Continuing the completely baffling circus that is the Coalition‘s continued insistence on ignoring outside criticism of its policy on child Asylum Seekers, and the constant searching for the credit it adamantly insists it deserves, yesterday we got potentially the most controversial moment of the entire ordeal.
“The government of Australia, by failing to provide adequate detention conditions; end the practice of detention of children; and put a stop to the escalating violence and tension at the regional processing centre, has violated the right of the asylum seekers including children to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”
Rather than address the report and its contents directly, Prime Minister Abbott instead stuck to the “shoot the messenger” style of Coalition political defiance used in voluminous proportions in personally attacking Professor Gillian Triggs, ignoring the UN report outright and instead relaying party rhetoric and shifting blame back to the previous Labor Government yet again.
“I really think Australians are sick of being lectured to by the United Nations, particularly, particularly given that we have stopped the boats, and by stopping the boats, we have ended the deaths at sea. The most humanitarian, the most decent, the most compassionate thing you can do is stop these boats because hundreds, we think about 1200 in fact, drowned at sea during the flourishing of the people smuggling trade under the former government.”
“I think the UN’s representatives would have a lot more credibility if they were to give some credit to the Australian government for what we’ve been able to achieve in this area.”
But UN rapporteur Mendez today shot back at Abbott’s defiance, in something of a firm but diplomatic smackdown.
“I’m sorry that the Prime Minister believes that we lecture. We don’t believe so. We try to treat all governments the same way and deal with specific obligations and standards in international law as objectively as we can.”
“I think people who are detained in the high seas and subject to prolonged detention on the basis of their status and not given a fair opportunity to make their case that they should not be sent back to a country where they might face torture. I think it is my duty to tell Australia that, at least in that respect and in respect of keeping children in detention, that policy needs to be corrected.”
“I called on the authorities to investigate and see if someone is being mistreated. The government just said it’s going through the courts. I think that is insufficient. What I want to know is if the investigation has singled anybody out for investigation or prosecution for torture.”
“I think we in the United Nations also deserve respect and I wish the Prime Minister had taken my views on this more seriously and engaged with my rapporteurship more constructively.”
Juan Mendez is a Human Rights Lawyer who was subjected to torture in 1975 at the hands of Argentina‘s military junta. Prior to his appointment to the UN, he was a special advisor to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and co-chair of the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute.
