Uighurs from Gitmo apply for residency
The Australian, 15 June 2011
By Paul Maley
THREE Chinese Uighurs who were for years detained as terrorists at the US’s Guantanamo Bay have applied to come to Australia with their families.
Palau’s Minister for State Victor Yano said the three men had lodged Australian residency applications with the Australian high commissioner in Fiji, where visa applications from Palau are processed.
“We hope that they can be resettled as soon as possible,” Mr Yano said, “because come November it will be two years.”
Palau agreed to take the Uighurs, who are from China’s mainly Muslim province of Xinjiang, following a request from the US government, which has made emptying the facility at Guantanamo Bay a policy priority.
But the arrangement was supposed to be temporary, with Washington promising to find a more durable outcome for the men, who were cleared for release by the US military.
The Americans have twice asked Australia to accept some of the Chinese Uighurs detained as part of the war on terror, but on both occasions Australia declined the request.
Any move to resettle the men would prompt strident protests from China, which regards the Uighurs as members of a terrorist organisation and argues that they should be repatriated, something Palau has refused to do.
Mr Yano said Palau had been focused on finding work for the men, most of whom have been unemployed since they arrived.
He said attempts to find jobs for the men at Palau’s handful of international hotels had failed after the parent companies quashed their applications, despite the government of Palau agreeing to fund part of their training.
“(But) one works for the community college,” Mr Yano said.
“I think he’s a security officer.”
He said Australian officials had told him processing the men’s applications would take time, given the potential security concerns.
“The last ambassador, Susan Cox, when we discussed this issue, she made it known the visa application would go through its security route and that may take up to 10 months or a year,” Mr Yano said.
Last year, five Uighurs lost a case in the US Supreme Court to settle in Australia.