Sydney - Criticism of Australia’s hard stance against migrants flared up after a riot at an offshore detention centre at the weekend made headlines.
More than 250 famous Australians signed a petition to close the centres at Nauru and Manus Island in the Pacific, calling them inhumane, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Petitioners included actor Jack Thompson, playwright David Williamson, cricketer Ian Chappell, filmmaker Gillian Armstrong and authors Peter Carey, Tim Winton and Thomas Keneally.
Australia had to fly extra police to another detention centre on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday to quell a riot that broke out Sunday.
Hours before the celebrities’ petition was handed to parliament in Canberra, an Australian delegation to a UN human rights forum in Geneva was being lambasted over the treatment of asylum seekers.
Germany, France, Spain, Brazil, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden and Bangladesh called on Australia to relax or end its “stop the boats” policy, implemented under former premier Tony Abbott.
Under the policy, officials intercept all migrants travelling by sea, and either turn them back or processes their asylum claim offshore.
The critics at the UN forum also said children and their families should be released from the centres, as well as individuals who had suffered torture and trauma.
Australia’s delegation said the policy had saved “countless lives at sea” by discouraging would-be migrants from making the dangerous journey.
In Canberra, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton described the UN forum as a “farce,” pointing out with heavy irony that even that “bastion of human rights” North Korea had expressed concern over the refugees’ treatment.
Around 700 men, women and children are being held on Nauru, and about 800 men on Manus Island off Papua New Guinea, many for several years.
Some members of the opposition Labor Party called for their party to drop its support for the offshore centres. After negotiation, the party ended up maintaining its overall position, but committing to ensure human rights and independent oversight at the centres.
DPA