Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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MIGRATION (SIERRA LEONE - UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION)REGULATIONS 1997 NO. 402

STATUTORY RULES 1997 No. 402

Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs

Migration Act 1958

Migration (Sierra Leone - United Nations Security Council Resolution) Regulations

Section 504 of the Migration Act 1958 ("the Act") provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, to prescribe all matters which are required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to the Act. In addition, subsection 31(3) of the Act enables regulations to be made to prescribe the criteria for the grant of a visa.

The purpose of the Regulations is to implement the objectives of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1132 (1997), which imposes sanctions against persons designated by a Committee of the Security Council established for the purposes of that Resolution. A designated person is a person who is a member, or an adult member of the family of a member, of the military junta in Sierra Leone ("the target group"). The effect of the Regulations is to prevent the grant of any visas to members of the target group.

Details of the Regulations are as follows.

Regulation 1 - Citation

This regulation provides that these Regulations may be cited as the Migration (Sierra Leone United Nations Security Council Resolution) Regulations.

Regulation 2 - Definitions

This regulation defines the meaning of the terms "Committee" and "resolution" in these Regulations. Committee is defined as the Committee established under paragraph 10 of the resolution. Resolution is defined as the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1132 (1997).

Regulation 3 - Application

This regulation provides that these Regulations apply in addition to, and dispite any provision to the contrary in, any other Regulations made under the Act. The main effect of this regulation is that applicants must meet the criterion prescribed in these Regulations irrespective of the class of visa for which they have applied. This is in addition to the criteria prescribed for that class under the Migration Regulations.

Regulation 4 - Special criterion for want of visa

This regulation prescribes a special criterion to be satisfied by an applicant for a visa of any class.

Subregulation 4(1) provides that the criterion mentioned in subregulation 4(2) is applicable at the time of decision, to an applicant for any class of visa.

Subregulation 4(2) provides that an applicant must not be a person who is designated by the Committee as a member, or an adult member of the family of a member, of the military junta in Sierra Leone.

Subregulation 4(3) provides that this regulation does not apply if the Minister is satisfied that the person's entry into Australia is authorised by the Committee for verified humanitarian purposes, or purposes consistent with paragraph 1 of the resolution. Paragraph 1 of the resolution states that the Security Council "demands that the military junta take immediate steps to relinquish power in Sierra Leone and make way for the restoration of the democratically-elected Government and a return to constitutional order".

The Regulations commence on gazettal.