“A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group” Australia has been faced with a large-scale issue of refugees. The issue of refugees first began to be an issue during the Vietnam War with all the victims of war escaping to Australia to start a new life. The Australian government over the decades have taken a stance with this humanitarian issue. Popular to contrary belief both major parties that are supposed to be conservative (Coalition) and socialist (Labour Party) according to Maddox have had ideally the same stance on the issue …show more content…
This was the era of the first wave of illegal immigrants entering Australia via vessel. During this time the Frazer government welcomed the refugees in with the “Open door policy” according to the SMH’s “No, the Fraser era was not a golden age for asylum seekers” 753 refugees and 979 boat people had been resettled. This action was very “left wing” of the liberal party and wouldn’t fully identify to the conservative ideology. The Australian public started to take a stance on this issue and started to oppose the stance on refugees with the rise of Pauline Hanson’s ultra conservative “One Nation” political party. According to parliamentary Hansard Miss Hanson stated in her 1996 maiden speech "I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians." Through this speech Miss Hanson was seen to be the first one to enflame citizens on its stance of refugees and immigrants. The media quickly jumpe onto this and further “stirred the …show more content…
The Australian government later on became in breach of international law as we were going against the UNDHR (that we are a signatory to) pertaining to the illegal detention of refugees. According to the UN high commissioner “The 1951 Convention specifically bars countries from punishing people who have arrived directly from a country of persecution (or from another country where protection could not be assured), provided that they present themselves speedily to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry. Monitoring (through reporting obligations or guarantor requirements) is often a perfectly viable alternative to imprisoning asylum-seekers”. Detention is only acceptable if it is brief, absolutely necessary, and instituted after other options have been implemented. With what the Australian government is currently doing with keeping refugees in detention we are as a result in breach of this. Last year (2016) between the months of July and November the average asylum seeker had been in detention for 500 days. Due to this we are in breech of the convention. Being in breach of this presents an enormous problem that faces Australian politics and may lead top prosecution at an international level. It was clear to see that both parties advocated for an offshore processing facility this is evident with the September 2001 introduction of the
Watching the documentary “Go Back To Where You Came From” regarding the issues of Asylum Seekers and Refugees, I am disgusted about the way that Australia has been treating Asylum Seekers and Refugees. That is why I am writing you this letter to promote and voice my view on the treatment to refugees, the Stop the Boats Policy and ways to minimise this Issue.
Westoby, P., & Ingamells, A. (2010), ‘A critically informed perspective of working with resettling refugee groups in Australia’, British journal of social work, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 1759-1776.
Controversy has surrounded Australia’s boat arrivals since 2001, when the Howard government took office. Howard instituted Operation Relex, a policy directing the Royal Australian Navy to intercept and board suspected illegal entry vessels, or SIEV’s (Turning Back Boats). Initially widely accepted, this policy was designed to discourage people from arriving illegally by boat. However, turning back small, overcrowded boats, and returning them just inside Indonesian waters, quickly became a safety issue (Turning Back Boats). According to the “Senate Select Committee’s Inquiry into a Certain Maritime Incident,” of the 12 boats intercepted from September 2002 to March 2003, four were turned back and three sank, killing two people (Turning Back Boats). Although Australia has a right to protect its borders from illegal aliens, over 90% of these asylum-seekers qualify as refugees (Turning Back Boats). Such a low success rate is reason enough to end the hazardous practice, but even more concerning are the detention centers where the remaining 10% are held. In 2001, the Howard government passed the Pacific Solution, authorizing the transport of asylum-seekers to island nations and offshore detention centers (Turning Back Boats). Since then, countless human rights violations have occurred at the Christmas Island, Manus Island, and Nauru detention centers (Murray). The asylum-seekers, some children, are often detained in poor conditions for indefinite periods of time, subjected to enhanced screenings, and refused legal representation or the right to appeal (Australia). After Howard left office in 2006 the refugee policies stopped, and the Australian government worked to heal the damage done to the islanders and its international reputation (Turning Back Boats). However, under PM Tony Abbott, the asylum seeker policies returned in 2014 through Operation Sovereign
The conditions on the boat were terrible and most of the immigrants went the whole trip without food or water and many died. Fraser's Government implemented a programme of controlled immigration and also started taking refugees from the camps in Southeast Asia. By 1978 Australia was involved in the Orderly Departure Program from Vietnam. Over ninety thousand Indo-Chinese refugees came to Australia in the ten years after the Vietnam War. But Australians did not take to the new policy very well at first. They had been told too much of the ‘yellow peril’ and many were fearful of what large numbers of Asians arriving would mean for Australian society. Assimilation had been government policy towards racial differences for many years, but that started to change in Australia in the late 1960s, as can be seen in the difference in the way the Indigenous peoples came to be viewed. In 1967 a referendum was held that gave the federal government shared power with the States to make legislation on behalf of the Indigenous people. This meant that Aboriginal people could no longer be restricted in their movements or kept on 'reservations' in their State. The referendum also meant that Aboriginal people were counted in the Australian Census for the first time. This meant that when the refugees from Indochina began to arrive in
Liberty is a fundamental human right, recognized in major human rights instruments to which Australia is a party. People who are held in detention are particularly vulnerable to violations of their human rights.
In Adelman’s Canadian Borders and Immigration Post 9/11 and Hugo’s Australia Immigration Policy: The Significance of the Events of September 11, both authors explore the effects of 9/11 on the Canadian immigration and refugee policy and on the Australian asylum seeker policy respectively. To arrive at their findings, both authors use media coverage, public opinion, and examination of post 9/11 impacts on the policies of both states. Additionally, Adelman uses new legislations that Canada adopted after the attacks while Hugo uses the justification of the Australian government for their change in policy. Attempting to reason states’ actual purpose for introducing controversial immigration policies is problematic. Adelman and Hugo’s method of analysis and hurried conclusions show that the dilemma that arises in explaining immigration trends, including policies.
Mostly people migrate for their self- imporovement. However, there are other driving forces of migration, viz., the social disturbances, political turbulence, national disaster, family reunion and so on. However, there are a lot of challenges to be faced by migrants in their new settlement either in a form of Ethnic or religious minorities. As we research the migration challenges faced by various groups of migrant, there are a lot of evidences those reveal that Muslims migrants the most challenged group of migrants as of their religious minority. This paper discuss about……
Although, asylum seekers and refugees are given a few options if they feel as though their rights are being breached, like they can apply to tribunals and courts to view their visa related decisions, they can also make a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission about their human rights being breached in immigration detention centres, yet they do not have control over who enters the country, the government is not obliged to comply with the recommendations that are made. Although the government has made few attempts to comply with the human rights obligations towards asylum seekers and refugees by introducing new policies and prioritising the safety of the children in these detention camps, there are currently still many breaches towards their rights that the government continues to adapt, therefore they are still constituting a breach of international law.
Since the time of federation the Aboriginal people have been fighting for their rights through protests, strikes and the notorious ‘day of mourning’. However, over the last century the Australian federal government has generated policies which manage and restrained that of the Aboriginal people’s rights, citizenships and general protection. The Australian government policy that has had the most significant impact on indigenous Australians is the assimilation policy. The reasons behind this include the influences that the stolen generation has had on the indigenous Australians, their relegated rights and their entitlement to vote and the impact that the policy has had on the indigenous people of Australia.
As a signatory to the UN 1951 refugee convention, we have already agreed, not to return asylum seekers or to detain them indefinitely. In 2001, the Tampa incident brought disrepute to us as we failed to take the right action. Another wave of backlash irrupted when Indonesian fishing vessel codenamed SEIV X sank in northern waters. The UN is highly critical on the practice of mandatory detention over long periods. As a law abiding nation, we need to keep our citizens well informed of our obligations under UN convention so that we can collectively meet our obligations in true spirit. Once Australians realise that we are providing over 200,000 migrant visas annually and the asylum seekers would occupy less than 2% of it and irrespective of the fears mongered by politicians, almost 93% of asylum seekers who arrived by boat in the have been recognized as “genuine” refugees by Australian authorities and the popular “country shoppers” or “economic migrant” stories do not represent the reality, it is not difficult to develop a national consensus on this ongoing, unavoidable issue in an overpopulated world with a massive imbalance in resource
In the 1990s, former Prime Minister Paul Keating introduced mandatory, indefinite detention for all refugees who arrived by boat. Since then, compulsory conditions for those seeking asylum in Australia have only worsened. In 2013, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made the announcement that no asylum seeker arriving by boat would ever be settled in Australia. This decision was very controversial but sadly the Australian public’s feelings were ignored and men, women and children were held prisoner at Nauru’s Regional Processing Centre. Imprisoned for weeks, months and years The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that, Transfield Services, who run the detention centre, have cited 67 child abuse claims, 33 sexual assault and rape claims and 253 self harm attempts.
Before the change of migration policies in Australia, it was very difficult to get into Australia unless you were a white European. Even skilled migrants from Asia had dilemmas migrating to Australia. Eventually, these policies changed due to the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Before, there were less than 2000 Vietnamese in Australia, but these figures significantly changed after ten years. During the 1970s, more than half of the Vietnam population relocated due to fear and desperation from the war. Over 90,000 of these refugees came to Australia after the Vietnam War, looking for hope for a new beginning. Most of them stayed in Australia, leaving a permanent impression on Australian and making a great contribution to society. They have brought over their culture, food, new knowledge and their will to do hard work.
Australia is a multicultural country where immigrants from all over the world immigrate to Australia. This research is focused on Australian’s immigrants who play a big role in this society. Immigration carries significant factors that affect the process of adaptation on an immigrant. The significant factors discussed further on are social factors, economic factors and cultural factors. To understand immigration and immigrant it would be explained the meaning of it and the types of immigrants. Answering the Research question, it would also be explained what an immigrant aims to reach by explaining the factors that help to feel settled in a new country. As I’m an immigrant in Australia I personally know how factors affect directly the process of adaptation. During this research I aim to prove how these factors affect the process of adaption. It is intended to make useful recommendations to the host country and to the immigrants in order to adapt to a new country easily. It must be said that not everyone experience the same process of adaptation because everyone is exposed to different factors. Moreover, immigrants may experience more than one factor as one factor can lead to the development of other factor.
The world today is witnessing the highest levels of home displacement and refugees ever recorded, and it is occurring everywhere. 22.5 million refugees were recognised in 2016 all over the world, and in Australia alone, 182 thousand people migrated over to this country because of many different reasons (UNHCR, 2018). This issue relates to suffering, good and evil, and Catholic decision making, and will be explored further in this essay.
a topic of great debate for many years, both in the UK and across many