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Country info - East Timor Timorese Asylum
Seekers call for Australian solidarity MELBOURNE - Fivo Freitas is 28 years old. He sought asylum in Australia after leaving East Timor in 1999. Now he is preparing for his application for asylum seeker status to be rejected once again by the Refugee Review Tribunal. Each Friday, the RRT is rejecting a number of similar applications from Timorese, marking the end of a long road for each Timorese who have waited for up to ten years, to see if they can stay permanently in Australia. The long wait, conveniently for the Australian government, has coincided with East Timor's independence from the Indonesian occupying forces. East Timor is now a safe, stable, independent country to which the asylum seekers could return. At least, this seems to be the view from the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, which is basing their assessment of each asylum seeker case on the current situation in East Timor, not the situation under which he or she fled the territory. "I came from East Timor in 1999 to get away from the increasingly violent activities of the militias. It was only a few months before the ballot. I had been involved in the East Timor Student Solidarity Council. I was lucky to get out, not as lucky as many of my friends." "As many people know, the country was almost completely destroyed and people were displaced in 1999. I can't believe that after [the Timorese asylum seekers] waited for up to ten years, the government wants to kick us out. Back to our destroyed country. What will I do back there? Imagine all 1600 people forcibly returned to East Timor to no job, no education, no home to go to. How will the country cope?" Freitas is critical of the Australian government's assistance to East Timor, arguing that while trumpeting its humanitarian assistance to East Timor, it is creating a humanitarian disaster against the Timorese here in Australia. "This is only a public relations exercise. Why does the government not look at the situation already here? They have had an opportunity to help East Timorese from ten years ago, but of course that was when Indonesia was in power and they tried to throw us out, arguing that we were Portuguese. Now they say our country is already safe and we must go back." It is doubtful that East Timor's poor infrastructure and high unemployment can withstand the influx of the returnees. Many of those who fled now have nothing to return to and may face community resentment in the face of fierce competition for jobs, housing and schooling. Early this month, suspected militia bands attacked villages in Atsabe and Bazartete sub-districts and killed several people. A senior Timorese official has subsequently called for increased Australian assistance with maintaining security in the border areas. According to Freitas, several families previously living in Darwin have returned voluntarily after having their appeals rejected. "For them, they could see no way out. But this is not a solution for all of us. We have to campaign for community support against the government's policies." East TImorese cut from welfare? In Australia there are over 1600 asylum seekers. For some, whose appeals have been rejected by the RRT, the effect is immediate and drastic. The loss of appeal results in being cut off from the Asylum Seekers' Assistance Scheme (ASAS) allowance, loss of access to Medicare and loss of the right-to-work visa. "Effectively, this is a campaign to starve us out of Australia. Many Timorese are renting in the private rental market. These people no longer have any income." The asylum seekers have no access to Centrelink benefits, only the ASAS payment which is 89% of a Centrelink special benefit. There are initiatives from an East Timor Taskforce consisting of church groups, welfare agencies and local government to plan a program of support for those Timorese who have lost ASAS allowance, Medicare and the right to work. The local inner-city council, the City of Yarra, where 600-700 Timorese asylum seekers live, began to raise funds last year to provide assistance for Timorese asylum seekers. Freitas says this can only be a small drop in the ocean and the assistance is limited to providing funds for doctors' visits and medicines. "It is still up to the government to resolve this situation. The City of Yarra funds can only provide small emergency help, but this cannot help everybody who has lost his or her income." "Besides, as a result of their situation, it means that the Timorese need medical assistance more than ever. They are suffering high stress and panic because they are not sure of their situation." Freitas argues that the Australian government should be furthering their assistance to East Timor through providing educational and work opportunities for the Timorese asylum seekers. He says they have been discriminated against all along and this final rejection is a kick in the teeth. "I think it is outrageous that while we can work and have to pay taxes, we can't go to university. If young people like me want to go to university, we have to pay full fees like international students. We have had interrupted schooling, suffered trauma because of war and have very low incomes. This is just another policy to exclude us from gaining an education." Freitas considers that helping educate Timorese here is another way the Australian government can contribute to East Timor. "If the Australian government really wants to help, they should be educating us here, building links between East Timor and Australia." He says it is ironic that the government is handing out AusAID scholarships to Timorese students from East Timor, but charges full fees to asylum seekers. Solidarity needed "We want Australian solidarity for us again, just like you fought for us in 1999. People are living in limbo right now. Please demand to the government that you want us to stay. I think we have made good contribution to Australian society, it is only right that after treating us like political footballs, that we can finally get on with our lives, here in Australia, until we decide it's the right time to go back and rebuild our countries. We love East Timor, we want to be there, but now is not the right time. We don't want to be deported or starved out of Australia either." Freitas urges that people get involved in campaigns for the Timorese asylum seekers to stay. There is a campaign underway for Minister for Immigration, Phillip Ruddock to grant a special protection visa. However, it is unclear how successful lobbying efforts will be without concerted public pressure. "The suffering of refugees isn't just limited to that inside Australia's detention centres", Freitas reminds us. The Timorese asylum seekers have been allowed to live in the community, but Ruddock's hidden war against them needs to be exposed, as is the concerted attempt to drive them back to East Timor. For more information on how you can help, contact the following: Nick Matteo, Human Services Planner, City of Yarra and East Timor Taskforce on (03) 9205 5721 or email: matteon@yarracity.vic.gov.au Gillian Davey, Refugee Action Collective, on 0421 109 474 or email: gilliandavy@yahoo.com.au. All East Timorese
refugees should be granted visas Immigration minister Philip Ruddock's June 3 decision to grant 379 East Timorese asylum seekers permanent residency in Australia is a decision that all supporters of refugees' right should welcome. The decision ends more than a decade of waiting for the 379 people concerned. But for the remaining East Timorese asylum seekers living in Australia, the waiting continues. The applications for permanent residency by all of the 1800 East Timorese asylum seekers were delayed for up to 10 years by the government's ridiculous view that they should seek legal protection from Portugal, East Timor's former colonial ruler, despite the fact that the government had recognised Indonesia's 1976 annexation of East Timor. Last year, when the immigration department finally resumed processing the East Timorese asylum seekers' applications, their claims for refugee status had collapsed because East Timor had gained independence from Indonesia. They were consequently threatened with deportation, even though many members of them were either born in Australia or arrived as children. In granting the visas, Ruddock has clearly rejected the previous determination of the Refugee Review Tribunal that the East Timorese asylum seekers were not eligible for full refugee status. He has also indicated that a high proportion of the remaining East Timorese asylum seekers are likely to be granted visas on humanitarian grounds. In the days following Ruddock's decision, a number of public figures including Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, Democrats' leader Senator Andrew Bartlett, City of Yarra mayor Greg Barber and Catholic bishop Hilton Deacon, have publicly called upon Ruddock to grant permanent visas to the remaining East Timorese asylum seekers. And yet, in spite of all the evidence pointing to the validity of the refugee claims of the East Timorese, Ruddock continues to refuse to create a special humanitarian visa category. Instead, the remaining asylum seekers will be forced to go through the complex, lengthy and costly tribunal process, a process which has now been proven to have failed. The continued uncertainty of their status is causing immense stress and anxiety for the remaining East Timorese asylum seekers. With the stroke of a pen, Ruddock could remove that uncertainty. From Green Left Weekly,
11 June 2003.
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