JAKARTA, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- An Indonesian official condemned Australian maritime border officials for allegedly paying human smugglers to turn back to Indonesia as part of a migrant boat "push-back" policy.
Amnesty International released a report on Wednesday accusing Australia's maritime border control of resembling a "lawless venture with evidence of criminal activity, pay-offs to boat crews and abusive treatment of women, men and children seeking asylum."
The human rights group alleges Australian officials paid $32,000 to six smugglers who were taking 65 asylum-seekers to New Zealand in May -- telling the smugglers to take the migrants to Indonesia instead.
The Australian officials provided maps to the smugglers showing where they should land in Indonesia and endangered the lives of asylum-seekers by transferring them to different boats that did not have enough fuel, an Amnesty International report said.
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The group alleges a similar incident also occurred in June.
Charles Honoris, an Indonesian House of Representatives member, has called for Australia to abandon its controversial policy following Amnesty International's report and demanded an explanation into the incidents.
"The Indonesian government must send a strong protest to the Australian government so that it will not recur in the future," Honoris said, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. "Now there is a new prime minister in Australia we hope the government will be transparent in this particular case. They have to explain what happened and I think it is time for them to abandon the boat push-back policy. I am sure the payment to boat crews -- if the Amnesty International report is accurate -- is something that is even against Australian law, let alone international law."
Anna Shea, refugee researcher at Amnesty International, suggested it was an international crime.
"Australia has, for months, denied that it paid for people smuggling, but our report provides detailed evidence pointing to a very different set of events," Shea said in a statement. "All of the available evidence points to Australian officials having committed a transnational crime by, in effect, directing a people-smuggling operation, paying a boat crew and then instructing them on exactly what to do and where to land in Indonesia."
"When it comes to its treatment of those seeking asylum, Australia is becoming a lawless state," Shea concluded.
