– Robyn Mudie
….. but no let up in operations against people smugglers
Wednesday, 11th June 2014
At the Operation Sovereign Borders media briefing held at the Taj Samudra,Colombo yesterday.From left Counsellor Nadia Davies, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service Media Director, Matthew Wardell, Australian Immigration Department Regional Director Jose Alvarez and Australian High Commisioner to Sri Lanka Robyn Mudie.
(Pic. by Sujatha Jayarathne)
by Zacki Jabbar
The flow of boats carrying Sri Lankans trying to enter Australia illegally had stopped and it was exactly eight months since the last people smuggling operation was thwarted, the Australian High Commissioner Robyn Mudie said yesterday in Colombo
Addressing the Operation Sovereign Borders (OSB) media briefing at the Taj Samudra, Mudie said that OSB which commenced in September last year, shortly after Tony Abbot was elected Prime Minister, was a tough military-led border security initiative to stop the boats,prevent humans risking their lives at sea in the hands of criminals and to preserve the integrity of Australia’s migration program and national borders.
"The good news is our policies are clearly working. It is exactly eight months today, since any boats organized by people smugglers arrived on Australian shores from Sri Lanka. This is a significant achievement accomplished with the assistance of the authorities in Colombo. We, and look forward to working together to combat one of the most serious and challenging issues facing our region ", she noted adding that people smuggling was an insidious crime which risked lives and threatened the integrity of national borders."
When pointed out that despite the millions of dollars spent on OSB and the flow of boats being stopped, there were no official records of people smugglers being prosecuted and punished for what was considered a heinous crime, the High Commissioner replied that she could not comment on the Sri Lankan legal system,but agreed prosecution would be a deterent to those involved in the business of people smuggling.
Director Media and External Affairs, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, Matthew Wardell said that a Joint Working Group comprising 16 government agencies had worked to make OSB a success and the message was clear "People smugglers have no product to sell and the illegal route to Australia has been closed."
There were some who thought that the OSB would drop its guard, due its success with the Sri Lankan operation, but that was a misconception since they continued to keep a watchful eye on people smugglers who would naturally try other ways of crivumventing the law,he noted.
Minister Counsellor and Regional Director at the Australian Immigration Department, Jose Alvarez said that his government was committed to returning Illegal Maritime Arrivals in Australia to their countries of origin. He explained that in the interim the boat people were detained at Papua New Guinea and Naaru Islands which were independent countries and not part of Australia,as claimed by the operators of the racket.
Alvarez noted that prior to May 26, 2014, the number of illegal Sri Lankan maritime arrivals detained at Christmas Island, mainland Australia, Manus and Nauru had totalled 1441, but most of them had been sent back.
Counsellor at Australian Customs and and Border Protection, Sue Knight said that under their Capacity Building programme many Sri Lankan Navy personnel had been trained in offshore operations in Sydney.
Strategic Communication too played an important role with the Navy, Coast Guard and Police being gelled into an effective unit,she observed.
Senior Liason Officer at the Australian Federal Police, David Evans said that they had provided capacity building to Sri Lanka Police Personnel and had jointly conducted transnational crime investigations into people smuggling, human smuggling, narcotics and money laundering.
Second Secretary at the Australian High Commission in Colombo, Edwina Sinclair said that the two countries had signed an MoU for Legal Cooperation in issues pertaining to People Smuggling. It, involved strengthening prosecution processes, legal training for a group of Sri Lankan prosecutors in Australia and the Bali Process.
Manager of OSB’s Strategic Communication Division Lisa King said that they were responsible specifically for offshore communication which they had been doing for years,but with the establishment of OSB,the process had intensified.
Their anti illegal maritime arrivals operation in Sri Lanka, in the form of advertorial campaigns over the last eighteen months had proved to be very successful, she noted.
From : http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=104888
