ASHLEY HALL: The human rights group Amnesty International has slammed the Federal Government's plan to send asylum seekers to Malaysia for processing. Amnesty has released its annual report today, which is a kind of global score card for the protection of human rights.
The report places special emphasis on the recent protests in the Middle East and North Africa, and the rise of social media. Both, it says, offer an unprecedented opportunity to encourage human rights.
Amnesty's secretary general, Salil Shetty, told Mark Colvin the past year has seen much progress.
SALIL SHETTY: We've had some very high-profile releases of prisoners, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi being the most prominent one. And also many of the issues we have been talking about have got a lot of visibility, with Liu Xiaobo getting the Nobel Peace Prize for his freedom of expression work.
So I think, yes, the biggest bonanza of course has been in the Middle East and North Africa where Amnesty's essential premise that people power is what makes a difference, has manifested itself in full glory.
So I think it has been a veritable human rights revolution, the last 12 months.
MARK COLVIN: Aung San Suu Kyi was released but does anything really change in Burma?
SALIL SHETTY: No, unfortunately not. I mean in the first place we have 2,200 political prisons still living there in jails in very difficult conditions. Just because there's been an election, you know if anything it's made them look a bit more legitimate, the current regime, so the pressure on Burma to see change has to keep on.
And here again the governments in the Asia-Pacific region and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) leaders have a great role to play. I am very pleased that Indonesia has become more vocal and has started raising these questions. But we do expect Australia to play a key role there.
And here I think this does link me a little bit into a specific issue in Australia. We're very happy that there has been announcement that Australia will resettle 4,000, mainly Burmese, refugees in Australia. But we're very concerned about the Australian approach on sending 800 boat people who are trying to seek refuge in Australia to Malaysia. And generally the treatment of asylum seekers in Australia has been problematic I think.
I do want to mention that in this program because this is where, otherwise, we are accused of having double standards. It's very important that the richest countries in the world have a very consistent approach on the weight of human rights issues. Otherwise they are in a very weak position to talk to China about these questions.
MARK COLVIN: Are you saying that Australia is torturing people or locking up people for, prisoners of conscience?
SALIL SHETTY: I'm not saying that. But you know that we are against the mandatory detention of asylum seekers and putting them in the more off-shore locations. Our view is that the Government should process people in the community as soon as of course the initial security and ID checks have been carried out.
I mean we know that there have been riots in the Villawood Detention Centre and Christmas Island, etc, and of course violence is not excusable. But if you lock up people for long periods of time this does cause desperation and mental health problems and we shouldn't allow this to happen.
MARK COLVIN: You know, of course, that the Australian Government is taking 4,000 refugees from Malaysian refugee camps; is that not a fair exchange?
SALIL SHETTY: I started by saying that we welcome the fact and I think that is what triggered the conversation, that many of them are Burmese. I think that's a great arrangement. But we are not in favour of sending 800 people out. And so they are two different things as far as we are concerned.
MARK COLVIN: So Amnesty is in favour of letting all refugees or asylum seekers live in the community, not behind bars?
SALIL SHETTY: There are pretty standard, you know, international human rights principles on this and the standard, the norms, by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, so as long as each case is individually processed and they go through the proper procedure then it's fine. I mean I'm not saying that every country should accept everybody, you know, willy nilly. But there is a process and countries like Australia, developed countries like Australia should play their part.
I mean we're having a much bigger struggle right now in Europe, as you know, with the refugees coming out from the Middle East and North Africa in their thousands, and the treatment in Italy and the linkage with France, etc, you must be following it. It's totally unacceptable, you know, the conditions are very bad. Whereas much poorer countries, like Egypt and Tunisia, have received much larger number of refugees from these countries, so the richest countries do have an extra responsibility.
ASHLEY HALL: The secretary general of Amnesty International, Salil Shetty, speaking there to Mark Colvin. And you can hear more of that conversation on our website later this evening.
The report places special emphasis on the recent protests in the Middle East and North Africa, and the rise of social media. Both, it says, offer an unprecedented opportunity to encourage human rights.
Amnesty's secretary general, Salil Shetty, told Mark Colvin the past year has seen much progress.
SALIL SHETTY: We've had some very high-profile releases of prisoners, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi being the most prominent one. And also many of the issues we have been talking about have got a lot of visibility, with Liu Xiaobo getting the Nobel Peace Prize for his freedom of expression work.
So I think, yes, the biggest bonanza of course has been in the Middle East and North Africa where Amnesty's essential premise that people power is what makes a difference, has manifested itself in full glory.
So I think it has been a veritable human rights revolution, the last 12 months.
MARK COLVIN: Aung San Suu Kyi was released but does anything really change in Burma?
SALIL SHETTY: No, unfortunately not. I mean in the first place we have 2,200 political prisons still living there in jails in very difficult conditions. Just because there's been an election, you know if anything it's made them look a bit more legitimate, the current regime, so the pressure on Burma to see change has to keep on.
And here again the governments in the Asia-Pacific region and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) leaders have a great role to play. I am very pleased that Indonesia has become more vocal and has started raising these questions. But we do expect Australia to play a key role there.
And here I think this does link me a little bit into a specific issue in Australia. We're very happy that there has been announcement that Australia will resettle 4,000, mainly Burmese, refugees in Australia. But we're very concerned about the Australian approach on sending 800 boat people who are trying to seek refuge in Australia to Malaysia. And generally the treatment of asylum seekers in Australia has been problematic I think.
I do want to mention that in this program because this is where, otherwise, we are accused of having double standards. It's very important that the richest countries in the world have a very consistent approach on the weight of human rights issues. Otherwise they are in a very weak position to talk to China about these questions.
MARK COLVIN: Are you saying that Australia is torturing people or locking up people for, prisoners of conscience?
SALIL SHETTY: I'm not saying that. But you know that we are against the mandatory detention of asylum seekers and putting them in the more off-shore locations. Our view is that the Government should process people in the community as soon as of course the initial security and ID checks have been carried out.
I mean we know that there have been riots in the Villawood Detention Centre and Christmas Island, etc, and of course violence is not excusable. But if you lock up people for long periods of time this does cause desperation and mental health problems and we shouldn't allow this to happen.
MARK COLVIN: You know, of course, that the Australian Government is taking 4,000 refugees from Malaysian refugee camps; is that not a fair exchange?
SALIL SHETTY: I started by saying that we welcome the fact and I think that is what triggered the conversation, that many of them are Burmese. I think that's a great arrangement. But we are not in favour of sending 800 people out. And so they are two different things as far as we are concerned.
MARK COLVIN: So Amnesty is in favour of letting all refugees or asylum seekers live in the community, not behind bars?
SALIL SHETTY: There are pretty standard, you know, international human rights principles on this and the standard, the norms, by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, so as long as each case is individually processed and they go through the proper procedure then it's fine. I mean I'm not saying that every country should accept everybody, you know, willy nilly. But there is a process and countries like Australia, developed countries like Australia should play their part.
I mean we're having a much bigger struggle right now in Europe, as you know, with the refugees coming out from the Middle East and North Africa in their thousands, and the treatment in Italy and the linkage with France, etc, you must be following it. It's totally unacceptable, you know, the conditions are very bad. Whereas much poorer countries, like Egypt and Tunisia, have received much larger number of refugees from these countries, so the richest countries do have an extra responsibility.
ASHLEY HALL: The secretary general of Amnesty International, Salil Shetty, speaking there to Mark Colvin. And you can hear more of that conversation on our website later this evening.
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