discriminated by the (PNG) government in terms of education, health services and jobs.”
“Many more of us have been displaced following raids from Papua New Guinea police – their task force. Houses are burned down, West Papuans are arrested, tortured by the task force simply because they (squatted on) land to build houses and grow crops.”
The regional town of Kiunga
“Discrimination and persecution are still happening today. It is feared that West Papuan asylum seekers sent to Papua New Guinea will face the same thing faced by the thousand West Papuan refugees.”
Mr Blake said that Australia’s deportation of refugees is illegal and devoid of a moral compass. He cited the Refugee Convention which he said Australia has flouted, and he noted a 2003 Memorandum of Understanding between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
“Australia’s border protection policies are cynically designed to prevent asylum seekers accessing legal representation, but we are continuing to look for legal avenues to challenge their cruel, inhumane and illegal actions.”
On October 4, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection and acting commander of Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Agency Task Force, Scott Morrison described the federal governments asylum seeker policy when he said, “We are not running a taxi service here or a reception centre. We are running a military-led border security operation… We have always respected Indonesia’s sovereignty in the policy positions we have taken…”
