A/HRC/35/25/Add.3 I. Introduction 1. From 1 to 18 November 2016, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, conducted an official visit to Australia. The visit was undertaken to assess the migration programmes, policies and laws recently developed by the Australian authorities. 2. During his visit to Australia, the Special Rapporteur met with a range of officials from the Federal Government and state governments, with civil society organizations, trade unions, the Australian Human Rights Commission, international organizations, and migrants themselves, to discuss the complex management of the country’s borders. 3. The Special Rapporteur held meetings in Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Sydney. He visited the following detention centres: Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre, Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre, Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation, Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre and Villawood Immigration Detention Centre. He also visited the regional processing centres in Nauru. 4. The Special Rapporteur expresses his appreciation to the Government of Australia for the support provided throughout the visit. II. General background on migration: a brief overview 5. From 1948 to 1978, Australia received more than 2 million people from Europe. The driving force behind immigration policy for the first two decades after the Second World War was known as “populate or perish”. In line with the Immigration Restriction Act 1901, assimilation was expected of all new arrivals. Economic growth and skills increasingly became the key drivers. 6. In 1972 the Government of Australia abolished the White Australia policy, and in 1975 it introduced new immigration laws restricting the number of unskilled workers allowed into the country. In the late 1970s, Australia introduced a system that gave objectivity by placing weight on factors such as family ties, and occupational and language skills. With the changes in the immigration mix, settlement services were reviewed, with increased commitment to a non-discriminatory and managed immigration programme. 7. In 2001, the Norwegian cargo ship MV Tampa was denied entry to Australian waters after having rescued 438 migrants from a fishing boat. The Government of Australia refused disembarkation. 8. The Tampa crisis provoked discussion on the need for legal changes to determine how Australia responded to unauthorized boat arrivals. The Border Protection (Validation and Enforcement Powers) Act 2001 represented a shift in power away from legal systems to military and government officials and gave the Government power to turn vessels away. 9. Furthermore, the crisis dramatically influenced Australian domestic politics, with parties winning votes for their stance on tough border controls. 10. Following the “Tampa crisis”, the Government of Australia introduced a series of legislative measures known as the Pacific Solution. Under that policy, asylum seekers who arrived by boat were transferred to offshore processing centres in Nauru and on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, where they were detained while their asylum claims were processed. Australia turned away many “boat people” over a period of several months. 11. In July 2011, Australia signed an arrangement with Malaysia in which it was stipulated that 800 asylum seekers from Christmas Island would be sent “to the back of the queue” in Malaysian detention centres for processing. In exchange, Malaysia would send 4,000 certified refugees to Australia. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), though not a signatory to the agreement, was to help facilitate it. The deal was budgeted to cost Australia $A292 million, with $A216 million of that amount covering the cost of resettling refugees in Australia. Lawyers arguing against the agreement stated that Malaysia was not a signatory to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, of 1951, and could not guarantee the protection of asylum seekers sent from 3