Australia – The Interpreter, December 04, 2024
A new senate report has set out sensible recommendations for a fresh approach on wrongful detention of Australians overseas.
Last week the Australian Senate’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade handed down its report into the wrongful detention of Australian citizens overseas. A phenomenon that unfortunately only continues to grow, such wrongful detention (often referred to as “hostage diplomacy”) is increasingly used by authoritarian regimes around the world as a tool of leverage over democratic countries and their foreign policy. The United States, Canada, and some European countries have recognised the threat, and in recent years have crafted new strategies and institutions to “disincentivise” the practice.
Up until now Australia has stood back from this momentum, favouring what Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) calls “flexibility” in dealing with instances of wrongful detention on a case-by-case basis. I was one of those cases, imprisoned in Myanmar following the 2021 coup until November 2022.
The Senate committee effectively found against DFAT’s approach, and, drawing upon the testimony of Australians wrongfully detained (including from me), various interested groups, as well as overseas experts and practitioners, made a series of important recommendations, that the Australian government:
– Adopt a clear definition of wrongful detention, collect data on its occurrence, and increase public awareness of the practice. The latter to include more explicit warnings to travellers of countries whose ruling regimes engage in wrongful detention.
– Create a “Special Envoy for Wrongfully Detained Australians”, resource the position properly, and support them with an inter-agency specialist team to manage all cases of arbitrary detention. Such management should be customised to each case, and include increased support for the families of detainees and to coordinate legal assistance. This should extent to greater support to detainees upon their return to Australia, including medical support and counselling, as well as legal and administrative assistance in the often-underestimated difficulties in reintegration. This recommended role of the Special Envoy closely aligns with the approach of the United States, and its newly appointed “Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs” (SPEHA).
