How Can We Treat Refugees Humanely? – An Australian Perspective
Thor May
[Image source: see Norton below]
Australia - Refugee & Protection Visa Requests 2013 (refer Evershed 2012)
Australia - Protection Visas Granted in 2013 (ref. Dept. Immigration)
People born overseas (refer Tenorio 2013)
1. The terms of discussion This has been a tough topic to handle because it has so many strands and so many possible perspectives. The notes to follow are my own angle at the moment and should be taken only as a starting point. The long reading list at the end contains many more arguments, historical and current. There is a problem even debating an issue like refugee policy and practice without being ineffectual. Everyone has an opinion and a vote. Frequently opinions are emotional but many off the cuff the opinions exhibit a lack of perspective and background understanding. Specifically, in any discussion including the word “refugee” and “humane”, the word “should” is likely to colour every paragraph. The word “should” is a cloak to cover the naked conscience of decent people, and the hypocrisy of others. The word “should” is too often an evasion of responsibility, and in the end can be a barrier to helping anyone, for “should” typically suggests promises without a real world likelihood of solution. Perhaps “should” is best avoided. 2. Who is “we”? “We” can refer to ourselves as individuals, or to some supposed model of “an Australian” in the culture, or to the actions of government agents or politicians as representatives of a population. “We” can refer whole nations, or supposed cultural groupings, such as “Westerners”. “We” can even refer to the whole of humanity. The ambiguity of “we” is significant in any discussion of refugees, as the focus of reference slips even in our own speech. 3. Personal humanity applied to refugees The question of treating refugees humanely, or not, is mostly easy at a personal level (you, me). Individuals will treat refugees face to face humanely, or not, according to the personality of that individual, when and how the encounter occurs, the personal sense of security of both individuals, prevailing cultural attitudes, governmental & educational encouragement (or not), recent media events, the actual ethnic origins of a particular refugee, and a host of other factors. In fact relatively few Australians encounter refugees while knowing that they are refugees. In disguised encounters the actual refugee will be treated as any individual, for better or for worse. As members of voluntary organizations some Australians may reach out in a more systematic way to help. As members of some more insular or selfish sub-culture, others may express hostility in a more systematic way. What is sanctioned politically will reflect these local community divisions. The community will always have this kind of distribution of attitudes, although the margins may swell or diminish depending upon events of the day. It is notable that Australian immigration detention centres have deliberate policies of separating detained refugees and others from contact with the general Australian population. This is achieved by remote or offshore location, as well as prisoner-like exclusion from contact in the name of security. An unspoken objective of such separation appears to be the prevention of personal relationships developing between detainees and the general public. The policy has a particularly brutal effect on children. 4. The national humane or inhumane treatment of refugees a) At a national level, at first glance it might also seem relatively straightforward to treat refugees humanely if we are talking about individuals already in Australia who have been accepted as refugees for resettlement (not that it is treated in a straightforward way by actual governments). In practice, the institutions of government - pretty well any government anywhere in the world - are not terribly good at accommodating the personal dramas, let alone traumas, of people under stress. This clumsiness, which can be brutal to individuals, comes from the particular limitations of governmental employees tasked with managing situations, from the institutional and financial frameworks within which they operate, and from the political leadership of whichever administration happens to be in power. No magic wand will ever transform this equation permanently. It can be temporarily influenced by public opinion and the actions of opinion leaders of the day. b) At a national level, in terms of who, how many and in what manner to accept refugees, for any government which wishes to actually remain in office, the issue can be fiendishly difficult. In implementation, it also depends upon what the agents of that government consider to be humane. A review of the history of decisions on immigration since the 19th Century will show repeated cycles of generosity, paranoia and exclusion. Periods of relative openness can generate heated public reaction which takes careful management to dissipate over time. Nevertheless, cumulatively Australia has accepted a significant number of asylum seekers: “From 1945 to the early 1990s more than half a million refugees and other displaced persons were accepted into Australia” (Wikipedia 2014, Asylum in Australia). c) Politics is the art of the possible. Politically, sometimes less for the moment is more over time. Sometimes political rhetoric is a cover for opposite actions. The man more responsible than any other for developing and expanding Australia’s modern immigration program (post-WW2) was Arthur Caldwell, who as Immigration Minister in 1947 stood up in parliament and declared: “I can promise the Australian people that we will never have a chocolate coloured Australia”. In private he studied mandarin. From 1947 that program has been based upon a mix of humanitarian refugees and economic migrants, with the division between these categories often unclear in particular cases. In addition to regular migration, in Australia (as in almost every country) there are a number of visa overstayers, a small percentage of whom become long term illegal residents. "The estimated number of people who have overstayed their visas and are in Australia at any one time was about 53 900 as at 30 June 2010. The number of overstayers equates to about 0.02 per cent of Australia's population" (the most current Department of Immigration Fact Sheet 2013, see reference below). The basic drill for overstayers is that they are deported and barred from returning for 3 years after repaying the cost of deportation. While asylum seekers arriving without permission by boat (a relatively small number of people) has been used ruthlessly as a tool for inflaming political passions, there has been political bipartisan agreement on the value of general immigration. The overstayer issue has remained below the political radar altogether. Waves of immigration from unfamiliar ethnic sources have always met a degree of community resistance, usually followed by acceptance over the course of the following generation. For example, refugee arrivals from Europe after World War II were first denigrated as "refos". The careful promotion of multicultural tolerance has removed any official imprimatur to private prejudice, and this has been extremely important in keeping the peace. However, current populist political exploitation of the "boat people" issue threatens that peace and sways public opinion, with public prejudice not assisted by the oxygen of anonymous Internet comment. An incoming Australian federal government (2013) has unfortunately continued to ride this surge of public prejudice, apparently for ideological reasons, and even to the extent of renaming the Department of Immigration as the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. Welcome to Fortress Australia. That is, the dividends of tolerance over the last two generations are in some danger of being lost. Recovery might be difficult. 5. The Uncontrolled Entry of Asylum Seekers by Sea a) At a national level, the official acceptance of refugees has been complicated by three extraneous factors. The first extraneous factor has been an issue since Vietnamese refugees began to arrive in the late 1970s. That factor is the uncontrolled arrival within Australian borders of asylum seekers on boats. In the case of Vietnam, that situation was eventually brought under control by negotiating a “controlled departure” agreement with the Vietnamese government. Between 200,000 and 400,000 Vietnamese asylum seekers perished at sea before this situation was stabilized. Note that there has been a recent increase in the number of Vietnamese boat people again, and the Vietnamese government has been showing renewed resistance to accepting people who have fled and then been rejected by destination countries. As a result Australia is now holding these people incommunicado in immigration detention (reference: Brummitt 2013). b) The second complicating factor in refugee arrivals is fairly recent. That is the involvement on both a large scale and small scale of organized crime in establishing “underground railroads” for the undocumented transfer of individuals across national borders. These underground railroad transfers involve many kinds of clients, with many kinds of motive, and the business is worldwide. For example there are transfers of fake students, undocumented workers, sex slaves, fake refugees, and so on. From a criminal perspective, the “people trade” has much in common with the drug trade, and it is likely that the same principals are often involved. Also in common with the drug trade is that large numbers of genuine or innocent persons become collateral damage. Given the history of the drug trade, it is also reasonable to suspect that certain segments of government in various countries develop a vested interest in “the problem” and seek to perpetuate it. This is almost certainly the case in Indonesia for example. The present Australian government with its “sovereign borders” program has set itself the task of breaking the business model of the human trafficking of asylum seekers by organized crime. Clearly the government is unsure how to break this trade, and by using distressed individuals as pawns (just as the people traders do), large numbers of genuine refugees become collateral damage. No humane solution to this dilemma is in sight. c) The third complicating factor to refugee arrival is mostly country specific (although see also the reference to Vietnam above). The Republic of Iran has notified the Australian government that it will not accept repatriated persons who have fled the country, in spite of Australian attempts to negotiate a return agreement. (Since Australia is a party to a sanctions regime against Iran that lack of cooperation might not be surprising). This means that even if Australia rejects the bona fides of an asylum seeker as a genuine refugee, there is no way to deport that person. The current Iranian regime distrusts these individuals precisely because they are usually well educated, middle or upper class, and not at all enthusiastic about religion in the context of a theocracy. That is, they are classed as actual or potential political opponents. The level of actual persecution in individual cases is difficult to establish. Iranians have surged to the top of the list of asylum seekers. In general their level of distress is probably not comparable to that of, for example, Syrian refugees at present. Many Iranians apply for asylum after arriving by air, after arranging forged documents through "agents", while others fly to Jakarta and take a boat at great risk (this is cheaper). As refugees they are knowledgeable and articulate about their rights, and for that reason are extremely unpopular with both Immigration Department officials and the Government. Thousands are being held in immigration detention limbo. Recent attempts by the Minister for Immigration to re-introduce temporary three year protection visas (as opposed to normal permanent protection visas) may be traceable to this problem. From a coldly pragmatic perspective (regardless of humanitarian issues) middle class Iranians will probably be quite successful immigrants, whether or not their arrival was legitimate. Of course, many Iranians have also already immigrated to Australia on skilled migrant visas, or as postgraduate students. 6. The Global Dimension of the Refugee Problem At a worldwide level, treating refugees humanely, let alone resolving the source creation of refugees, might be a wish to be worked for, but a blizzard of social, economic and political factors local to many crises put the wish beyond anyone’s power to implement well. The problem is doubly intractable because of the criminal tendencies of many national governments. The actual number of people recognized as refugees globally is a diffuse and expanding statistic. Hartcher (2013, reference list) quotes a UN figure of 45.2 million, but there are hundreds of millions more who need some kind of humanitarian protection status. 7. A Current Debate Focus The treatment of refugees by governments, and in particular the Australian government, is probably where this debate can be most usefully centred. The following material comes directly from a Commonwealth of Australia Immigration Department fact sheet (https://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/60refugee.htm ). Since publication, Australia has had a change of government to one probably less sympathetic to refugees, though favourable to more skilled migration, so future statistics are likely to vary quite a bit :Outcomes of 2012–13 programme:In 2012–13, the Humanitarian Programme was increased to 20 000 places from 13 750 places in 2011–12. A total of 20 019 visas were granted under the Humanitarian Programme, of which 12 515 visas were granted under the offshore component and 7504 visas were granted under the onshore component. See the tables below for further details on the 2012–13 programme outcomes. Woman at Risk In 2012–13, 1673 visas (13.9 per cent) of the Refugee category were granted to Woman at Risk visa applicants, exceeding the nominal annual target of 12 per cent. Applications In 2012–13, a total of 50 444 people lodged applications under the offshore programme component compared with 42 928 in 2011–12. Humanitarian Programme figures
1 Includes protection visas and onshore humanitarian visa grants that are countable under the Humanitarian Programme.
8. The Effectiveness of the Australian Government’s Humanitarian Immigration Program a) In the context of a worldwide official total refugee problem of 45.2 million, 20 thousand people admitted to Australia annually is obviously trivial. It is also obvious that socially and politically Australia cannot diminish the total number of international refugees in a meaningful way. For example, to take a million refugees per annum into Australia would totally distort the Australian economy and lead to massive electoral revolt by the Australian population. b) By choosing to accept a limited number of refugees from selected sources Australia has in the past enhanced its international reputation (“soft power” is important) and in the long run advantaged its economy. In reality, this cherry picking is likely to continue. There is ample evidence that some cultural groups fit more quickly than others into the existing Australian population mix, and over several generations have a higher level of success. No government is likely to make this explicit in its policy, but all will make it a significant part of implementation. For example, some of the worst refugee suffering is now found in central Africa, but we are unlikely to see more than a token admission of individuals from that region. Syrian refugees with significant skills are likely to find a warmer welcome than Afghanis with few skills, although both will be handicapped for entry by concerns about extreme religious tendencies. Such “hidden rules” in refugee policy might seem unpalatable in coffee table discussion, but they are not going to vanish under any Australian political regime. c) Any government will only devote limited resources to a refugee program. It is therefore a practical question as to how well these limited resources are actually deployed. In fact, regardless of the humanitarian feelings of politicians and administrators (or the lack thereof), arguments from economic efficiency can be one of the most powerful tools for keeping their actions sane. The current budget for the humanitarian refugee program is hopelessly distorted away from actually assisting refugees. Here are the numbers (see Bianca Hall, April 30 2013 in references): ” While the figure is expected to be revised in the May budget, offshore processing is currently forecast to cost $2.3 billion over the next four years. The United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees' regional spokesman, Richard Towle, said this was a matter for Australia, but said: ''I would say, however, that UNHCR's global budget for this year is $3.7 billion and with that money we're expected to respond to the crises of Syria, Mali, Afghanistan, for 25 million globally.'' Added to the current expenses is not only the enormous cost of offshore detention, but the bottomless cost of a “sovereign border” solution by the navy. Both of these are driven politically not by the needs of genuine refugees but by the struggle (“war”) to defeat the alleged people trade by organized crime. The ‘war on drugs’, American style, is not a promising model for an effective solution to human trafficking. There needs to be some very creative thinking put into this dilemma, and a search for solutions which do not put genuine refugees at risk. Immigration detention, if and when we decide it is unavoidable, remains problematic in many ways (see paragraph 9 to follow). From a financial perspective, offshore detention is the least rational of all solutions. Supporting asylum seekers financially onshore, either embedded within the normal community or in closed detention, does imply significant governmental expenditure, especially when they are barred from employment. However this apparent expenditure is recycled directly into the Australian community through the purchase of goods and services. The money goes around, which is what provides the momentum for everything we do in a national economy. A national economy is not analogous to an individual's household budget (a point which less sophisticated voters never grasp). Offshore detention in foreign countries does not generate anything like the same stimulation through recycling into the Australian economy. A large part of the funding haemorrhages as foreign exchange expenditure - a net loss.
source: Murray 2013 (see reading list) 9. Making sense of immigration detention a) Where the Australian government is involved in immigration detention of some kind, offshore or onshore, there is also an intense need for creative and humane solutions. It is no kind of “solution” to multiply the psychological damage accumulated by refugees by warehousing them under punitive conditions. These people are not criminals, and it would be useful in Australian law to make it illegal to refer to them as criminals. b) For those asylum seekers who are eventually given permanent residence in Australia, it is in the national interest that they enter as stable and optimistic individuals, not people psychologically crippled from years of unpredictable, punitive incarceration. Where they are involved in a waiting period it would make absolute economic and humanitarian sense to have them involved in productive activities which exercise or develop their skills. c) For those asylum seekers whom the Australian government does decline to accept into a humanitarian program, it is important both for common decency and for Australia’s “soft power” reputation that they be turned away in good condition and without a lifelong resentment of this nation. After all, the Middle Eastern wars in which Australia has meddled hopelessly for a decade have all contained a large element of blowback based on local resentment from earlier, poorly conceived policies. It would be in Australia’s interest to actively help these individuals to find and accept the best available solutions to their personal problems. References ABC (3 February 2014) "Human Rights Commission to assess welfare of children in immigration detention". Australian Broadcasting Commission website, online @ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-03/human-rights-inquiry-into-asylum-children-in-detention/5233496 Aljazeera (24 Jul 2013) "Australia to probe refugee rape claims in PNG - Manus Island offshore-processing camp claims emerge as PM defends new Papua New Guinea policy in wake of boat tragedy." Aljazeera newspaper, online @ http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/07/201372451716209209.html Amnesty International (2014) "Migrants and Refugees". Amnesty International website, online @ http://www.amnesty.org/en/refugees-and-migrants Antolak, Ryszard (n.d.) "Iran and the Polish Exodus from Russia 1942". Pars Times website, online @ http://www.parstimes.com/history/polish_refugees/exodus_russia.html Aston, Heath (November 16, 2013) "A hard fact to follow - An asylum seeker who was moved off Nauru to give birth has been kept away from her newborn." The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/a-hard-fact-to-follow-20131116-2xn65.html#ixzz2ko2xmLCK Australia, Department of Immigration (2013) "Asylum Statistics - March Quarter 2013". Federal Department of Immigration, online @ http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/asylum/_files/asylum-stats-march-quarter-2013.pdf Australia, Department of Immigration (2012) "Asylum Statistics - March Quarter 2012". Federal Department of Immigration, online @ https://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/asylum/_files/asylum-stats-march-quarter-2012.pdf Australia, Department of Immigration (2013) "Fact Sheet 86 – Overstayers and Other Unlawful Non-citizens". Commonwealth of Australia website, online @ http://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/86overstayers-and-other-unlawful-non-citizens.htm Australian Human Rights Commission (2014) "Asylum Seekers & Refugees". AHRC website, online @ https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/asylum-seekers-and-refugees Australian Human Rights Commission (2014) "Immigration Detention and Human Rights ". AHRC website, online @ https://www.humanrights.gov.au/immigration-detention-and-human-rights Babon, Andrea (23 July 2013) "What life can a resettled refugee expect in PNG?" TheConversation website, online @ http://theconversation.com/what-life-can-a-resettled-refugee-expect-in-png-16297 Bachelard, Michael (January 11, 2014} "He knocked at the front door only to have it slammed in his face". Sydney Morning Herald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/national/he-knocked-at-the-front-door-only-to-have-it-slammed-in-his-face-20140110-30mkf.html#ixzz2q2WQIeAM Bachelard, Michael (November 8, 2013) "Mid-ocean stand-off as Australian customs vessel tries to turn back asylum seeker boat to Indonesia" The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/midocean-standoff-as-australian-customs-vessel-tries-to-turn-back-asylum-seeker-boat-to-indonesia-20131107-2x4qs.html#ixzz2k0NDq0ya Bachelard, Michael (February 6, 2014) "Australia turns back sixth boat carrying asylum seekers". Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-turns-back-sixth-boat-carrying-asylum-seekers-20140206-323u7.html#ixzz2safbn0ha Bachelard, Michael (February 7, 2014) "Witness details burns claims". Brisbane Times, online @ Baker, Mark (January 18, 2014) "The human tide." Sydney Morning Herald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/world/the-human-tide-20140113-30pbc.html#ixzz2qhdu4XiN Billingsley, Anthony (30 October 2013) "Mutual misery: the Syrian refugee crisis, Lebanon and Australia". TheConversation website, online @ http://theconversation.com/search?q=refugee Birmingham, John (January 21, 2014) "The Ballad of Admiral Morrison". The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/blogs/blunt-instrument/the-ballad-of-admiral-morrison-20140121-315c0.html#ixzz2qzA3XBMU Brisbane Times (25 January 2013) "Top 20 Queensland suburbs with overseas-born residents". The Brisbane Times, online @ https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=218216393830428101562.0004d3f013e518cbf4c70&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=-27.551199,153.021698&spn=0.106536,0.205994&z=12&source=embed Broomhall, Susan (21 January 2014) "The asylum seekers who frightened Elizabethan England". TheConversation website, online @ http://theconversation.com/the-asylum-seekers-who-frightened-elizabethan-england-21743 Brummitt, Chris (May 9, 2013) "40 years on, fleeing Vietnamese take to seas again". ReporterOnline website, online @ Butler, Ben with Rory Callinan and Georgia Wilkins (March 1, 2014) "Manus Island's $3.5m kitchen in a tent". Brisbane Times online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/manus-islands-35m-kitchen-in-a-tent-20140228-33qub.html Chan, Gabrielle (2 September 2013)"Asylum seekers in Australia fall by more than half in a month, says Burke - Boat arrivals in August totalled 1,585, down from 4,236 in July, after announcement of 'PNG solution'". The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/02/asylum-seeker-numbers-fall-tony-burke Chan, Gabrielle (6 August 2013) "Asylum seekers can 'settle and reside' in Nauru but can't become citizens - Kevin Rudd clarifies the agreement signed with Nauru after a Nauruan spokesman reportedly contradicted PM's position." The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/06/no-nauru-citizenship-for-asylum-seekers ChildOut (8 December 2013) "Darwin Detention : Damaging Children". Childout website, online @ http://www.chilout.org/ Chulov, Martin and Harriet Grant (14 January 2014 ) "EU must open doors to avoid Syrian refugee catastrophe, says UN". The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/13/syrian-refugee-catastrophe-european-union-united-nations Cox, Emma (29 January 2014) "Refuge and refusal: why theatre about asylum seekers matters". TheConversation website, online @ http://theconversation.com/refuge-and-refusal-why-theatre-about-asylum-seekers-matters-21640 Crock and Ghezelbash (25 Jul 2013) "What is a persecuted Iranian to do?" The Drum, ABC website, online @ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-24/ghezelbash-crock-making-iranian-refugees-disappear-by-decree/4840158 Dastyari, Azadeh (18 July 2013) "Explainer: Australia’s obligations under the UN Refugee Convention". TheConversation website, online @ http://theconversation.com/explainer-australias-obligations-under-the-un-refugee-convention-16195 Douglas, Robert (18 December 2013) "Seeing refugee flows in a broader context points to a better way". TheConversation website, online @ http://theconversation.com/seeing-refugee-flows-in-a-broader-context-points-to-a-better-way-21499 DrMemex (13 Jun 2008) "Escape From Woomera". [demo walkthrough of 'Escape From Woomera', an important Australian political game mod]. Youtube video, online @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYRJmQvXWSs ECRE (2014) "Refugees in the European Union". European Council on Refugees and Exiles website, online @ http://ecre.org/refugees/refugees/refugees-in-the-eu.html Evershed, Nick (28 August 2012) "Where are Australia's refugees and skilled migrants coming from?" The Guardian, online @ Farrell, Paul (7 February 2014) "Coalition finds fresh way to bring back temporary visas for asylum seekers". The Guardian, online @ Farrell, Paul (7 February 2014) "ABC asylum seeker reporting makes me 'sick to stomach', says David Johnston. - Defence minister says corporation’s ‘attack’ on Australian navy made him so angry he needed time to cool off". The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/07/abc-asylum-seeker-reporting-makes-me-stick-to-stomach-says-david-johnston Farrell, Paul and Oliver Laughland (24 October 2013) "Claims of sexual assault rife in immigration detention, reports show Dozens of serious allegations have been made by staff, adults and children in detention centres, according to incident reports". The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/24/claims-sexual-assault-immigration-detention Farrell, Paul (30 January 2014). "Asylum seekers who swear or spit could be sent offshore, says leaked warning". The Guardian online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/30/asylum-seekers-who-swear-or-spit-could-be-sent-offshore-says-leaked-warning Fitton, Daniel (July 19, 2013) "Numbers don't lie: PNG solution flawed". The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/numbers-dont-lie-png-solution-flawed-20130719-2q8yr.html#ixzz2ZX3WSKBK Flitton, Daniel and Michael Gordon (May 23, 2013) "ASIO backs down on threat ruling". Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/asio-backs-down-on-threat-ruling-20130522-2k0uz.html#ixzz2U4O8EEcf Gawenda, Michael (January 18, 2014) "A land of ghosts". Sydney Morning Herald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/world/a-land-of-ghosts-20140113-30pbe.html#ixzz2qhk6hAcV Golding, Daniel (2 September 2013) "Videogames and politics: Why was Escape From Woomera so divisive?" Australian Broadcasting Commission, Arts site, online @ http://www.abc.net.au/arts/blog/Daniel-Golding/videogames-politics-Escape-From-Woomera-130901/default.htm Gordon, Michael (February 7, 2014) "No transparency or effort to establish facts about asylum seekers' abuse allegations". The Brisbae Times, online @ Gordon, Michael ( January 28, 2014) "Christmas Island detainees vulnerable: Senator Hanson-Young". Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/christmas-island-detainees-vulnerable-senator-hansonyoung-20140127-31iy1.html#ixzz2re3IRbUG Grant, Harriet and John Domokos (14 January 2014) "The refugee challenge: can you break into Fortress Europe?" The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactive/2014/jan/refugee-choices-interactive Hall, Bianca (April 30, 2013) "'Ashamed to be Australian': doctor slams Manus Island centre". Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/ashamed-to-be-australian-doctor-slams-manus-island-centre-20130429-2iov1.html#ixzz2RtiQ6jd5 Hall, Bianca (January 26, 2014) "Navy examines staff links to racist group." Sydney Morning Herald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/national/navy-examines-staff-links-to-racist-group-20140125-31fbr.html#ixzz2rSKt9oaz Hall, Bianca (January 5, 2013) "Smuggled photos shed light on realities of Manus". The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/political-news/smuggled-photos-shed-light-on-realities-of-manus-20130104-2c8w0.html#ixzz2H3cLmglZ Hall, Bianca (July 27, 2013) "In Deep Waters". Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/in-deep-waters-20130726-2qq3x.html#ixzz2aCO9QuCq Hall, Bianca (October 20, 2013) "Minister wants boat people called illegals". The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/minister-wants-boat-people-called-illegals-20131019-2vtl0.html#ixzz2iDOHXD26 Hakimzadeh, Shirin (2006) "Iran: A Vast Diaspora Abroad and Millions of Refugees at Home". MigrationInformation.org website, online @ Hartcher, Peter (July 23, 2013) "Stop the boats but not the people." The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/stop-the-boats-but-not-the-people-20130722-2qeqj.html#ixzz2Zp8iyDTO Hartcher, Peter (March 1, 2014) "Breaking the Australian government's silence on stopping the boats". Brisbane Times online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/breaking-the-australian-governments-silence-on-stopping-the-boats-20140228-33r3b.html Human Rights Commission (Wednesday 28 November 2001 to Thursday 13 May 2004) "National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention". Australian Human Rights Commission website, online @ http://www.humanrights.gov.au/national-inquiry-children-immigration-detention Hunter, Emma (21 November 2013) "My experience as a nurse on Christmas Island changed the core of my being". The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/21/my-experience-as-a-nurse-on-christmas-island-changed-the-core-of-my-being?CMP=ema_632 Hurst, Daniel (29 January 2014) "Tony Abbott attacks ABC for ‘taking everyone's side but Australia's’ Prime minister takes issue with national broadcaster’s reporting on asylum seeker claims and ‘traitor' Edward Snowden". The Guardian online @ http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/29/tony-abbott-attacks-abc-for-taking-everyones-side-but-australias Hurst, Daniel (31 January 2014) "Asylum-seeker inquiry: customs ‘don’t give a damn’ about media coverage". The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/31/asylum-seeker-inquiry-customs-dont-give-damn-media-coverage?CMP=ema_632 IRC (2014) "Frequently Asked Questions About Refugees and Resettlement". International Rescue Committee website, online @ http://www.rescue.org/frequently-asked-questions-about-refugees-and-resettlement Karim, K (January 27, 2014) "Help me to immigrate and take 4000 AUD immediately". AirTasker website, online @ https://www.airtasker.com/tasks/help-me-to-immigrate-and-take-4000-aud-immediately Kenny, Mark and Michael Bachelard (January 25, 2014) "Probe into asylum seeker burns claim stalls." Sydney Morning Herald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/probe-into-asylum-seeker-burns-claim-stalls-20140124-31ecc.html#ixzz2rMTfu7A9 Kenny, Mark (January 31, 2014) "Morrison's conviction in the face of anger". Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/morrisons-conviction-in-the-face-of-anger-20140131-31szj.html Kestenbaum, David (February 21, 2013) "Three Ways To Totally Transform U.S. Immigration Policy". National Public Radio (U.S.A.), online @ http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/02/21/172501563/three-ways-to-totally-transform-u-s-immigration-policy Larson, Krista (February 13, 2014) "'Ethnic cleansing' fears in Central African Republic". Sydney Morning Herald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/world/ethnic-cleansing-fears-in-central-african-republic-20140213-hvc55.html#ixzz2t9YP51js Laughland, Oliver (20 July 2013) "Nauru detention centre burns down - Riot destroys most of asylum-seeker processing facility on island, with detainees being moved to second, incomplete site." The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/20/nauru-detention-centre-burns-down Laughland, Oliver and Asher Wolf (12 February 2014) "Asylum seekers: consultancy behind graphic campaign holds $2m contract". The Guardian online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/12/asylum-seekers-consultancy-graphic-2m-contract Laughland, Oliver (23 September 2013) "Scott Morrison defends vow of silence on asylum seeker boat arrivals". http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/23/scott-morrison-border-policy Laughland, Oliver with Paul Farrell and Nick Evershed (7 January 2014) "Manus Island reports reveal four months of suffering for asylum seekers". The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2014/jan/06/manus-detention-reports-four-months#undefined Laughland, Oliver (11 February 2014) "Australian government targets asylum seekers with graphic campaign". The Guardian, online @ May, Thor (1984) "The Price of Freedom". [true story of an escape by boat from Vietnam]. Academia.edu website, online @ http://www.academia.edu/2430900/The_Price_of_Freedom_..the_true_story_of_a_Vietnamese_military_officers_escape_from_Vietnam_and_its_aftermath Marr, David and Oliver Laughland (5 August 2014) “Australia's detention regime sets out to make asylum seekers suffer, says chief immigration psychiatrist: Doctor responsible for mental health of people in detention becomes the most senior figure to condemn system from within, saying immigration department deliberately harms vulnerable detainees in a process akin to torture”. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/05/-sp-australias-detention-regime-sets-out-to-make-asylum-seekers-suffer-says-chief-immigration-psychiatrist Minas, Harry (8 October 2013) "Getting the facts about refugee and migrant mental health in Australia". TheConversation website, online @ http://theconversation.com/getting-the-facts-about-refugee-and-migrant-mental-health-in-australia-18902 Morton, Rick (December 20, 2013) "Scott Morrison revokes cap on protection visas". The Australian, online @ Murphy, Catherine (March 5, 2013) "Free-for-all on foreigners as leaders chase votes". Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/freeforall-on-foreigners-as-leaders-chase-votes-20130305-2fhwh.html Murphy, Katharine (January 24, 2014) "Coalition trumpets border protection success after no boat arrivals in 36 days." The Guardian, online @ Murray, Glenn (October 29, 2013) "The facts about ‘boat people’ – The government & media are lying". [contains some very explanatory graphs] GlennMurray.com.au blog, online @ http://www.glennmurray.com.au/australia-boat-people-illegal-policy/ Needham, Kirsty (October 3, 2011) "Surge in numbers of Iranian boat arrivals". The Age, online @ http://www.theage.com.au/national/surge-in-numbers-of-iranian-boat-arrivals-20111002-1l3x1.html Norton, Andrew (2010) "Sympathy and Scepticism on Refugees". [note: this website is the source of the image showing attitudes in 2010 ] Personal blog, online @ http://andrewnorton.info/2010/11/02/sympathy-and-scepticism-on-refugees/ Persian Tribune (June 3, 2013) "Canada to Welcome 5,000 Iranian and Iraqi refugees Now in Turkey". Persian Tribune Website, online @ Phillips, Melissa (16 November 2013) "Outsourcing refugee policy: the Australia-Indonesia ‘people swap’". TheConversation website, online @ http://theconversation.com/outsourcing-refugee-policy-the-australia-indonesia-people-swap-20333 Power, Julie (February 25, 2013) "Survivors grab chance to help refugees adjust". The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/survivors-grab-chance-to-help-refugees-adjust-20130224-2eznh.html Refugee Council of Australia (2013) “Statistical Publications and Tools”. Refugee Council of Australia website, online @ http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/r/stat-pub.php Refugee Council of Australia (2013) “Global Refugee Statistics”. Refugee Council of Australia website, online @ https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/r/stat-int.php Reilly, Alex (20 August 2013) "FactCheck: are Australia’s refugee acceptance rates high compared with other nations?" TheConversation website, online @ http://theconversation.com/factcheck-are-australias-refugee-acceptance-rates-high-compared-with-other-nations-17151 Reuters (February 7, 2014) "1100 migrants rescued off coast of Sicily". Sydney Morning Herald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/world/1100-migrants-rescued-off-coast-of-sicily-20140207-hvbj7.html#ixzz2saapRuDr Reuters (February 4, 2014) "UN appeals for Sahel aid as conflict, climate change take their toll". Sydney Morning Herald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/un-appeals-for-sahel-aid-as-conflict-climate-change-take-their-toll-20140204-31xye.html#ixzz2sJ6zDOZq Siegel, Matt (November 10, 2011) "Risking It All to Reach Australia". The New York Times, online @ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/11/world/asia/some-iranians-risk-it-all-to-reach-australia.html?pagewanted=all Sigona, Nando (4 October 2013) "Italy ignores real cause of Lampedusa refugee tragedy". TheConversation website, online @ http://theconversation.com/italy-ignores-real-cause-of-lampedusa-refugee-tragedy-18928 Spinks, Harriet (5 February 2013) “Destination anywhere? Factors affecting asylum seekers’ choice of destination country". Parliament of Australia, Social Policy Section, Research Paper no. 1 2012–13, online @ http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1213/13rp01 Stephens, Kim ( August 17, 2013) "Queensland reflects on its slavery past". The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-reflects-on-its-slavery-past-20130816-2s2bn.html#ixzz2cAYerJbj Stewart, Cameron and Paige Taylor (July 18, 2013) "Border patrols at breaking point over asylum boats". The Australian, online @ http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/border-patrols-at-breaking-point-over-asylum-boats/story-fn9hm1gu-1226681034941 Taylor, Lenore (20 June 2013) "Julia Gillard working on 'regional solution' to slow asylum boats - Government rethinks asylum seeker policy as backbenchers warn of political consequences". The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/20/julia-gillard-regional-solution-boats Taylor, Lenore (4 December 2013) "Scott Morrison uses ministerial decree to halt permanent protection visas - Asylum advocates label move that will leave about 33,000 people on bridging visas without working rights 'heartbreaking'". The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/04/scott-morrison-uses-ministerial-decree-to-halt-permanent-protection-visas Taylor, Lenore and Oliver Laughland (16 December 2013) "Asylum seekers living in Australia forced to sign code of conduct - Code of conduct threatens cancellation of visa and transfer to offshore processing if asylum seekers fail to meet obligations." The Guardian, online @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/16/asylum-seekers-living-in-australia-forced-to-sign-code-of-conduct?CMP=ema_632 Tenorio, Robert (Sep 17 2013) "232 Million People Left Their Countries for New Ones—Where Did They Go?" http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/232-million-people-left-their-countries-for-new-ones-where-did-they-go/279741/ The Royal Society (April 24, 2013) "Original Australians numbered 1000 to 3000". The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/technology-news/original-australians-numbered-1000-to-3000-20130424-2ie2u.html#ixzz2RNEtl5Yu UNHCR (2014) "2014 UNHCR country operations profile - Europe". United Nations Refugee Agency website, online @ http://www.unhcr.org/pages/4a02d9346.html Vasilyeva, Nataliya (November 5, 2013) "Anti-immigrant nationalists rally in Moscow". The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/world/antiimmigrant-nationalists-rally-in-moscow-20131105-2wxse.html#ixzz2jilvPH2A Whyte, Sarah (February 4, 2014) "ASIO warned over blocking refugee access to lawyers." http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/asio-warned-over-blocking-refugee-access-to-lawyers-20140204-31yj6.html#ixzz2sLwvREKg Whyte, Sarah (February 11, 2014) "Greens, Labor aim to kill off new temporary visa". Sydney Morning Herald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/greens-labor-aim-to-kill-off-new-temporary-visa-20140210-32cnq.html#ixzz2syPUwo9z Wikipedia (2014) "Immigration to Australia". Wikipedia online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Australia Wikipedia (2014) "Asylum in the United States". Wikipedia online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_in_the_United_States Wikipedia (2014) "Refugee". Wikipedia, online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee Wikipedia (2014) "Temporary Protection Visa (Australia)". Wikipedia Website, online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_protection_visa Wikipedia (2014) "Vietnamese Boat People". [ The number of boat people leaving Vietnam and arriving safely in another country totalled almost 800,000 between 1975 and 1995 ... According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, between 200,000 and 400,000 boat people died at sea ...] Wikipedia, online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_boat_people Wikipedia (2014) “Asylum in Australia”. Wikipedia, online @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_in_Australia Wood, Stephanie (December 16, 2013) "Abbott sacks asylum seeker health advisers." The Brisbane Times, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-sacks-asylum-seeker-health-advisers-20131215-2zfg8.html#ixzz2naDLAdDD Wroe, David (January 10, 2014) "Turn-back angers Indonesia." Sydney Morning Herald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/turnback-angers-indonesia-20140109-30kkh.html#ixzz2pwn85s5o Wroe, David (February 11, 2014) "Lifeboats used to send asylum seekers back to Indonesia only used once". Sydney Morning Herald, online @ http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/lifeboats-used-to-send-asylum-seekers-back-to-indonesia-only-used-once-20140210-32cvc.html#ixzz2sxrl4q2F The source of this document: meetup group: originally Gentle Thinkers http://www.meetup.com/Gentle-Thinkers/ discussions now at Active Thinking http://www.meetup.com/Brisbane-Active-Thinking-Meetup/discussion topics blog (for the list of proposed topics): http://discussiontopics.thormay.net/ topics already discussed: http://thormay.net/unwiseideas/DiscussionTopics/DiscussionIndex.htm comments: Thor May - thormay@yahoo.com; Thor's own websites: 1. articles at http://independent.academia.edu/ThorMay ; 2. main site: http://thormay.net Professional bio: Thor May has a core professional interest in cognitive linguistics, at which he has rarely succeeded in making a living. He has also, perhaps fatally in a career sense, cultivated an interest in how things work – people, brains, systems, countries, machines, whatever… In the world of daily employment he has mostly taught English as a foreign language, a stimulating activity though rarely regarded as a profession by the world at large. His PhD dissertation, Language Tangle, dealt with language teaching productivity. Thor has been teaching English to non-native speakers, training teachers and lecturing linguistics, since 1976. This work has taken him to seven countries in Oceania and East Asia, mostly with tertiary students, but with a couple of detours to teach secondary students and young children. He has trained teachers in Australia, Fiji and South Korea. In an earlier life, prior to becoming a teacher, he had a decade of finding his way out of working class origins, through unskilled jobs in Australia, New Zealand and finally England (after backpacking across Asia in 1972). contact: http://thormay.net thormay@yahoo.com academic repository: Academia.edu at http://independent.academia.edu/ThorMay How can we treat refugees humanely? (c) Thor May 2014
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Refugees, or more particularly asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australian territory without prior authorization, are a hot button political issue in Australia. The public sentiment against them has hardened in the last several years, partly as a result of relentless populist political rhetoric. In 2013 the Australian people elected a new federal government which has continued to pursue an antagonistic policy against asylum seekers. In this environment, a Brisbane discussion group which is principally organized by the present writer, decided that it would be interesting to conduct a round table debate on the refugee issue. The analysis which follows, together with the reading list, were part of the preparation for that discussion. Note that the reading list draws heavily on current Australian journalistic reporting since this reporting in itself forms an important part of the public debate.
