Amnesty international, a human rights organization, has released a report entitled "By hook or by crook". Documented between 2013 and 2015, the report finds the Australian government to be bribing crew members to disembark the passengers away from Australia. The report entails personal accounts from asylum-seekers, crew members, and the Indonesian police. The abuse evinced in the report show Australian officials intercepting a boat, boarded by asylum-seekers, and the transaction of $32,000 and maps for the destination to be directed to Indonesia. Amnesty International was able to interview the six crew members who were arrested for people smuggling, and learned that they had been directly told to land on Rote Island. In the report, an incident occurred in May where the Australian officials …show more content…
The cells were said to be cramped and without air conditioning. On the ship,
"... a number of people developed health problems. One woman said that she fainted three times from the heat and the stress, hitting her head on one occasion. An Australian doctor examined her but said he did not have permission to give her medicine. Another woman who has blood pressure problems claims that she was not allowed to take her own medicine, which had been taken away from her by the Australians. Similarly, a man who suffers from asthma said that he was not permitted to access his inhaler, which had been confiscated, and he suffered asthma attacks while confined to the cell."
Amnesty International condemns the actions of the Australian officials and remarks that people smuggling is a transnational crime per international law which penalizes the smugglers, not the asylum-seekers.
Further, Australia violated the legal principle of non-refoulement