The four lost SIEVs

  • Tony Kevin

21 October 2011What do we really know about the number of "suspected irregular entry vessels" lost at sea, asks Tony Kevin

•

RECENT WEEKS have seen rhetoric from both sides of politics citing high and unsubstantiated figures about deaths of asylum-seekers on suspected irregular entry vessels (SIEVs) seeking to reach Australia, in order to bolster their rival cases for offshore processing in either Malaysia or Nauru. Politicians have publicly advanced figures as high as 900 deaths, or alternatively death rates up to 4% of asylum-seeker embarkations. Both parties claimed, in effect, that Australia must send those who arrive by boat to offshore processing countries in order to deter other asylum-seekers from embarking on risky voyages to Australia, and thereby to save lives. Now that overseas processing has been politically ruled out, politicians stand ready to blame the other side of politics for any future SIEV deaths at sea.

This paper contains new research on two questions: what are the ascertainable facts on SIEV deaths at sea? And what can be deduced from public sources as to the role of the Australian border protection system in seeking to prevent such deaths…?

Read the full paper here

 

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