The growing number of asylum seekers in Thailand is beginning to cause unrest among Western aid agencies.
The first plane chartered by the British government since the Iraq conflict to deport failed Iraqi asylum seekers came back to Britain with most of those who were to have been returned still on board.
The report says the number of Iraqi asylum seekers declined by 10 percent in 2008.
The immigration department isn't aware that any of the asylum seekers facing transfer to Malaysia have launched a hunger strike, as claimed by a refugee activist.
Many of the asylum seekers also said they were forced to leave because of crop losses due to drought.
Many of the world's 11 million refugees and asylum seekers-persons uprooted by conflict or persecution-live in a similar limbo, often unable to gain legal status in a new home country.
Thousands of asylum seekers head through Southeast Asian countries on their way to Australia every year and many link up with people smugglers in Indonesia for the dangerous voyage.
Australia accepts more than twenty thousand legal asylum seekers every year.
Issues that concerned the Uniting Church included asylum seekers, climate change (including a carbon tax) and a long-term aged-care policy.
An Australian navy ship has intercepted a boat carrying nearly 60 suspected asylum seekers - the fourth such incident in less than two weeks.
