NorthOfNorth wrote on Oct 29^th, 2011 at 6:58pm:


You think the children are kidnapped?

Quote:


Wow. I thought you only had to offer lollies. Those Indonesian kids aren't so silly after all. Still, you better alert the authorities about this.

I think they go into it knowing what the situation is, and with their family also knowing what the situation is, and that the lenient treatment of minors plays a significant role in the outcome. There is no other reason to send a child on one of these boat trips. There are more than enough dirt poor Indonesian adults looking for work, who would create a far more professional image for the smugglers. Who would want to board a leaky boat staffed by children for a dangerous voyage over open water?

They are boys from Indonesian fishing villages who are recruited to work as cooks and deckhands on asylum seeker boats.

It is official policy not to charge children caught in this situation - they are supposed to be deported.

One of the longest detentions involves a 16-year-old boy named Ardi.

He spent one and a half years in custody before his lawyer managed to obtain enough evidence to prove Ardi was a minor.

He was then transferred from an adult prison to an immigration detention centre in Darwin, and from there he was supposed to be sent home.

But Radio National's Background Briefing program has discovered that almost two months later, Ardi was still in detention, despite having no charges against him.

Another one of the boys is 15-year-old Ose Lani, who accepted an offer in April last year to crew a refugee vessel headed to Ashmore Island.

He says he was in a fish market when a man approached him with a $500 job offer.

Ose Lani says he did not know the nature of the work, and only realised he was involved in transporting immigrants to Australia when he saw people boarding his boat.

"When I got to the place where the people were, I did not know what place it was. I was on the boat," he said.

"I asked myself, 'what kind of place is this?' But I just followed along. I went wherever they told to me to go."

The boat was intercepted by Australian authorities and Ose Lani was sent to a juvenile detention centre in Darwin.

There, a Department of Immigration official assessed Ose Lani to be a child.

Despite this, the Australian Federal Police charged the boy, based on a wrist X-ray analysis that it said determined the boy was over 18.

Ose Lani was then sent to an adult prison in Brisbane.

"Jail nearly killed me. That was the first and last time for me," he said.

Either these kids are kidnapped or they aren't. You can't argue it both ways.

I think they go into it knowing what the situation is, and with their family also knowing what the situation is, and that the lenient treatment of minors plays a significant role in the outcome. There is no other reason to send a child on one of these boat trips. There are more than enough dirt poor Indonesian adults looking for work, who would create a far more professional image for the smugglers. Who would want to board a leaky boat staffed by children for a dangerous voyage over open water?