Focus on Australia

The Centre for Policy Development (CPD) has just released A New Approach: Breaking the Stalemate on Refugees & Asylum Seekers, a report "which comprehensively critiques Australia's refugee and asylum policies and finds they are inhumane, ineffective and expensive."

Other recent items relating to Australia include:

• Asylum Seekers and Refugees: What Are the Facts? (Australia, Parliamentary Library, updated July 2011) [text]
• Tampa: Ten Years on (FlagPost, Aug. 2011) [text via BROCAP]
• UNHCR-IDC Expert Roundtable on Alternatives to Detention, Canberra, 9-10 June 2011 [co-chair statement] [summary report]

In addition, here is an update on the status of the Australia-Malaysia refugee agreement:

The deal was signed:

• Arrangement between the Government of Australia and the Government of Malaysia on Transfer and Resettlement (25 July 2011) [text]
• Operational Guidelines to Support Transfers and Resettlement (Govt. of Australia, July 2011) [text]

Commented on:

• Australia, Malaysia: Refugee Swap Fails Protection Standards (Human Rights Watch, July 2011) [text]
• A Dangerous Trend: Violating the Asylum Principle (Refugees International, July 2011) [text]
• UNHCR Statement on the Australia-Malaysia Arrangement (UNHCR, July 2011) [text]

And then suspended:

• Injunction against the Government’s Malaysian 'Arrangement' (Castan Centre for Human Rights Law's Blog, Aug. 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.