VOA标准英语2010-Australia Faces Backlash Over Freeze on A

Australian Customs officers lower their life boat with Sri Lankan refugees on board as the refugees are transported from Oceanic Viking, an Australian Customs Service patrol ship, to an Australian-funded detention¹ center in Tanjung Pinang, off the coast of Kijang, on the Indonesian Island of Bintan (file photo)

Australia could face legal action over its decision to suspend processing asylum² claims from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. The government says that security in both countries is improving and asylum seekers are increasingly being sent home.

 

Australia's Labor³ government says Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have become more secure in recent months. As a result, asylum applications from those countries will now be frozen for up to six months.

The move will not affect asylum seekers currently in Australia but will apply to new arrivals. And it will not affect those coming from other countries.

Refugee advocates are considering taking the government to court, arguing the decision violates Australia's international obligations.

Human Rights Commissioner⁴ Cathy Branson is among them.

"We think there's a real risk that it is discriminating⁵ against groups of people based on their country of origin," Branson said. "The Australian Human Rights Commission is fearful that it will lead to breaches⁶ of Australia's international human rights obligations. In particular our obligation under the Refuges Convention not to treat groups of people differently based on their country of origin and our general obligation not to discriminate⁷."

Since Kevin Rudd's government took office in 2007, more than 100 boats carrying illegal migrants have arrived in Australian waters. Afghans and Sri Lankans make up more than half of them.

The freeze on new asylum applications from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan accompanies new measures to combat the criminal gangs that traffic illegal immigrants to Australia.

Prominent refugee lawyer David Mann thinks the freeze will not cut the number of boatpeople heading to Australia.

"It's not an effective mechanism⁸ in relation to people who, at the end of the day, are fleeing from brutality⁹ to save their lives," Mann said. "This strategy in so far as it is designed to avoid obligations currently owed, flies in the face of our obligations, our international obligations, to properly assess refugee claims at the time they're made."

Sam Pari from the National Tamil Congress, an organization of Tamil immigrants in Australia, says freezing asylum applications will not deter¹⁰ those desperate to escape mistreatment in Sri Lanka.

"They obviously would rather live in their own land, live in their country of birth and live with their family in a place that they call home," said Pari. "So for them, these changes, these announcements, make very little difference because when they do choose to flee Sri Lanka on a boat to a foreign land it's because they have resorted to the last option that they have. And I don't think such announcements will make a difference when someone is trying to save their own life."

The Australian government says it is putting a hold the processing of refugee claims by Afghan and Sri Lankan migrants until the United Nations completes new asylum protection guidelines for both countries.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans says improving security in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka is likely to result in more asylum seekers being repatriated¹¹ in the future.

"Evolving country information from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan is likely to have a significant effect on the outcome of assessments¹² as to whether asylum seekers have a well founded fear of persecution¹³ within the meaning of the refugees' convention," Evans said. "The likelihood of people being refused visas and being returned safely to their homelands will increase. The government will review the situation in Sri Lanka after a period of three months and in Afghanistan after a period of six months."

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says recent elections in Sri Lanka are signs that the nation is stabilizing¹⁴ following the end of a long civil war.

Smith thinks that Afghanistan too is becoming less hostile for minority groups that had previously¹⁵ suffered discrimination.

"There was a time, indeed until quite recently there was a time when if you were an Afghan Hazara then you almost automatically fell within the provisions of the refugee convention," said Smith. "With the fall of the Taliban, with better security in parts of Afghanistan, with constitutional and legal change and reform, it is not now automatically the case that just because you are an Hazara Afghan that you automatically fall within the provisions of the convention."

Australia's conservative opposition¹⁶ accuses the government of losing control of the country's borders through more relaxed immigration rules, a charge the government denies. Some political analysts¹⁷ say it is possible the Labor government decided¹⁸ on the freeze to remove the sensitive issue of illegal immigration ahead of a federal election due later this year.

Australia annually¹⁹ takes in more than 10,000 refugees a year through international humanitarian²⁰ programs.

 

1 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

2 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

5 discriminating   

a.有辨别能力的

参考例句：

• Due caution should be exercised in discriminating between the two. 在区别这两者时应该相当谨慎。
• Many businesses are accused of discriminating against women. 许多企业被控有歧视妇女的做法。

6 breaches   

破坏( breach的名词复数 )； 破裂； 缺口； 违背

参考例句：

• He imposed heavy penalties for breaches of oath or pledges. 他对违反誓言和保证的行为给予严厉的惩罚。
• This renders all breaches of morality before marriage very uncommon. 这样一来，婚前败坏道德的事就少见了。

7 discriminate   

v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待

参考例句：

• You must learn to discriminate between facts and opinions.你必须学会把事实和看法区分出来。
• They can discriminate hundreds of colours.他们能分辨上百种颜色。

8 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

9 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

10 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

11 repatriated   

v.把（某人）遣送回国，遣返( repatriate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The refugees were forcibly repatriated. 难民被强制遣送回国。
• Ancient artworks were repatriated from the US to Greece. 古代艺术品从美国遣送回希腊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 assessments   

n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价

参考例句：

• He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句

13 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

14 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

15 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

16 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

17 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

18 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

19 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

20 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。