ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the concept of a safe third country diminishes the protection available under the Refugees Convention. The Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has adopted number of conclusions relevant to an assessment of Australia's legislation. The legislative amendments also exclude the concept of 'effective nationality' from Australian refugee law. The Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has documented at least one case in which an asylum seeker clearly indicated that his rights, and even his life, were threatened should he return to his home country. Yet the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs took the view that the asylum seeker was not seeking to engage Australia's protection obligations and was therefore not to be given information about or assistance applying for a protection visa. This chapter discusses the way in which the legislation has been implemented in practice and examines its conformity with soft law and hard legal obligations.
