20 September 2016•Update: 20 September 2016
By Jill Fraser
MELBOURNE, Australia
On the eve of United States President Barack Obama’s Leaders’ Summit on Refugees, Amnesty International Australia called on other countries Tuesday not to be deceived by the Australian prime minister’s words regarding the refugee model he is promoting.
Speaking at a United Nations summit in New York, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told world leaders to look to Australia's tough border control policies as an example of instilling confidence in citizens and dealing with refugees.
Graham Thom, Amnesty International Australia’s refugee coordinator, who is currently in New York for the UN and Leaders’ summits, vehemently disagrees with Turnbull and urges other countries to reject the “model of abuse” that Turnbull is championing and instead “call on Australia to do its fair share”.
In a statement released late Tuesday, Amnesty called on counties to “see through Turnbull’s deception”.
“It is absolutely shameful to see our Prime Minister stand on the world stage and champion the systematic abuse of thousands of women, children and men on remote islands as a model others should follow,” Thom said in the statement.
“Prime Minister Turnbull says world leaders should look to Australia’s border control policies for inspiration, yet he fails to explain that Australia’s definition of ‘border control’ equates to the Government building a deliberate system of cruel treatment for refugees, and flouting international law.”
At the UN General Assembly meeting aimed at finding a better international solution to deal with the 65.3 million displaced people around the globe, Dutton and Turnbull defended Australia's frequently criticized immigration policy.
Turnbull urged the leaders in the audience to look to Australia as an example of a solution.
Human Rights groups and UN representatives have constantly criticized Australia’s immigration policy, which is currently responsible for detaining more than 2,000 asylum seekers and refugees in centers in Papua New Guinea, Nauru and Australia.
Following Turnbull's speech, Save the Children issued a statement criticizing his words, saying he promoted “an isolationist deterrence based model to asylum seeker policy that evidence has shown is expensive and takes a toll on those Australia should be aspiring to protect [including refugee children]”.
Save the Children CEO Paul Ronalds said Turnbull should have “used his time on the world stage to announce an increase to Australia’s humanitarian intake, which many organizations believe should be lifted to at least 30,000 refugees per year by 2018-19 to reflect the growing global need and Australia's capacity”.
Twelve months on from former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s public commitment to resettle 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees, only 3,532 have made it to Australia.
