Media release
Biloela family deportation facilitated by commercial entities profiting from human rights abuses
The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) is once again calling on commercial airline providers to the Department of Home Affairs to refuse participation in involuntary transportation activity with regard to the deportation of Tamil family from Biloela: Priya, Nades and their two Australian-born children.
Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran, Director of Human Rights at the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) said:
“Skytraders, a private charter company, could be implicated in human rights abuses by facilitating the will of the Department of Home Affairs and forcibly transporting Priya, Nades and their two young children from Melbourne to Darwin.
“Forcefully deporting this family to Sri Lanka, which is well known for its ongoing persecution of Tamil people, could also have very serious human rights consequences.
“Skytraders is currently failing to uphold its responsibility under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to respect human rights in their operations and services.
“While Qantas and Virgin may not have been directly implicated in the traumatic sequence of events last night, which involved young children forcefully separated from their mother by Australian government officials, their contracts with the Department of Home Affairs expose them to the possibility of being called on to do this in future.
“Mechanisms for assessing asylum claims in Australia have been criticised by numerous international and domestic human rights authorities and cannot be relied upon by companies as sufficient to protect people’s human rights.
“We call on all commercial service providers to the Department of Home Affairs to refuse to participate in forcible transfer activity, consistent with their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.”
