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Showing posts from August 21, 2011

Hope springs from inside the wire

The Australian  Asylum-seekers are locked in a detention centre on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a nation that is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention.  Source:  AP THE High Court will today formally consider the Gillard government's plan to send asylum-seekers to Malaysia. At the same time, many of the poor and the desperate across Asia have already considered the plan. And many, it seems, have dismissed it. Since Australia signed the deal with Malaysia on July 25, five boats have arrived in Australian waters, carrying at least 338 asylum-seekers. Under the scheme, which has already seen one Labor MP sidestepping party loyalty to express her concerns, Australia will resettle 4000 recognised refugees from Malaysia over four years, and in return send 800 arrivals back to Malaysia. If news spreads that an expensive and dangerous sea voyage will end not in Australia but in the crowded refugee ghettos of Malaysia, the Australian government believes potential asylum-