Illegal Seizure In The Open Sea: Russian Federal Police illegally board and seize The Arctic Sunrise and her crew of 30 in the open sea. One of those held at gunpoint was an Australian citizen, Colin Russell. Rather than voice the strongest diplomatic protest, the Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, is now suggesting that people like Russell be required to reimburse the Australian Government for the consular assistance they receive.
WHY IS IT that politicians, who owe everything to democracy,
frequently display so little understanding of its values? Has the novelty and
radicalism of democracy’s core proposition: that the “just powers” of government
derive exclusively from the consent of the governed; simply worn off? Has the hard-won
right to choose their own leaders been around for so long that voters simply
take it for granted?
These are just some of the questions arising from Australian
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s extraordinary suggestion that Australians
travelling overseas, who find themselves in need of consular assistance, could
be billed for the services provided.
Last Saturday, responding to questions about the amount of “taxpayers’
money” spent on Colin Russell, the Australian citizen imprisoned by the Russian
Federation for attempting to draw the world’s attention to that country’s
decision to allow oil drilling in the Arctic ecosystem, Ms Bishop declared:
“Of course the Australian government is going to support
those in trouble but there are circumstances where questions are raised why
taxpayers should foot the bill”.
The job of reviewing those “circumstances” has been given to
the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to Ms Bishop, the
exercise is all about “reviewing the consular fee for those who make deliberate
and purposeful actions which break the local law and who don’t take out
comprehensive insurance and then require [consular] help at the taxpayer’s
expense”.
Ms Bishop’s statement is not only an extremely misleading interpretation
of the circumstances leading to Mr Russell’s detention by the Russian
authorities, and of his consequent need for Australian consular assistance, but
it is also a fundamental misreading of a consul’s purpose.
The term “consul” has its origins in the Roman Republic, but
a modern-day consulate’s primary diplomatic function is to protect and
facilitate the safe passage of its commissioning nation’s citizens. In
classical times the simple statement “civis Romanus sum” – “I am a Roman
Citizen” – was sufficient to give anyone within reach of Rome’s retribution
pause. Likewise today, when the involvement of consular staff is usually enough
to make the authorities of a foreign state behave themselves. It’s says: “Our
state is watching you and will hold you responsible for the welfare of its
citizen.”
In the case of Mr Russell (himself an Australian “taxpayer”)
consular staff became involved when The
Arctic Sunrise, the Dutch-registered vessel he was sailing on, was seized illegally
in open waters by Russian federal police, who then proceeded to sail the ship
and its crew to the territory of the Russian Federation. The 30 crew members,
citizens of 16 nations, were then charged with “piracy”, denied bail, and
incarcerated in conditions of considerable stress and discomfort.
The only “law” which Mr Russell and his fellow Greenpeace
activists may possibly have fallen foul of is the international law pertaining to
oil drilling platforms. One of these was non-violently and temporarily boarded
by members of The Arctic Sunrise’s
crew in order to display a large banner protesting oil exploration in the vulnerable
Arctic environment. Any redress for this harmless symbolic gesture was a matter
for international civil litigation – not the criminal code of the Russian
Federation.
All of these facts would have been conveyed to the
Australian Foreign Minister via consular staff on the ground in Murmansk and St
Petersburg. Rather than contemplate charging Australian citizens a fee for the
assistance they receive in such extraordinary circumstances, Ms Bishop should
have demanded Mr Russell’s immediate release and repatriation and issued the
strongest possible diplomatic protest at the illegal seizure of a vessel on the
open sea and the abduction by force and unlawful imprisonment of an Australian
citizen.
Mr Russell had every right to expect this reaction from his
government because, as a citizen and as an elector, he is one of the 22 million
human-beings who, together, constitute the Commonwealth of Australia. The injustice
inflicted upon Mr Russell was not just against him it was against all
Australians and the politicians elected to govern in their name were duty-bound
to do everything they could to rescue and bring home an Australian son in
distress.
Mr Russell’s treatment bears testimony to the Australian
Liberal-National Government’s woeful indifference to basic democratic values.
From the moment The Arctic Sunrise
was seized, the sympathies of Ms Bishop and her colleagues appeared to lie,
almost exclusively, with the oil drillers and the Russian government.
The hostility whipped up against Greenpeace by the Murdoch
press proved to be a stronger goad to political action than the abduction and
detention of an Australian citizen.
Mr Russell had a right to his government’s support because
in a democracy that’s exactly what it is – his
government.
Ms Bishop needs to be reminded that she serves at her
people’s pleasure. The protection of Australian citizens abroad is not only her
ministerial duty, it’s their democratic right.
This essay was
originally published in The Press of Tuesday,
7 January 2014.
