UN Condemns Australia over ‘Inhuman’ treatment of asylum seekers

Australia has been admonished by the United Nations Committee Against Torture over its treatment of asylum seekers in Pacific island detention centers, where the panel said conditions amounted to “cruel, inhuman or unlawful punishment.”

Australia drew sharp words from the UN’s refugee agency after revealing in July that it had handed 41 Sri Lankans — including four Tamils — back to Sri Lankan authorities in a transfer at sea. Two Sri Lankan asylum seekers told Australian TV in October that they had been tortured after being returned, a claim denied by the Sri Lankan government.

Officials were grilled at a committee hearing in Geneva over the Australian government’s controversial asylum policies, which have become increasingly strict under Prime Minister Tony Abbott and have drawn strong criticism from human rights and refugee advocates.

Under particular scrutiny was the Migration Amendment Bill currently before the country’s parliament, which the committee heard would allow for people to be returned to countries where they faced a significant risk of torture — a violation of international law.

If passed, the bill would raise the level of risk of torture necessary before an asylum seeker can be granted refugee status from a “real chance” to “more likely than not., News Vice reported.