[Greens-Media] Returned to torture and death: Greens push for an end to forced Afghan repatriation

[Schultz-Byard, Noah (Sen S. Hanson-Young)]

MEDIA RELEASE

Monday, 13 October 2014

Returned to torture and death: Greens push for an end to forced Afghan repatriation

The Australian Greens will move a motion in the Parliament calling for a moratorium on forced refugee returns to Afghanistan and asking for a team of experts to be deployed on a fact-finding mission, after disturbing revelations surfaced that Hazara men have been tortured and killed by the Taliban in recent weeks.

"We're fighting extremism in Iraq while forcing refugees into the arms of the Taliban in Afghanistan. It just doesn't make sense," the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"I have very little faith in the government's internal investigation and that's why I'll be moving a motion in the Parliament, calling for an immediate end to all forced Afghan deportations.

"Mistakes have been made and they have had disastrous consequences. Rather than learning from those mistakes, the Abbott government is continuing to make them and that's incredibly dangerous."

Revelations that the government is planning to deport at least seven more Afghan Hazaras have prompted the Greens to also call for a delegation of DFAT officials to be sent to Afghanistan, to investigate the situation there.

The Greens' motion will ask that the delegation create a written report on the situation in Afghanistan, that would then be tabled in Parliament.

"A genuine fact-finding mission will expose the truth behind this cruel and dangerous practice of forced returns to Afghanistan," Senator Hanson-Young said.

"These dangerous deportations must come to an end."


Media Contact: Noah Schultz-Byard 0427 604 760


NOAH SCHULTZ-BYARD  STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER

OFFICE OF SENATOR SARAH HANSON-YOUNG
AUSTRALIAN GREENS SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
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