Australia deports 57 Vietnamese boat people
Australia deports 57 Vietnamese boat people
SYDNEY (Reuter): A group of 57 Vietnamese boat people, some
bound hand and foot and carried on to an aircraft, were deported
from Australia to Indonesia yesterday.
The Australian government confirmed the surprise deportation
in a statement, saying the 57 were "removed from Australia"
because their refugee applications had already been rejected
while in the Galang migrant detention camp in Indonesia.
"They were handcuffed with plastic ties, two of them were
bound hand and foot and were carried onto the plane by Australian
Protective Services (guards)," said freelance cameraman Steve
Lowe from Port Hedland on Australia's far northwest coast. "One
lady was crying," he added.
It is not normal practice to handcuff migrant deportees.
An immigration department spokesman in Canberra confirmed some
of the Vietnamese had been handcuffed and two carried on to the
aircraft, saying this was necessary to ensure the safety of the
aircraft and passengers.
The group arrived in Australia in three boats at different
times in September and October and were taken to Australia's main
migrant detention center at Port Hedland.
Under a controversial new law that came into effect on Nov.
15, but which is retrospective to Sept. 1, people already
assessed in another country under an international settlement
plan are prevented from seeking asylum in Australia.
Australia has accepted almost 17,000 people under the
international plan entitled the Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Yesterday's deportation, carried out without prior
notification and the first under the new law, has angered the
group's lawyer and Australia's Vietnamese community.
"It's pretty atrocious to bind people hand and foot, people
who have come here seeking asylum, and boot them out under
retrospective legislation," lawyer Dennis Crook told Reuters.
Vietnamese leaders in Melbourne earlier yesterday failed in
Australia's federal court to get an injunction to stop the
deportation.
"We are very, very disappointed," said Win Tun, a spokesman
for Vietnamese refugees in Australia. "There are many flaws in
the assessment process in Galang and they escaped and risked
their lives to come here to be properly treated."
Win said Vietnamese boat people feared reprisals when they
returned home. He quoted a recent letter from five who had
voluntarily returned as saying they had been severely beaten.
Immigration Minister Nick Bolkus said all those deported had
failed to meet the UN definition of a refugee.
Over 1,000 boat people have arrived in Australia since
November 1989. The latest group of 118 arrived in Australia last
Sunday and were taken to Port Hedland.