News comment: UNHCR statement on Australia’s new detention and removal laws
News comment: UNHCR statement on Australia’s new detention and removal laws
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is concerned at the passage of sweeping new laws by the Australian Parliament late last week which will allow for the transfer of people – including refugees, asylum-seekers, and stateless people – to other countries that have been paid to receive them.
We have expressed our opposition to the measures in the new laws in a series of submissions. The measures will extend Australia’s externalization of its international protection obligations and seek to shift responsibilities for the international protection needs of refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless people to other countries. Such arrangements go beyond what is lawful under international law.
The new laws could affect thousands of vulnerable people, many of whom have been living for years in Australia and have been found to be in need of international protection. Other concerning aspects of the new laws include the barring of some nationalities from applying for Australian visas; criminalising the refusal to comply with removal efforts; and permitting the confiscation of mobile phones for those in detention in certain circumstances.
UNHCR calls on Australia to implement legal and policy reforms to safeguard the rights of refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless people. We stand ready to work with the Government of Australia to help it address the challenges it faces, including on particularly complicated cases, while upholding its international obligations.
Note to editors
Further details on UNHCR’s concerns on this legislative package can be found in its parliamentary submissions and UNHCR’s Note on “Externalization” of International Protection:
- Australia: Submission on Migration Amendment Bill 2024
- Australia: Submission on the Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill 2024
- Australia: Submission on Inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2020
- UNHCR Note on the "Externalization" of International Protection.
