Ruth Halbert
artist, weaver
Paper boat Rud.jpg

Blog: Dear Prime Minister

On July 30 2016 I started writing letters to the Prime Minister of Australia to protest against the imprisonment and torture of the asylum seekers in the offshore detention centres of Manus Island and Nauru. I started with the intention of writing a letter a day for every person in detention until they are all freed. There are more than 1800 asylum seekers in off shore detention. These are those letters and any response from Mr Turnbull.

Refoulement from PNG

Dear Prime Minister,

In the Parliamentary Research Paper, 'Australia's offshore processing of asylum seekers in Nauru and PNG: a quick guide to statistics and resources,' a table shows the number of departures each month from Nauru and PNG. For the period Jan 2014 - Jun 2015 it shows the destination countries of the returned asylum seekers. However from August 2015 onwards there is no information about the destination countries. Does Australia follow up the fate of each of the returnees? If they have been returned to danger then Australia has committed the international crime of refoulement.

Refugees in PNG report that a total of 6 men have been deported to danger in Bangladesh between 4th and 20th March 2018. Will they be recorded as 'destination unknown.' Were they stateless Rohingyas? What is their fate?

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