Bianca Hall Bianca Hall is immigration correspondent
April 23, 2013 - 9:32AM
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, centre, with the billboard.
Tony Abbott's office has defended his continued use of the word ''illegal'' to describe asylum seeker boats by referring to the UN Refugee Convention.
But the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says it does not use the word ''illegal'' to describe asylum seekers' boats, and nor does it encourage others to do so.
They're not illegal - you've lied. You know it's a lie.
The Opposition Leader on Monday re-launched the Coalition's famed ''illegal boats'' billboards - used during the last election campaign - in Perth, saying a Coalition government would ''stop the boats''.
The billboards read: ''How many illegal boats have arrived since Labor took over? 639 illegal boats. Labor has lost control of Australia's borders''.
Reactions were swift, with a petition launched calling on Mr Abbott to apologise for his use of the word and refugee advocates accusing the opposition of fear-mongering.
But Mr Abbott's office referred to Article 31 of the UN Convention to defend the opposition's continued use of the word ''illegal''. The article states: ''the Contracting States shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened … enter or are present in their territory without authorisation''.
A UNHCR spokesman said he could not comment on domestic politics, but said: ''the term 'illegal' is not one that UNHCR uses, or encourages the use of, in relation to refugees or asylum seekers.
''Both the Refugee Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights acknowledge that, in exercising the basic human right of seeking international protection, asylum seekers are often forced to arrive at, or enter, a territory in an irregular or illegal manner. Thus the Refugee Convention explicitly notes that penalties should not be imposed on refugees on account of their illegal entry or presence in a territory.''
Mr Abbott is by no means the only politician to use the term ''illegal'' when referring to boat people.
In 2009, then prime minister Kevin Rudd said: ''I make no apology whatsoever for adopting a hardline approach when it comes to illegal immigration activity, and I make no apology whatsoever having a hardline and humane approach to dealing with asylum seekers. That's the balance the Australian community expects of us.''
In a 2010 speech Prime Minister Julia Gillard referred to ''more than 5000 foreign nationals coming to our shores illegally''.
