Yearbook 2016
Australia. The Australian Supreme Court announced in
February that the country's refugee management, with the
custody of asylum seekers in third countries, does not
violate the law. Since 2013, no asylum seekers have been
allowed to come to Australia by sea. Those who refuse to
return are instead sent to the island nation of Nauru or to
the island of Manus, which belongs to Papua New Guinea.
There, the refugees are interned in camps for which
Australia pays. The judgment was seen as a guide for just
over 260 asylum seekers who had fled the islands to receive
care in Australia and who, in connection with the decision,
risked being sent back. The ruling received criticism from
the UN and sparked protests throughout Australia.
 According
to
countryaah, the Australian Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
in March decided to raise the threat level to the World
Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef along Australia's
northeastern coast to disaster mode, after it was found that
large parts of the reef's coral were subjected to extensive
bleaching. According to researchers, half of the Great
Barrier Reef were already "dead or dying". Behind the
bleaching was unusually high water temperatures of up to 33
degrees, which were assumed to be due to global warming.
Marine life in the reef had decreased significantly, which
risked disrupting the ecosystem.
A study by the Reuters news agency made clear in April
that the number of firearms murders in Australia has dropped
by 72% over the past 20 years. In 1996, the country's gun
laws were tightened and over one million weapons were seized
or bought back by the authorities. The analysis was based on
figures from the Australian Statistics Office.
The same month, Papua New Guinea's Supreme Court ruled
that the Australian refugee camp on the island of Manus must
be closed as the internment violated the country's
constitution. According to AFP News Agency, Australian
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the decision did not
mean the government would change its migration policy.
"People who illegally tried to get to Australia by boat and
who are now at the facility in Manus will not be placed in
Australia," Dutton told AFP.
In May, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a new
election several months in advance, since the Senate for the
second time in a row said no to a bill. In the election,
held on July 2, the ruling coalition with the Liberal Party
and the National Party, whose parliamentary seats, however,
decreased from 90 to 76 out of all 150. The opposition Labor
Party increased its mandate from 55 to 69. Of the country's
voting, around 90% voted voted.
In the same month, many people were shaken when public
service company ABC revealed how young perpetrators admitted
to an institution in the town of Darwin in Northern
Territory for several years had been subjected to abuse and
abuse of staff. Among other things, video clips were shown
on a 17-year-old boy, who with a disguised upper body and
hood for his face was left chained in a chair. In other
clips, staff sprayed tear gas at young people, while filming
and laughing at the interns who shouted that they could not
breathe. Of those who live at the facility, many are
Aboriginal people, whereupon human rights organizations drew
attention to how the indigenous people of the country are
treated.
Another scandal got attention during the summer when The
Guardian magazine published over 2,000 leaked documents with
incident reports, written by employees at the refugee camp
in Nauru. The documents testified about abuse and
mistreatment of refugees, of which more than half were about
children. The reports describing various abuses, such as
sexual abuse of children and children with self-harm
behavior, confirmed the picture that Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch reported in a publication a week
earlier. “We saw about the same thing in our investigation.
The data is horrible and completely disgusting, ”said a
spokesman for Amnesty in Sweden. From the Australian
Department of Migration, the statement stated that the
information was unconfirmed but that it would be
investigated.
In New South Wales, authorities announced in October that
the number of shark traps on the state's coast would be
increased from 15 to 100. The decision was made after a
17-year-old surfer was taken to hospital the same month
after being bitten in the hip by a shark. So far, five of
all nine attacks this year had occurred in New South Wales,
where most of the country's shark attacks occur. Last year,
14 people were attacked by sharks in the area, which was a
sharp increase from the year before when the number of
victims was three. As soon as a shark was caught in a trap
it would be labeled with ultrasound transmitters, after
which the movements of the sharks can be tracked through
special websites and apps.
In November, Australia signed an agreement with the
United States that boat refugees from the Manus and Nauru
camps should be offered residence in the United States. The
agreement would apply to asylum seekers who were at the
facilities, but not future refugees. According to the
Reuters news agency, there were 1,200 people interned in the
islands, many of whom had been held there for more than
three years. The deal was concluded with President Barack
Obama's administration.
In December, Australia signed a new agreement with the
United States, which meant that the US Air Force would
deploy its most advanced F-22 fighter aircraft in Northern
Australia. The decision was seen as a mark against China,
which has rapidly strengthened its military position in
recent years.
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