People smuggling has led to almost 1,000 deaths, says report

In a little over 10 years, almost 1,000 asylum-seekers have died at sea while trying to reach Australia by boat, a new report says. The Australian Crime Commission's biannual report into organised crime says 964 people died, or are presumed to have died, between October 2001 and June 2012. The Australian Associated Press says the figures do not include the recent spate of asylum-seeker deaths on boats that foundered in Australian waters or on their way here. Of the 964 deaths cited in the report, 605 died since October 2009 - more than one every two days. The Organised Crime in Australia 2013 report says most asylum-seekers arriving from boat hail from Afghanistan, Iran, Sri Lanka and Pakistan or are stateless. While most of the boats depart from Indonesia due to its proximity to Australia, the report suggests the problem is both regional and global. "People-smugglers use highly-organised international networks to make logistical arrangements for the travel of irregular migrants and typically demand exorbitant fees for their services," the report says. "The impact of people-smuggling extends beyond domestic law enforcement and border protection capability and dealing with it requires mutual cooperation and international engagement." The deaths included the sinking of an unseaworthy vessel off the Indonesian island of Java in 2001, with the loss of 350 lives, and a vessel that crashed into rocks at Christmas island in 2010, claiming 50 lives. There were 8092 asylum-seekers on the boats that arrived in 2011-12, compared to 985 in 2008-09, 5327 in 2009-10 and 4750 in 2010-11. The report also notes asylum-seekers arriving by boat accounted for 51 per cent of all applications for protection in 2011-12, up from five per cent between 2002-03 and 2007-08.