Abstract:
Last year saw a dramatic rise in the number of asylum seekers who came to Australia by sea. As they did in 2009 when the arrivals jumped from a couple of hundred to over 2500, Sri Lankans contributed significantly to the 2012 figure of 16,261. And just as the jump in numbers in 2009 prompted the Australian government to hurry to Colombo with promises of aid and silence on war crimes and other human rights abuses tied to the prosecution of the war that eradicated the Tamil Tigers, the 2012 increase prompted foreign minister Bob Carr to attend meetings last December with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Announcements of new cooperative undertakings by the navies of the two countries followed. This would appear simply to be a change in foreign policy designed to hose down a domestic political problem and source of continuing embarrassment (although one would hope one of shame for many Australian politicians as well).
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