Send them home, Peter Dutton tells UN refugee agency

Strengthen all your borders, send the pretenders home, Peter Dutton tells a high-level UN refugee meeting in Geneva.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton at Canberra Airport. ‘Crucial to a fair and credible ­asylum system.’ Picture: Kym Smith

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has told a high-level United Nations refugee meeting that all borders have to be strengthened, and called for the speedy return of migrants not in need of protection in order to smash people-smuggling operations.

It comes as some migrants seeking to come to Australia under its 12,000-place Syrian ­humanitarian program have submitted false documents and have been “red-flagged’’ and rejected, The Australian has learned.

Mr Dutton told the UN Refugee Agency meeting on Syrian refugees in Geneva that economic migrants and others who did not qualify as refugees must be ­returned to their country of origin. Border systems must be enhanced to identify, register and process asylum applications and those found not to be in need of protection returned expeditiously.

“This is crucial to a fair and credible ­asylum system because it removes expectations that mere arrival in a place secures permanent residence, thereby breaking the people-smugglers’ model,’’ he told an audience that included UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

It is believed some would-be Australian migrants might have tried to use fake Syrian passports to create a fresh identity and ­obscure criminal history or a non-Syrian nationality. “The reasons for the red-flag differ, but as soon as something doesn’t check out they go to the bottom of the list,’’ an officer told The Australian.

The main delay in processing Australia’s intake of Syrians has been the rigorous background checks, particularly in the wake of the suitcase-loads of fake Syrian passports circulating in Europe.

‘’We are working up from scratch,’’ Mr Dutton said in Gen­eva yesterday: “It is quite a different process, it’s more drawn out and deliberately so.’’

He resisted pressure from the UN to offer more refugee places, but donated an extra $8.5 million to the UN’s Refugee Agency, $5m of which will be for direct support of Syrian and Iraqis, bringing the total contribution to $258m since 2011. The additional $3.5m is for support in future years and for other UN programs, including helping to underwrite another meeting in September.

At the UNHRC meeting yesterday, there were few pledges of places beyond the global commitment of 178,000, threatening the UN target to resettle 480,000 in the next two years.

‘’Australia has a record of which we should be very proud, we have provided financial aid and a number of settlement ­places,’’ Mr Dutton said. ‘’Internationally we are held up as one of the top countries providing support.’’ By next month, 990 refugees will have been permanently resettled in Australia under the humanitarian program and as of yesterday 2260 visas for Syrians issued.