The Australian government, Monday, confirmed that 41 asylum seekers had been handed over to Sri Lankan authorities, reports abc news.
A statement made by the Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison, confirmed that one of the two boats had been intercepted west of the Cocos islands carried 37 Sinhalese and four Tamils on board.
Morrison said that the passengers were scanned by teleconference and handed back to the Sri Lanka navy, adding that the people on boats were ‘safe and accounted for.’
The Greens party spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young criticised the Australian screening process.
"A telephone conference of four questions - really, if it wasn't so serious, if it wasn't about life and death, it'd be laughable," she said.
The Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul criticised the Government's screening processes as not adequate.
"You've handed people who are fleeing persecution in Sri Lanka back to the Sri Lankan government," Rintoul said.
"It's a complete violation of their human rights and the refugee convention.Those people should have been brought to Australia and had their claims properly assessed and settled in Australia if they were found to be refugees,” he added.
An official statement regarding the second boat that was reported to be near Christmas Island is still awaited upon.
Asylum seekers have already been tortured by Sri Lankan forces (04 July 2014)
A statement made by the Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison, confirmed that one of the two boats had been intercepted west of the Cocos islands carried 37 Sinhalese and four Tamils on board.
Morrison said that the passengers were scanned by teleconference and handed back to the Sri Lanka navy, adding that the people on boats were ‘safe and accounted for.’
The Greens party spokeswoman, Sarah Hanson-Young criticised the Australian screening process.
"A telephone conference of four questions - really, if it wasn't so serious, if it wasn't about life and death, it'd be laughable," she said.
The Refugee Action Coalition's Ian Rintoul criticised the Government's screening processes as not adequate.
"You've handed people who are fleeing persecution in Sri Lanka back to the Sri Lankan government," Rintoul said.
"It's a complete violation of their human rights and the refugee convention.Those people should have been brought to Australia and had their claims properly assessed and settled in Australia if they were found to be refugees,” he added.
An official statement regarding the second boat that was reported to be near Christmas Island is still awaited upon.
Asylum seekers have already been tortured by Sri Lankan forces (04 July 2014)