Asylum seeker advocates and members of the film industry in Sri Lanka have slammed an Australian government competition that asks filmmakers to produce work as part of an 'anti-people smuggling campaign'.
A short film competition run by the Australian government in Sri Lanka has been "overwhelmed" with entries, despite advocates slamming the campaign for trivialising the experience of asylum seekers and "exploiting desires" of amateur filmmakers.The Australian government competition offer prizes for films with an "anti-people smuggling" message
The campaign also features games that simulate a boat journey to Australia, with each attempt ultimately failing and players being presented a series of messages, including: "You get banned from Australia for life", "You get caught by Border Patrol" and "You get tricked by people smugglers". "This incident took place when I was 13 years old and was living in a refugee camp after the end of war in 2009.
"The people in distress are ready to take risks to go abroad, they take risks for the betterment of their families, so they get trapped into fake promises by agents who say they'll take them in boats to Australia," Kukeenthan said. "I find it really disturbing that we are encouraging people to, essentially, for free, create these … messages for the Australian government," she said.Entries for the film competition will now be judged by Sri Lankans in the film industry.
"The Australian government is committed to providing a strong border protection policy and operational response to maritime people smuggling," a spokesman said in a statement.
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