Australia may reject Timor asylum seekers<\/p>\n
CANBERRA (Reuter): Australia could reject East Timorese
\nseeking political asylum because they may be Portuguese
\nnationals, Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Evans was responding to local media reports that government
\nlegal advisers had said some East Timorese asylum-seekers could
\nbe classified as Portuguese citizens, making them ineligible for
\nrefugee status in Australia.<\/p>\n
Australia's decision to grant temporary asylum to 18 East
\nTimorese currently applying for refugee status has prompted an
\nofficial protest from Indonesia, which integrated the former
\nPortuguese colony in 1976.<\/p>\n
The 15 men, two women and a child arrived in Australia by boat
\nlast May. They said were mistreated by Indonesian authorities.<\/p>\n
\"My understanding is that Portuguese nationality law does make
\nit reasonably clear that in at least some of these cases they do
\nhave Portuguese nationality,\" Evans told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"But I'm not trying to prejudge that -- I'm just saying that
\nthat's the issue that has to be resolved through the courts.\"<\/p>\n
\"If the people in question do have Portuguese nationality as a
\nmatter of Portuguese law, then they are obliged to seek refugee
\nstatus from Portugal, not from Australia,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Evans said East Timorese seeking asylum could still win
\nrefugee status in Australia.<\/p>\n
Australia recognizes Jakarta's rule of the eastern half of
\nTimor island, but many people born there during Lisbon's rule
\nuntil the mid-1970s are eligible for Portuguese citizenship.<\/p>\n
Evans said the fate of East Timorese seeking asylum would be
\ndecided by the government's independent Refugee Review Tribunal
\nand was not up to the government.<\/p>\n
\"They are not matters of executive (government) discretion or
\nmoral judgment, they are questions of law,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The United Nations still regards Portugal as the administering
\npower in East Timor. Lisbon and Jakarta are involved in talks
\nbrokered by UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali to find an
\ninternationally acceptable solution to the East Timor issue.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/australia-may-reject-timor-asylum-seekers-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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