KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia will accept 800 asylum seekers who entered Australia illegally by sea in an innovative agreement between the two countries to tackle smuggling.
In return, the Australia will resettle 4,000 registered refugees living in Malaysia, according to a joint statement late Government Saturday.
The Australia has long attracted people from poor countries, often ravaged by war, in the hope of starting a new life, with more than 6 200 asylum seekers arriving in the country by boat last year. Most are Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the Iran and the Iraq and uses the Indonesia or Malaysia as a starting point for a trip in the dangerous sea Australia.
"This historic agreement will help to remove product smugglers attempting to sell - a ticket to the Australia,"Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in a separate statement."."
"The key message that will invest in smugglers and those who seek to make the trip in the dangerous sea Australia are: get on this boat,"she said."".Under this agreement, if you arrive in Australian waters and are taken into Malaysia, you will go to the back of the queue. ?
Australia, will fully fund the arrangement, the joint statement said, adding that the pilot project aims to "undermine the model cases of transnational crime groups, especially in the smuggling and trafficking in human beings humans in this region.".
800 Persons transferred to the Malaysia will have their requests processed by the United Nations, and "those in need of international protection will not be repressed," said the statement.
The two countries will work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees and the International Organization for migration to implementation of the agreement, which will be finalized soon, he said.
Gillard, said the Australian Government has committed in talks with Papua Guinea to build a regional detention centre y to deal with asylum seekers, and that it would be financed by the Australia. An earlier proposal to establish such a centre in the neighbouring countries of East Timor was not favoured by the Government of that country.
Since the beginning of 2010, the Australia stopped more than 140 boats carrying asylum seekers. The Malaysia also took dozens of people engage in rickety and overcrowded boats in Australia.
The increase in the number of arrivals of boat has become a source of contention issue in Australia, with the opposition demanding more stringent laws to discourage the prospective illegal immigrants.
