Australia's immigration problem worsens

By Grant Holloway
CNN.com writer

SYDNEY, Australia -- It hasn't taken long for the gloss and glamor of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games to wear off in Australia. Nowadays when international focus switches to the island continent, it is likely to be because of the nation's growing refugee problem.

On January 14, riots broke out involving more than 180 asylum-seeking detainees in a remote detention center. Using iron bars, rocks and broken chairs the inmates attacked staff and police who were forced to subdue them using pepper spray.

The most recent incident, at Port Hedland in far north west Australia, comes after a mass breakout from another desert camp, Woomera in South Australia, in August last year.

Australia's immigration minister Philip Ruddock blamed the riot on detainees who instigated the Woomera disturbance. They had earlier been moved to Port Hedland, in a bid to defuse tensions at Woomera.

Breaching international law

The incident provoked Ruddock to announce the government would legislate to increase its powers to subdue and deport detainees who rioted. Human rights groups were quick to protest any increase in powers, arguing Australia already breaches international law by imposing mandatory detention sentences on all asylum seekers.

Ruddock maintains the rioters are a hardened criminal element who realise they have no chance of ever gaining asylum in Australia.

The riots, coupled with a recent surge of illegal immigrants and refugees attempting to enter Australia, are creating headaches and embarrassment for the government and immigration authorities.

Middle Eastern connection

Australia is one of the top 10 destinations for illegal immigrants and refugees. The continent's vast, isolated, poorly policed coastline makes it a large, welcoming target for people smugglers.

More than 6,000 illegal immigrants arrived in Australia in the first six months of 2000, mostly from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, double last year's numbers and a 10-fold increase on the early 1990s.

Between December 1, 1999 and January 3, 2001, a total of 61 boats were intercepted off Australia's northern and northwest coasts, carrying nearly 4,000 people from Middle Eastern countries.

To make matters worse, international policing organization Interpol recently warned that Australia was the "most exposed" target country in Southeast Asia for organised people smugglers.

Australia's upsurge in arrivals is believed to be the result of a sophisticated criminal syndicate which charges about 10,000 dollars per person to smuggle them into Australia.

Interpol organized crime specialist Mladen Vulinec was quoted in The Australian newspaper on Monday saying there was clear evidence Chinese criminal gangs called triads were behind the smuggling of Asian nationals into Australia.

Interpol is now concerned the gangs' influence is extending into the Middle East.

Malaysia arrests

On Wednesday the Australian government announced Malaysian police had arrested two key suspects in a major people smuggling ring specialising in moving Middle Eastern refugees into Australia.

Police and immigration authority investigations show most Middle Eastern refugees and illegal immigrants bound for Australia first travel to Malaysia, where Muslims do not require an entry visa. They then move by boat to Java, in Indonesia, then on to Ashmore Reef, the nearest Australian landfall.

If intercepted, as many are, they mostly end up in sparse detention camps such as Port Hedland or Woomera. Once there, it can often take more than six months for a detainee's case to be processed. Some may be held there for years.

Ruddock seeks international support

The Australian Government for its part is determined to stem the flow of unwelcome arrivals.

Minister Ruddock last week visited a number of Middle Eastern countries, including Jordan and Iran, seeking governmental co-operation and support in cracking down on the people smugglers.

The Department of Immigration has also prepared information kits warning of the natural dangers illegal immigrants face should they reach Australian shores - such as sharks and crocodiles - and of the long judicial process and incarceration they must endure.

But the flow is unlikely to be stemmed anytime soon, despite Wednesday's arrests. United Nations sources estimate 30 million people are smuggled between countries each year in a trade estimated to be worth between 12 and 30 billion dollars.

For many criminals people-smuggling is considered more lucrative than the drug business - and few governments would claim to have won that trade war.