UN warns Abbott government boat turnback policy no permanent fix

REDITING the Abbott government's border regime for a drop in the number of asylum-seekers registering in Indonesia is premature, says the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which argues Australia can't work in isolation if it wants a long-term solution.

The number of asylum-seekers registering in Jakarta has fallen from 100 people daily to about 100 people weekly since late December when Australia started turning boats back.
The federal government says it's another sign the military-led border policy is succeeding in deterring asylum-seekers from taking risky boat journeys from Indonesia.

But the UNHCR's senior regional protection adviser Thomas Vargas says it's much too soon to make the link.

“There's no reliable information that connects the drop in registration numbers at the UNHCR with the policy that Australia is implementing,” he told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday.
“The (people) smugglers are not going to go away, they may just find a different way of doing things.
“That's why countries need to work together.

“Unilateral solutions and even bilateral solutions are not going to solve the problem.
“They may solve them in the short-term for some countries, but it's not going to solve the situation in full.” The comments followed a two-day workshop in Jakarta where Indonesia, Australia and 14 other countries discussed the protection of asylum-seekers at sea.

While stressing the workshop was not a finger-pointing exercise, the UNHCR echoed the views of Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa who emphasised sharing — not shifting — responsibility. More than 10,000 refugees and asylum-seekers are in Indonesia, and the boat turnbacks have angered Jakarta.

UNHCR Southeast Asia regional co-ordinator James Lynch says Australia's policy is “commendable” in its aim of stopping people dying at sea.

But when one nation closes its door to asylum-seekers it has reverberations for the region.

“What kind of signal is that sending the rest of the neighbourhood who are in fact, and have provided, some kind of temporary protection?” he said.
“What we would hope is that Australia would, if people enter their territorial waters ... at least allow people to disembark and have access to the asylum system.” The UNHCR remains concerned about Australia processing asylum-seekers on Manus Island, its response to allegations of mistreatment by officials during a boat interception, and its talks with Cambodia about resettling refugees there.
“From our point of view resettlement is looking for durable solutions for refugees,” Mr Vargas said of the Cambodia talks. “A real solution is not to send them to a country that is just recovering from a horrible civil war.”