Sir,
Our Australian firm has acted for many hundreds of Sikhs who have lodged “Refugee
Applications” with our Government, Unfortunately, most are unsuccessful. From a recent letter from Amnesty International, our problem can be seen: “For you in formation Amnesty International is aware that it is the opinion of the Department of Immigration that Sikhs can return safely to other parts of India outside of the Punjab” a statement Sikhs would regard as outrageous.
Due to changes to our laws, a logjam resulted with few applications being processed in the past 18 months or so, but now our clients are being interviewed and. twill not be many months before many will be in receipt of a leer of rejection.
There are avenues of appeal, but i hold little hope without some stronger material than that available to us at this time. We have noted that several successes with US. Refugee Applications have been noted in your paper.
I wonder if there is any material in these cases that can be used for Sikhs sacking refuge in Australia. Whilst our authorities may not accept the precedents of US/ Canada cases, never the less the concept of a precedent that has, been recognized in English speaking countries could be the Ming point in marginal cases.
Without breaching client confidentiality, I would appreciate hearing from any fellow advocates who could supply favorable material for me to add to my case documentation.
Harold Jones,
Adrin Joel & Co.
(Melbourne, Australia)
Article extracted from this publication >> November 29, 1991
