Australia at sea in refugee debate

According to Nick Poynder, a Sydney-based lawyer who represents refugees seeking asylum in Australia, between 80 and 90 percent of those aboard the Tampa - if they are from Afghanistan and Iraq - would probably win refugee status. "They have a very strong claim to such status, considering the highly oppressive nature of those countries."

That point is echoed by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees regional director in Pakistan, Yusuf Hassan. He says the 438 people aboard the Tampa are part of the 6.2 million refugees who have fled Afghanistan since 1979, when the former Soviet Union invaded the country.

That surge has intensified since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 1996. "The war is now exacerbated by famine," Hassan told the Monitor from Islamabad. "What is frightening is that the world has acknowledged the situation but there appears to be indifference."

While Australia's current refugee policy is criticized within the legal and human rights communities, its line against "illegal" arrivals appears to be playing well with the public.

About 70 percent of callers to talk radio, a major source of daytime entertainment in Australia, support the government's position on the Tampa passengers, according to the media monitoring agency, Rehame.

Australia's opposition Labor Party, is also backing the government in this case. Analysts say that position is political - influenced by the prospect of national elections later this year.

However, the country's government-funded human rights commissioner disagrees, appealing for Australia to accept the refugees. Meanwhile, in Melbourne, protesters yesterday demonstrated against the raid on the freighter.

Australia has "absolutely become meaner" in its treatment of refugees, says Linda Bartolomei, a researcher at the independent Center for Refugee Research at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. Until the early1990s, it was a haven for people fleeing Indochina and former communist-bloc countries.

Now, she adds, all asylum seekers who arrive in Australia without permission are automatically detained until their refugee status is determined. Ms. Bartolomei says that is not done in most other developed nations.

But some Australian refugee-relief efforts have won broad public support in recent years. These have involved small numbers of people staying temporarily.

In May 1999, after NATO's bombing of Yugoslav forces in Kosovo, about 400 Kosovars were allowed into Australia for up to 12 months. Later that year, after Indonesian militias razed most of East Timor after an independence ballot, about 1500 East Timorese were also settled briefly.

"If a government tries to engender goodwill," said Bitel, "as we did with the Kovars and the East Timorese, rather than stirring up paranoia, then the community will welcome people in need."

Material from the wire services was used in this report.

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