No deportation of Afghan asylum seekers - support the protesting detainees

Media release January 19, 2011

"The Australian Government's signing of an agreement with the corrupt Karzai Government in Afghanistan to enable the forced deportation of thousands of Afghan asylum seekers is a disgrace," Duncan Roden, Socialist Alliance candidate for Parramatta in the NSW state election, said today.

“This Memorandum of Understanding is a barbaric move by the ALP,” said Roden, also an activist in Parramatta based Westies Welcome Refugees.

“It even lays the groundwork for deporting unaccompanied children back to the war zone that is Afghanistan.”

Roden pointed out that "Australia’s own travel advice website, Smarttraveller.gov.au, lists Afghanistan under the status 'do not travel' and advises 'If you are in Afghanistan, you should consider leaving'", Roden continued, saying that the Government travel website also warns people "not to travel to Afghanistan because of the extremely dangerous security situation and the very high threat of terrorist attack."

"Last year was the most violent in Afghanistan since 2001, and most victims of the increased violence were civilians, especially women and children," Roden pointed out.

"It is particularly dangerous for the Hazara ethnic minority, which make up most of the asylum seekers. Scores of Hazara have been killed - including many found beheaded - and this is what the Australian Government is seeking to send them back to."

Courageously, up to 1000 Afghan asylum seekers at the Curtin Detention Centre have begun a hunger strike. A group of 300 are protesting with placards and banners reading 'Where are our human rights?', 'Stop playing games with our lives, we want positive outcomes', and 'Protection not detention'.

Socialist Alliance is campaigning in the NSW state elections to have Villawood Detention Centre closed and replaced by an information and processing centre for asylum seekers instead.

“We need to free all the refugees, get rid of this discriminatory mandatory detention system all together and increase the paltry amount of refugees the government lets in,” concluded Roden.

Call Duncan Roden 0431 586 588 for more information