本帖最后由 hfwang 于 2009-6-17 20:58 编辑
http://www.themercury.com.au/art ... _tasmania-news.html
Tassie race abuse shameLINDA SMITH
June 10, 2009 09:34am
INTERNATIONAL students in Hobart are being subjected to racial violence and abuse but are too scared to report the attacks.
Indian Youth Society president Varun Khetarpal said he often heard from students, mostly Indian and Asian, who had been bashed or verbally abused with racial taunts.
In a string of recent attacks, Asian students were pelted with eggs from passing cars as they walked a street.
Other overseas students have been bashed or threatened with violence, particularly around Hobart's waterfront late at night.
In another recent act of racism, an Indian student who was wearing a turban was accused of being a terrorist and was told to "go back to the Taliban".
Mr Khetarpal said these were just a few examples of the kinds of racism international students studying at the University of Tasmania were experiencing.
He said Hobart was more fortunate than Melbourne and Sydney, where hundreds of international students have been marching in recent days demanding an end to racial violence, but there was still racism here and it needed to stop.
"Every couple of weeks students come up to me and say these things are happening," said Mr Khetarpal, who is also vice-president of the Indian Cultural Society.
But he said students were too frightened to report the attacks for fear of being deported.
"Quite a few incidents are not reported," he said.
"I've asked students why they don't report it and they say they are really scared -- they don't want to go back home, they don't want to get in trouble with their visas.
"They don't know what the laws are and they think they will be deported if they have problems with the police."
Mr Khetarpal was the victim of a racially motivated attack last year and was left bleeding and bruised after being set upon by a group of up to 15 people outside a Hobart nightclub.
The attackers shouted racial taunts, telling him he wasn't a "real Australian" and he should go back to his own country.
Mr Khetarpal reported the attack to police and he and fellow students are urging others who have been attacked or taunted to do the same to help stamp out racism.
He said: "By not reporting it they're encouraging people to continue to do this, because [the offenders] know nothing is going to happen to them.
"Change is not going to happen in one day but if [authorities] don't know, they can't do anything about it."
He said if students were reluctant to go to police, they should still report racial incidents to anti-discrimination officers at the university or to the Migrant Resource Centre or Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
Vice-Chancellor Daryl Le Grew said UTAS had zero tolerance to behaviour that affected international students on or off campus.
He called on the community to ensure students' safety.
"There are tremendous benefits to Tasmania and Tasmanians being able to connect with international students," Prof Le Grew said.
"We recognise there may be potential problems for some students beyond the campus boundary and as a university we need to ensure we have measures to protect students as they travel to and from the campus and go about activities, including working and community participation."
He said UTAS worked with the State Government, Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, police, local government and other education providers to promote safety.
International students contributed at least $76 million a year to Tasmania's economy, based on about 2400 students' living costs and tuition fees. |
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