Australia urged to redeem itself after ‘leading race to the bottom’ on border laws – By Latika Bourke
Source : smh
London: An Australian lawyer with decades of experience defending the rights of the rejected and the oppressed is now at the helm of one of the world’s leading human rights organisations.
Tirana Hassan, 48, was appointed the new executive director of Human Rights Watch in March, replacing Kenneth Roth, who led the US-based NGO for nearly two decades.
Hassan was born in Singapore, the daughter of a Pakistani father and a Malaysian-born Sri Lankan-Chinese mother.
She was raised in Adelaide, attending Scotch College before studying social work and human rights law at the University of South Australia, the University of Adelaide and Oxford University in the UK.
In 2002, she was a founding member of Woomera Lawyers’ Group, which provided legal services to hundreds of refugees detained, without the public’s full knowledge, in the South Australian desert town of Woomera.
Hassan says her passion for human rights was forged watching the then-Howard government implement “crueller and crueller” policies aimed at deterring asylum seekers from travelling to Australia by boat.
The veteran human rights defender is now calling on the Albanese government to urge Britain not to replicate Australia’s offshore processing for asylum seekers, saying speaking out would help rectify the damage Australia’s policies had caused to refugees and its own reputation.
In an interview with this masthead, Hassan said Australia had had much time to reflect on how its border policies had violated its international legal obligations and damned it internationally in pursuit of “cheap politics”.
“You’ll always have governments who are trying to circumvent their human rights and their legal obligations, and if you’re talking about the race to the bottom, yes Australia led it when it comes to refugee protection,” she said.
“The government has an opportunity to take responsibility for the damage that our previous policies have done in the world and the very dangerous precedent they set and actually speak out.
“Because when it comes to human rights, it’s not just about governments ensuring that rights are protected at home, it’s also ensuring that they are speaking when human rights are violated elsewhere.
“That’s the whole purpose of a responsible international community, and Australia could play a role.”
Britain, which cannot turn boats back in the English Channel because there are no international waters between it and France, wants to deport to Rwanda its unwanted migrants who arrive by boat. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has adopted the “Stop the boats” slogan coined by former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott.
Hassan said the British proposal, currently blocked by the European Court of Human Rights, was as “extreme as what Australia did” when the Coalition introduced policies that forced the detention of asylum seekers in camps initially onshore, and later on Christmas Island and Nauru, and in Papua New Guinea.
“In terms of its absolute disregard to its refugee protection obligations, yes, the UK is definitely moving in a direction that is on par and as low as Australia back in the day,” she said.
The Coalition’s hardline policies were initially opposed, but are now supported and implemented by, Labor. In one of its first acts in office, the Albanese government turned back an asylum-seeker boat, meaning Labor is unlikely to urge the UK to abandon its version of Australia’s Pacific Solution.
Amnesty International says about 150 refugees and people seeking asylum are still languishing on Nauru and PNG and some have been there more than a decade.
Hassan said the UK policy was just as extreme and that it was telling if the current Australian government could not encourage its ally to adhere to its international human rights obligations.
“If this is the case, then I think that we should be asking the current government, why not?” Hassan said.
“And if this is a government that is committed to human rights, we should ask them why they aren’t.
“There needs to be an acknowledgement of the damage that was done.”
But she said even without Australia’s encouragement Britain should walk away from its “ridiculous proposal” and “try to salvage its reputation”.
“And actually show the world how refugee protection can actually be done the right way and also push back against perpetuating divisive narratives in society in the othering of some of the most vulnerable people in the world,” she said.
A British government source said: “We are in no way diminishing human rights, but this government is clear we must stop the boats. If migrants travel to this country illegally, they will not be allowed to jump the queue.
“Instead they will be detained and swiftly removed under our legislation. That’s what the British people want and we intend to deliver.
“Those with genuine claims will still be given sanctuary in the UK under safe and legal routes, in the same way we have welcomed almost 500,000 people since 2015.”
Australian Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil declined to comment.
