Australia has defended a sharp drop in the number of Afghan asylum-seekers it has approved as refugees, after the UN demanded an explanation.
The immigration department confirmed approvals have ‘dropped considerably’ but said it was in response to new information received from the war-torn country in February.
Immigration, mainly the rickety boats arriving off Australia's north, has returned as a major issue ahead of national elections on 21 August.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Richard Towle called on Canberra to explain the decline in successful Afghan claims, which he said had plunged in recent months from 'close to 100% (of cases) to what is now well below 30 (percent)'.
He said Australia was sending contradictory messages after freezing visa processing for all newly-arrived Afghan asylum-seekers in April for six months, citing uncertainty about the situation in their country.
‘The two don't sit comfortably together, because the suspension of Afghans (refugees) is essentially, as we understand it, on the basis that not sufficient information is known with certainty about conditions in the country of origin so a pause is required,’ Mr Towle said.
‘And yet, with a very similar group of people, there is sufficient certainty apparently for refusal.’
An immigration spokesman would not comment on suggestions that the shift had been influenced by growing public controversy over the near-daily arrival of boats from Asia.
‘Country conditions and the reporting of this change over time. These shifts will be reflected in assessments of claims,’ he said.
While the UNHCR was a ‘significant and reputable source of information,’ the immigration official said its guidelines were just one of many considerations in Australia's refugee processing system.
Anxious to soothe the conservative vote, both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her challenger Tony Abbott have proposed a return to harsh offshore processing policies if elected next month.
Mr Towle, the UNHCR's representative for Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific, said he did not ‘wish to speculate’ on whether politics had played a part in the sudden reversal in approving Afghans as refugees.
‘UNHCR would not favour a return to anything that resembles the Pacific Solution,’ he said, referring to Mr Abbott's plan to resume locking up asylum-seekers on remote islands such as Nauru.
Mr Towle said it had been difficult to get good support services to people on Nauru, a barren and isolated Pacific territory, where detainees were held for ‘long periods of time without any idea what their future was going to be.’
‘This very rapidly causes, and did cause an erosion of physical and emotional health and that was, I think, one of the most serious outcomes of the Pacific Solution,’ he said.
He also cautioned against any approach that put Australia's interests before that of other nations, though he declined to comment specifically on Ms Gillard's new plans for a regional processing centre.
‘(That) was one of the main objections to the Pacific Solution,’ Mr Towle said.
‘(That it) was essentially a deflection on to another sovereign territory of Australia's obligations under the refugee convention, in a remote place where that state didn't have the resources or experience to undertake assessments for refugee protection.’
