Australia’s church leaders say asylum policy is ‘child abuse’

A group of prominent religious leaders in Australia has accused the country’s government of "state-sanctioned child abuse" by means of its tough border security measures aimed at deterring migrant boats.

In a report released Wednesday, the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce blasted the policy over its treatment of minors, accusing Immigration Minister Scott Morrison of forsaking his duty of care to the young.

The criticism follows the plight of around 50 children said to be among the 157 Sri Lankan detainees from India who were held at sea for almost a month before being transported to a detention facility in Western Australia on Sunday and Monday.

The asylum seekers were the first to reach Australian shores by boat since December, testing the conservative government's contested policy of turning back boats carrying potential refugees. Others have been prevented from reaching the mainland and transported to centers on islands nations Papua New Guinea and Nauru, where they face long periods of detention and may eventually be resettled.

The task force called for a royal commission into the plight of child migrants who suffer “terrible” abuse before being “dumped” offshore.

It also called on Morrison to renounce his legal position of guardian of all unaccompanied minors.

"The minister forsakes his guardianship duties when he sends unaccompanied children to the detention camp in Nauru," the report said.

Some two dozen people on the boat have been traced to refugee camps in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, according to the Organization for Eelam Refugees' Rehabilitation, a group that works with Tamil refugees who fled to India during the Sri Lankan civil war.

Coinciding with the report, an Australian senator on Wednesday accused the government of trying to whitewash its hard-line asylum seeker policies by blocking access to the Curtin detention center, where the Sri Lankans are being held.

"This is a political move by the immigration minister. What is he hiding? What doesn't he want me to see?" said Greens party Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young after being refused access to the center.

"I have been there a number of times. I know what it looks like inside. I wanted to speak to the new asylum seekers who are being detained there," she told reporters.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's conservative government has boasted of its success in deterring asylum seekers and says that the policies are needed to save lives at sea and to protect Australian sovereignty.

Meanwhile, Morrison said on Monday that he was confident the intercepted immigrants were economic migrants and not entitled to asylum.

"These people have come from a safe country of India. They haven't come from Sri Lanka," he told ABC radio.

"If we can't take people back to India, what is next? New Zealand? India are a vibrant democracy, they are a good partner, they're working closely with us."

India has agreed to take back any of its nationals among the group, and its consular officials were due to begin interviewing them Monday.

A plan to give Indian consular officials access to the camp to secure India's cooperation in repatriating the migrants has been a source of criticism, and Australia’s High Court indicated earlier this week that it would be open to hearing a legal challenge.

Human rights lawyers had earlier begun legal action in the High Court to stop the refugees from being sent to Sri Lanka and disputed the government's right to assess claims while asylum seekers are at sea. It dropped the case after the refugees were transported to the detention center in Western Australia.

Wire services