Gay asylum seekers will be sent to PNG despite threat of imprisonment

[MKR&*42]

GAY asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat will be resettled in PNG despite facing prison under local laws that criminalise homosexuality, the attorney-general says. In Sydney to announce federal funding for the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre, Mark Dreyfus said no group of asylum seekers would be ruled out of the government's new policy to send them to PNG.

"It's a general policy that anyone who arrives in Australia by boat without a visa ... will be transferred to Papua New Guinea,'' Mr Dreyfus told reporters.

Homosexuality is illegal in Papua New Guinea and can attract a jail sentence of up to 14 years.

"At the same time our minister for immigration Tony Burke has made it very clear that those transfers won't occur until there is appropriate accommodation and appropriate circumstances for everyone who is sent,'' he said.

Mr Dreyfus said Australia would not pressure PNG about changing its laws.

"We don't think that that's necessary in order for Australia to comply with our international legal obligations and the obligations that we have under the Migration Act.

"I'm not going to give you a running commentary on laws of countries in our region.''

Most recently in 2011, the PNG government told the United Nations it had no plans to decriminalise homosexuality.

PNG = Papua New Guinea

tl;dr Basically, if you go to Australia on a boat without a visa they will send you to a country where homosexuality is criminalised - ergo, if you're gay you will have to lie through your teeth or risk up to 14 years in jail. I understand that it's not exactly a great thing to be trying to sneak into a country without a visa, but sending them off to a completely different country with "not as socially advanced" laws existing is beyond silly.

[e5]

How can they label someone as gay? Surely they'd just deny it :/

[MKR&*42]

How can they label someone as gay? Surely they'd just deny it :/

Yeah you could quite easily deny it, but you'd have to keep up the lie for quite some time which would be quite a struggle for many - especially if some of the asylum seekers were gay couples for example.

[e5]

Well I'd expect them to do their business in private!

Yeah you could quite easily deny it, but you'd have to keep up the lie for quite some time which would be quite a struggle for many - especially if some of the asylum seekers were gay couples for example.

[MKR&*42]

Well I'd expect them to do their business in private!

You can still kiss and hold hands and stuff in public and people would kind of gather

[e5]

Well to avoid 14 years, I wouldn't lol. Good job im not gay or seeking asylum!

You can still kiss and hold hands and stuff in public and people would kind of gather

[karter]

i legit thought papua new guinea was only forest and tribals

[Stephen]

who gives a crap. Let them forever drop the soap in the prison showers

[Daltron]

Well as it's now known that they will be sent there, I guess homosexuals with a real fear they would be prosecuted will have to seek asylum somewhere else :/

[JerseySafety]

Good, keep them out of countries. Should just imprison them all trying to sneak onto Australian soil.