By IPS Correspondents
SYDNEY, Nov 9 1995 (IPS)

A coalition of Christian groups has put the Australian government in an awkward situation by offering sanctuary to more than 1,000 East Timorese refugees to prevent their deportation.

“If all avenues of appeal (have been) exhausted, our group faces a higher moral obligation to consider the offer of sanctuary to East Timorese resisting deportation,” the Christian Sanctuary Network (CSN) said in a statement this week.

The group, which has offered to keep the refugees in churches, monasteries and other sacred sites, said the situation in predominantly Catholic East Timor and Canberra’s position on the refugee issue called for an “appropriate Christian response”.

The government last month told the Refugee Review Tribunal the 1,350 East Timorese seeking refuge here are Portuguese citizens and thus cannot be given refugee status in Australia.

“Given that Australia has vehemently opposed Portugal’s claim to be able to represent the East Timorese in the International Court of Justice, the protestation that these people are Portuguese citizens is clearly hypocritical,” said the CSN, which was formed especially to help the refugees.

But Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans described the CSN’s move as “wildly premature”. In an ABC radio interview, he said: “We have a process of refugee status determination… which is only just beginning and is going to take many months to resolve, and nobody should assume any particular outcome.”

Indonesia has warned that an Australian government decision to grant asylum to the East Timorese would threaten their diplomatic and trade relations.

Many of the refugees currently being assessed by immigration officials arrived late 1994 and early 1995 on tourist visas. Eighteen of them, including a baby less than a year old, reached Australia by boat in May.

A government spokesperson said the assessment process has been put on hold while the Immigration Department sought legal advice on the issues of nationality and its effect on refugee law, to help evaluate each applicant’s standing under Australia, Portuguese and international law.

Each case would be studied individually, said the spokesperson, who did not say how long the assessment process would take. Refugee status applications denied by the Department can be brought before the Refugee Review Tribunal. If they are again rejected, applicants may take their case to court.

Agio Pereira, executive director of the East Timor Relief Association, called the CSN’s move “courageous” because “the Church usually tends to prefer to stay away from controversial issues of this magnitude”.

He said the refugees are “the meat in the sandwich between Australia and Indonesia” and accused the Australian government of being very opportunistic and not understanding the situation in East Timor.

CSN coordinator Kathleen O’Connor, a Josephite sister, admits offering sanctuary, while firmly rooted in Christian tradition and theology, does not have a legal basis. But she said members of the group were prepared to go to jail to protect the refugees.

She said the CSN wanted to show the East Timorese people that Australia recognised its moral obligation to them, to challenge the government’s moral stance, and to encourage debate on moral and social aspects of the East Timor issue rather than just the economic and political concerns currently being debated.

O’Connor said Australia has a moral duty to the people of East Timor, especially as 40,000 East Timorese died protecting Australian troops during World War II.

The former Portuguese colony was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and annexed the following year, but the United Nations does not recognise Jakarta’s sovereignty over East Timor.

The CSN says Australia is the obvious choice for East Timorese seeking refugee status because of its proximity to the territory and their close community and cultural links.

But Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating made his position clear in a radio interview last month: while Australia recognises Indonesia’s annexation of East Timor, it considers East Timorese Portuguese citizens and thus not eligible for refugee status.

He disagreed with the interviewer’s view that Australia should have done more for East Timor during the invasion and owed a debt to them now.

Keating pointed out that there was a civil war in East Timor 20 years ago and, if it had gone to a free vote, the people would have voted for incorporation of East Timor into Indonesia.

He said Australia could not risk hurting its relations with Indonesia over East Timor. He said he pushes East Timor’s case whenever he gets to speak to Indonesian President Suharto, but added: “We can’t have a phoney campaign about refugee status for people who enjoy Portuguese citizenship.”

Portugal says Indonesia’s invasion blocked East Timor’s move towards independence and prevented Portugal from completing the process of decolonisation.

A spokesperson for the Portuguese embassy in Australia says East Timorese with documentary proof that they are in fact East Timorese are considered Portuguese citizens and can enjoy Portuguese protection.

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