European Parliament Condemns Handling of Tampa CrisisThe European Parliament has passed a vote condemning Australia's handling of the Tampa asylum seeker crisis, ABC reported Friday.The European Parliament in Strasbourg has endorsed a motion deploring the fact that neither Indonesia or Australia took immediate steps to resolve the stand-off over the Afghan asylum seekers on board the Tampa. The motion noted the existence of an international convention on the protection of refugees and asylum procedures that must be observed by all countries and noted the need to take into consideration the humanitarian aspects involved in this kind of dramatic event. The motion did however welcome the fact that a solution had been found to break the deadlock and welcomed the prompt reaction of the captain of Tampa to the call for help from the Australian Search and Rescue Coordination Centre. The Parliament also commended New Zealand and Nauru for agreeing to temporarily accept the 438 asylum seekers. |
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