SIEV X
The SIEV X was a small, about 19.5 × 4.0 meters large, nameless wooden fishing that on 19 October 2001 with more than 400 boat people was occupied than about 70 kilometers south of Java sank. 353 people drowned, including 70 children. Neither an Australian nor an Indonesian ship, part of the Australian or Indonesian government responsible for sea distress, was sent to the scene of the accident to rescue survivors. Only 45 people survived because they were rescued by Indonesian fishermen.
The SIEV X was with asylum seekers on the way to the Australian Christmas Island about 1,700 kilometers away . When the fishing boat sank, it was in international waters, which as an exclusive economic zone of Indonesia is also under its jurisdiction. However, this sea area is also monitored by Australia, as the then liberal-conservative government under Prime Minister John Howard wanted to prevent any attempt to allow boat people to enter Australian waters after it had declared a restrictive policy called the Pacific Solution .
Political background
In the Australian policy concept of the Pacific solution , ships with boat people are arrested because of irregular entry at sea and given the acronym SIEV and serial numbers. This first happened after the Tampa affair , an incident in August 2001 that sparked a diplomatic crisis between Australia and Norway . The acronym SIEV means Suspected Irregular Entry Vessel ( suspected irregular entry ). In the first year of application of the Pacific Solution from August to the end of December 2001, 14 so-called SIEV incidents occurred, with the refugee ship SIEV X ending particularly tragically.
The Tampa affair in August 2001 led to a considerable tightening of migration and asylum policies in Australia . As early as October 2001, an Indonesian fishing boat, the SIEV 4 made of wood, broke and sank when it was towed by HMAS Adelaide , an Australian warship. Nobody was harmed. However, the Prime Minister John Howard accused the boatpeople SIEV 4 of having thrown children overboard, which later turned out to be an allegation against better knowledge. This process became known as the Children Overboard Affair . This event and the sinking of SIEV X occurred in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in Australia on November 10, 2001 and probably played a major role in Howard's election victory.
procedure
Before the boat cast off on October 18, 20 people left because it seemed too dangerous to travel on this boat. On the boat, which had a maximum of 150 people, were asylum seekers Iraqis , Iranians , Afghans , Palestinians and Algerians . The Australian authorities knew the time of casting, the port of departure and the refugee boat of the escape worker Abu Qussey.
The SIEV X cast off on October 18, 2001 in Bandar Lampung in Indonesia with 421 boat people on board and sank in a storm on October 19, 2001 at 2:00 p.m. about 70 kilometers from Java. At that time, the Australian frigate HMAS Arunta was about 150 nautical miles away. The place of the ship's sinking is in international waters, but also in an exclusive economic zone of Indonesia. 20 hours after the sinking on October 20, 2001, only 44 survivors were rescued from the Indonesian fishing boat Indah Jaya Makmur . 12 hours later, another fishing boat, the Surya Terang , rescued the 45th survivor.
Investigative commission
A commission of inquiry was set up by the Australian Parliament in February 2002 into the sinking. Why neither Indonesian nor Australian government agencies initiated rescue measures for the sinking SIEV X has not yet been clarified. The Australian government authorities had information about the SIEV X and were aware of and followed the course of this ship.
Noteworthy in this context are the statements made by those rescued that they were surrounded by searchlights by other boats after the boat sank. Possibly these were boats of the Indonesian Navy or the Border Guard. Why these boats did not help is unclear. It is certain that no Australian ships were in the vicinity of the shipwreck or had been dispatched. Australian authorities made no rescue attempt on the second day of the sinking, although an Australian government aircraft, a Lockheed P-3 , flew over the scene of the accident at 10:46 a.m. on October 20 and the crew must have undoubtedly recognized people in the water.
SIEV-X cemetery and aftermath
Members of the Uniting Church in Australia worked since 2003 on a project that to the victims and survivors of the sinking of SIEV X reminds you. A temporary cemetery was first established at Kurrajong Point on the Yarralumla Peninsula in Weston Park in Canberra . The cemetery commemorates the sacrifices with 353 white and partially painted steles , which were created by schools, churches and communities from all over Australia. More than 1000 people and around 300 schools and communities took part in the design of the steles. Incidentally, not more than half of the drowned people are known by name. The government of the Australian Capital Territory supported the project and the Chief Minister Jon Stanhope inaugurated the temporary cemetery in October 2006. Until recently the Howard government tried to stop this project. In 2007 this cemetery was successfully installed.
There are other cemeteries that are reminiscent of the SIEV X on Christmas Island , in Hobart on Tasmania , in addition, at numerous schools that are involved in this project.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ SIEVX Chronology , on SIEVX. Retrieved December 6, 2019
- ↑ 350 migrants reported drowned off Indonesia , October 24, 2001, on the New Zealand Herald. Retrieved December 6, 2019
- ↑ a b c Chapter 8 - The Sinking of SIEV X: Intelligence and Surveillance , on Parliament of Australia. Retrieved December 6, 2019
- ^ The 45th Survivor , on SIEVX. Retrieved December 6, 2019
- ↑ Australian Parliament (ed.): Senate Select Committee on a Certain Maritime Incident (PDF), Report from 2002, on Parliament of Australia. Retrieved on December 6, 2019. pp. 197 ff
- ↑ SIEV-X: Right of reply , September 3, 2003, in Sydney Morning Herald
- ^ Govt condemns case study on SIEV X , October 19, 2006, on Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved December 6, 2019
- ↑ Other voices for SIEVX on SIEVX. Retrieved December 6, 2019