The agreement reveals the resolve of Australia and Malaysia to destroy the people smugglers' business model, halt them profiting from human misery, as well as prevent individuals taking a chance on their lives sailing.
The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen MP, and Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs, Dato' Seri Hishammuddin bin Tun Hussein, agreed upon the agreement paperwork in a formal ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.
The understanding offers the transfer from Australia to Malaysia up to 800 irregular ocean going arrivals and formalises Australia's persistence to accept 1000 added legitimate refugees from Malaysia yearly for the next 4 years. This will increase Australia's over-all annual humanitarian intake to 14 750 places.
It is a bold and innovative program in between two countries that have a long-standing and powerful accommodating relationship.
From now on, 800 individuals turning up in Australia by yacht is definately not processed in Australia. They may alternatively be taken to Malaysia where they're going to have to wait patiently along with above 90 000 some other asylum seekers regarding claims to be determined.
However, an extra 4000 people considered by UNHCR to be most in need of resettlement will be given the opportunity to start up new lives in Australia.
The arrangement reaffirms Malaysia's commitment that transferees will be given dignity and respect in agreement with human rights criteria, that it will respect the principle of non-refoulement, the key tenet of the Refugee Convention, and that asylum claims will be considered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The transport system involving Australia and Malaysia also offers that:
*Arrivals will be subject to pre-transfer exams to be certain fitness and appropriateness for exchange, in addition to standard biometric evaluating. *Transferees will be legitimate in Malaysia and provided with exemption under the Malaysian Immigration Act and Passports Act. *Transferees will be initially accommodated in a transit center in Malaysia for up to 45 days, with aid from the UNHCR plus the International Organization for Migration. *Following original processing, transferees will move into the community, with work rights, access to education and health care. *Transferees will receive no preferential treatment in the handling with their claims or plans for resettlement over other asylum seekers in Malaysia.
The UNHCR has been closely spoken on the transfer strategy, and both UNHCR and the IOM will play a crucial role in the implementation.
Oversight and advisory committees, such as agents from Australia, Malaysia, UNHCR, IOM and others, will offer on-going suggestions to both governing bodies on day-to-day management of the design and also continuous wellbeing of transferees.
Within the arrangement signed, those people that came to Australia before 25 July aren't going to be moved to Malaysia. For that reason, the people who showed up earlier than announcement date, currently being detained on Christmas Island, will be processed in Australia.
Malaysia is a key regional partner in the Bali Process and this contract offers a substantial move under the Regional Alliance Structure started at the Bali Process Ministerial Conference in March 2011.
Immigration lawyer in Sydney Christopher Levingston however is not happy by this measurement. He says that this will weaken the Australian public's confidence that Australia can process and assess asylum claims on it's won. He further states that transfering asylum seekers to Malaysia cannot be a solution when there are troubles over Malaysia's bad reports of Human Rights exploitation on its own people.