“Strong grounds exist for believing Australia has, over the years, inadvertently admitted a substantial number of these suspected criminals and there is no plausible reason why those who are alleged to have committed the most abhorrent crimes should continue to find refuge,” he said.

“There are modern day examples of successful war crime trials, for example in The Netherlands, which has a war crimes screening unit,” he said. “Even international organisations we associate with lethargy and incompetence have successfully run dozens of modern war crime trials that have resulted in numerous convictions.”

A spokeswoman for Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said the Lowy report would be examined. “The Government takes all allegations of war criminals living in Australia seriously and considers all requests for extradition for people accused of war crimes,” she said.

A WAR crimes unit should be established within the Australian Federal Police to investigate whether international war criminals are living in Australia.

The Lowy Institute released a policy paper yesterday saying that potentially hundreds of war criminals from the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and East Timor could be residing in Australia.

Research associate Fergus Hanson said Australia’s tradition of mass migration meant it was likely we were a safe haven for suspected war criminals.

“Strong grounds exist for believing Australia has, over the years, inadvertently admitted a substantial number of these suspected criminals and there is no plausible reason why those who are alleged to have committed the most abhorrent crimes should continue to find refuge,” he said.

Mr Hanson said past attempts such as the Special Investigations Unit, which was disbanded in 1992 after prosecuting only three people, none of whom was convicted, failed partly because of the long time lapse between the investigation and alleged crimes during World War II.

“There are modern day examples of successful war crime trials, for example in The Netherlands, which has a war crimes screening unit,” he said. “Even international organisations we associate with lethargy and incompetence have successfully run dozens of modern war crime trials that have resulted in numerous convictions.”

Mr Hanson said last year Australia gave more than $15million to international courts and tribunals. Comparatively, the cost of a war crimes unit would be modest.

“Sweden’s unit costs $1.7million last year, and The Netherlands operates on a budget of $4million a year,” he said.

“There’s no reason why Australia could not achieve something similar.”

The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Tony Levy said it was imperative a dedicated war crimes unit be created.

“Factors such as the age of the accused or the location of the crime should be no barrier to an investigation by Australianauthorities into the role of the alleged perpetrators in the atrocities,” he said.

The author of War Criminals Welcome, Mark Aarons, said successive governments of both persuasion had turned a blind eye to thepresence of alleged mass killers in Australia, including those who served under Cambodia’s Pol Pot or Soviet officers from Afghanistan.

A spokeswoman for Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said the Lowy report would be examined. “The Government takes all allegations of war criminals living in Australia seriously and considers all requests for extradition for people accused of war crimes,” she said.

Alleged war criminal Dragan Vasiljkovic, accused of ordering soldiers to fire on civilians, is expected to lodge an appeal against his extradition to Croatia in the next few days.

Credit: John Stapleton