Australia and US to swap refugees

Source: BBC News

Australia and the United States have announced a plan to swap up to 200 asylum seekers every year.

Migrants held by the US in Guantanamo Bay will be resettled in Australia, while Canberra will send people held in its offshore detention camps to the US.

The move is aimed at deterring would-be refugees by preventing them from reaching their destination of choice.





Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6566619.stm

Those poor people.

How about we send you John howard and you send us dubya....

no, wait....

we both loose...

Who thought up this numbnuts idea to swap refugees anway???

another country. They are not terrorists!




........The first asylum seekers to be exchanged are likely to be 83 Sri Lankans and eight Burmese who are being held in Australia's off-shore detention centre on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru.

If they qualify as genuine refugees, they could soon be resettled somewhere in the US.

In return, the Americans will be allowed to send Cuban and Haitian detainees held at Guantanamo Bay (the naval base housing asylum seekers, rather than the prison) to Australia.

John Howard
Mr Howard insisted the plan would deter illegal migrants
Both Canberra and Washington insist the move will deter illegal migrants

sounds like a shell game with human beings.....

put them further away from home, get em muddled up and then hope they just give up and say they want to go home.

pathetic, but i didnt really expect anything else from these 2 clowns.

the way refugees are treated is utterly deplorable. These aren't immigrants who decided to migrate to another country to line their pocketbooks, refugees, by UN definition are victims of war, genocide, torture, and other crimes against humanity. It's time for governments to stand up and begin doing all they can to help these survivors, rather than shuffling them around.

This has got to be some mistake by a reporter, right? This seriously doesn't make a whole lot of sense. First of all, if they are true refugees or asylum seekers, I wonder if they really care if it's US or Australia they get to?(well, ruling out family reasons)....

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me...

SYDNEY (AFP) - An agreement between the United States and Australia to swap refugees held in offshore detention centres breaks international law, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

The exchange would involve genuine refugees held by Australia on the remote Pacific island of Nauru and those held by the United States at its naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

"Refugees are human beings, not products that countries can broker and trade," said Bill Frelick, refugee policy director for the US-based rights group.

"The United States and Australia have signed a deal that bargains with lives and flouts international law."

more;
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070419/pl_afp/australiausimmigrationrefugees_070419060802