Australia's indefinite detention of refugees illegal, UN rules
Source: The Guardian
Australia’s indefinite detention of refugees on secret security grounds is arbitrary and illegal, the UN has ruled, in the latest of 51 cases – the most of any country – before the human rights committee.
The government should offer compensation to those it incarcerated without charge for up to six years, the UN’s human rights committee said in its latest rebuke, which could harm Australia’s ambitions to secure a seat on the powerful UN human rights council.
Australia’s Attorney General’s Department declined to comment on the breach of the international covenant on civil and political rights, citing the caretaker conventions in place during the election campaign.
The latest adjudication by the UN human rights committee relates to five refugees – one Iranian, three Sri Lankan Tamils and one Afghan Hazara – who were illegally detained between 2009 and 2015 because the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation had made an “adverse security assessment” against each of them.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/may/18/australias-indefinite-detention-of-refugees-illegal-un-rules
