Jeff Thompson
Scores of refugees held in detention across Australia continue to find themselves caught in limbo.
Despite their very many different stories and backgrounds, the almost 5,000 people currently held in Australia's immigration detention centres have one thing in common - uncertain futures.
About 40 of that number are in limbo, with no prospect of being released in the foreseeable future.
That is because they have been found to be legitimate refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees but they have also been declared security risks by ASIO and so will not be released from detention.
They have been given no reasons for being deemed a security risk and are therefore unable to dispute it.
The Government says it is searching for third countries where negatively assessed refugees can be sent, but no solution is on the horizon.
Razamiya says he is an ethnic Rohingyan who escaped from Burma to Bangladesh and then to Malaysia where the UNHCR recognised him as a refugee.
He travelled to Australia by boat and landed at Christmas Island on November 9, 2009. He has spent almost two years in detention in Australia - first in Darwin and now in Sydney's Villawood.
On September 22 this year, he was told that ASIO had declared him a security risk.
"I don't know why. This why I [am] very upset, very, very upset. I do something anyway, I can find [out what], I can know. I did not do anyway, anything, any wrong," he said.
He says he has not been told why his security assessment is negative, and he does not know what will happen next.
"I call my case manager, I ask. He say [in your] country you have family, you have friends. You give contact. He give you a sponsor, you can go to that country," Razamiya said.
"[He says] I can send [you] to Burma... [but] I cannot go back to Burma, [I would] be killed."
Rahavan Yogachandran is also in the Villawood detention centre.
He lives in a house within the compound along with his wife and three children - all aged under seven.
He has been in Australian immigration detention since mid-2009 and was joined later that year by his family, who were brought to Australia after being rescued at sea with the help of the Australian customs ship the Oceanic Viking.
'Life is freedom'
His says their life is comfortable - but horrible.
"It is a really hard life, you know that. It is really hard. We are provided everything. We have a fridge and washing machine and TVs. That is material," he said.
"That is like a body, the body cannot function without a life. Life is freedom, you know that."
Rahavan Yogachandran and his family are being represented by lawyer Stephen Blanks, who is also secretary of the Council for Civil Liberties.
"They've exhausted all legal options. There is no prospect of taking any case in the courts in Australia," Mr Blanks said.
"The official position of the Government is that they are trying to find a third country for resettlement but they've been doing that as a matter of priority since February 2010 and that is just not realistic.
"We haven't been informed of any actual efforts that have been made and our understanding is that there is realistic prospect of resettlement in a third country."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship said the migration regulations do not allow a protection visa to be granted to individuals who are the subject of an adverse security assessment.
She said that when an adverse finding is made the department will examine long-term and sustainable outcomes for that person consistent with Australia's international obligations, including resettlement in third countries.
The spokeswoman said that resolution of these cases is complex and will take some considerable time given the significance of an adverse security assessment.
Source : http://www.abc.net.au
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