By James Grubel | CANBERRA, Dec 16 09 | Reuters
Australia's offshore immigration detention centre is in breach of human rights and must be closed, Amnesty International said on Wednesday, adding pressure on the government over a policy that may become a key election issue.
Amnesty refugee coordinator Graham Thom has finished a week-long tour of the immigration detention centre on Australia's remote Indian Ocean Territory of Christmas Island and described the conditions there as overcrowded and unacceptable.
"It is not sustainable. You can clearly see the impact it is having on the mental health of those who have been there a long time," Thom told Reuters. His comments intensified pressure on the government over attempts to curb an influx of refugee boats, prompting accusations from its conservative opponents that it is too soft on asylum seekers.
Australia receives a fraction of what the United Nations estimates to be around 15 million refugees globally, but the issue divides Australian voters and has the potential to dent Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's high popularity in opinion polls.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans said Amnesty's criticism was unfounded and stood by Australia's policy of detaining asylum seekers who arrive by boat on Christmas Island -- outside the immigration zone under Australian law.
"Irregular maritime arrivals are receiving fair and humane treatment and Australia is not in breach of its international obligations," Evans said in a statement.
OPPOSITION ATTACKS ON ASYLUM POLICY
More than 60 boats carrying around 2,800 people have been intercepted in Australian waters since late 2008, prompting the opposition to accuse Rudd of undermining border protection.
The next elections in Australia are due in late 2010.
The previous conservative government's tough stand against boat arrivals won widespread support in 2001 and was credited with helping former prime minister John Howard win his final two elections before he lost office to Rudd in late 2007.
Rudd abandoned his predecessor's widely-criticised Pacific Solution, where asylum seekers were sent to detention in the South Pacific nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea while their refugee claims were assessed.
Under Rudd, asylum seekers who arrive in Australian waters by boat are sent to Christmas Island pending examination of the claims. Those who arrive by plane or overstay their visas on the Australian mainland are not detained.
Thom said that policy put Australia in breach of global refugee conventions and the convention on the rights of children, with children and family groups also held in a low-security camp on Christmas Island.
Australia has in recent months held talks with Sri Lanka and Indonesia to stop people smuggling operations through Indonesia and to stem a wave of boat arrivals from Sri Lanka following the end of a quarter century of civil war in that country.
