The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said Australia would have breached the UN refugee convention if it had deported over 150 asylum seekers detained at sea, to India, whilst making a submission to the High Court in Australia, reports an Australian news agency.
The court is currently looking the legality of the Australian government’s handling of the incident, when 157 asylum seekers originally fleeing from Sri Lanka were detained on board a boat heading for Australia and kept at sea for 4 weeks.
"Intercepting a refugee in international waters and taking him or her back to the place of persecution would violate the spirit of the refugee convention," the UNHCR submission said, stating that it would have been a case of refoulement, which is prohibited by the convention.
"Australia made no inquiries or assessment as to the circumstances of the plaintiff's departure from Sri Lanka or from India," it said.
"Nor did Australia make an assessment whether India would afford the plaintiff protection from refoulement to Sri Lanka, in circumstances where it was known that India is not a party to the refugee convention."