Asia-Pacific strategy against people-smuggling on the cards<\/p>\n
P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse, Manila<\/p>\n
An Asia-Pacific regional strategy to combat people-smuggling is
\nin the offing following a landmark regional conference on the
\nlucrative illicit trade, a special Australian envoy said.<\/p>\n
John Buckley, newly appointed Australian Ambassador for People
\nSmuggling Issues, said the first ministerial conference on human-
\nsmuggling in Indonesia last month had provided a strong
\nfoundation for regional technical cooperation and policy
\ncoordination on tackling the scourge.<\/p>\n
But he warned that there was no quick solution to people-
\nsmuggling, estimated to be worth $10 billion a year and
\nspearheaded by sophisticated and highly organized networks.<\/p>\n
\"The region has said very clearly that it wants to work
\ntogether to find a regional solution to what is a human tragedy
\nfaced by all of us. But we are building on existing cooperation,\"
\nBuckley, the outgoing ambassador to the Philippines, told AFP in
\nan interview.<\/p>\n
\"So, it is not a short-term process. There are no quick
\nfixes,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Buckley, a veteran diplomat with a strong Southeast Asian
\nbackground, said two ad hoc expert groups led by Thailand and New
\nZealand would be following up key recommendations adopted at the
\nIndonesian conference.<\/p>\n
The meeting found that poverty, joblessness, poor education
\nand conflict in home countries were the root causes of illegal
\nemigration.<\/p>\n
A similar conference will be held at the end of next year, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"What we will be seeking is to have made real progress by the
\nend of next year so that we can report to the ministers and say,
\n'Look, we have done the following things, especially getting
\ncoordination in the policy and technical fronts'.\"<\/p>\n
Among the immediate priorities is the formulation of national
\nlegislations against people-smuggling.<\/p>\n
\"There will also be technical issues like helping one another
\nto check documents fraud, or advice on likely movement of people,
\nor the experience of some countries in rehabilitating people or
\nreadmitting them to their country of origin.<\/p>\n
\"So a lot of it will also be exchange of information but there
\nwill be some technical cooperation as well,\" Buckley said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia, which jointly hosted the Bali Conference with
\nAustralia, reportedly has begun drafting a law against people-
\nsmuggling to fill a void in its criminal code which bans the
\nsmuggling of goods but not humans.<\/p>\n
Australia has had an influx of boat people, mainly from the
\nMiddle East and South Asia. They go into Australia usually
\nthrough Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Hundreds have drowned on the perilous sea route, including
\nabout 350 people -- mainly Iraqis -- who died in international
\nwaters last October.<\/p>\n
Two months earlier, Australia used troops to turn away a
\nNorwegian freighter carrying 433 migrants who had been rescued
\nfrom a sinking Indonesian boat.<\/p>\n
Despite strident international criticism, Australia has stuck
\nto its new policy of diverting unauthorized arrivals to Pacific
\nisland nations for asylum-claim processing.<\/p>\n
Asked whether the people-smuggling problem could be checked at
\nsource, Buckley said there were \"push and pull\" factors,
\nincluding the question of \"genuine refugees\".<\/p>\n
\"Some of the people smuggled happened to be refugees but we
\nare not talking about refugees per se, we are talking about
\npeople-smuggling,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"So I don't think there is any one solution. I don't think
\nthere is one thing that can fix it.<\/p>\n
\"The real key issue is regional cooperation and all the
\ncountries in the region recognize it is an important issue,\"
\nBuckley said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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