Media Release
Monday 19 June 2006
Commission Calls for Consistency in Australia’s Dealings with Indonesia
Brisbane’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission has urged the Prime Minister to consistently promote and defend human rights in his dealings with Indonesian authorities.
The call follows the Prime Minister’s lodgement of an official protest with Indonesia over the early release of Abu Bakar Bashir who was linked to the Bali bombings
The Commission is calling on the Prime Minister to be equally forthright with Indonesia in calling for the human rights of Papuans to be respected.
It is also asking him to re-consider the Government’s proposed changes to the Migration Act which were triggered by the arrival of 43 Papuans on Cape York earlier this year.
The Commission’s Executive Officer, Peter Arndt, said that the Church is passionately concerned for the dignity and rights of all human beings.
“The upholding of human dignity and human rights is the most fundamental concern of Catholic Social Teaching,” Mr Arndt said.
“It is appropriate for the Prime Minister to challenge Indonesia when it appears that lenient treatment is afforded to those associated with acts of terror which cause many deaths, injuries and on-going pain,” he said.
“But we would hope that the same moral standard would apply in relation to the treatment of the Papuan people who have lived with violence and intimidation at the hands of some elements of the Indonesian military for the past four decades,” he said.
“We praised the Government for recognising the legitimate claims of persecution made by the Papuan refugees who arrived here earlier this year,” he said.
“We urge the Government to back up this decision with vigorous action to support the human rights of the Papuan people,” he said.
“The Government should not remain quiet on this matter,” he said.
“We are equally troubled, because of human rights concerns, by the Government’s determination to continue with its plans to change the migration rules to force asylum seekers who arrive by boat to be processed offshore,” he said.
“It would be a gross violation of human rights to force Papuans who flee the violence they have suffered for so long to spend lengthy periods in Nauru,” he said.
“We have seen enough evidence of the mental torment that detention on Nauru has caused other asylum seekers in the past to be horrified at the prospect of more men, women and children being subjected to this same treatment,” he said.
The Commission is urging Catholics to contact their local Member of Parliament, Queensland Senators and the Prime Minister to urge the Government to challenge the Indonesian Government on human rights abuses in Papua and to also re-consider its position on offshore processing of asylum seekers.
For further information, please contact Peter Arndt on (07) 3336 9173 or 0409 265 476.
NB This release is issued with the
approval of the Commission or its Executive under the provision of its
Charter which enables it to speak in its own right.
Its views do not necessarily represent those of the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Brisbane.