They have planned for it and prepared for it. The boat people have been demonised. They have been termed queue jumpers when there is no real queue. They have been accused of being wealthy, of being economic migrants. They have been accused of abusing their children and throwing them overboard.
They have suffered the great crime of being branded as different and from a different religion. The most terrible regime, which the United States and its allies has gone to war to destroy. Is it surprising that people from Afghanistan, desperate at the persecution in their midst, sought to flee to safer lands. We have been told that the Government and Opposition are determined to defend our borders but a few thousand men, but largely women and children from Afghanistan or Iraq, offer no threat to our integrity or to our borders.
There is no question that Australia does and should exercise her sovereign right to determine who can come and stay here. But our humanitarian obligations to those seeking that right are clear. Until we have made a sovereign decision about whether they may stay or not, we should treat them in line with our international obligations, in line with the great Australian philosophy based on a fair go, with basic human decency.
In short, we should treat them as human beings. The problem in Australia is small compared to equivalent problems in Europe. At times over , asylum seekers a year have travelled to different countries in Europe.
About , to Britain and around 80, to Germany. European states have all managed to handle the issue with a degree of humanity, compassion and respect which has escaped the Government and Opposition in Australia. Britain has just introduced a new and so-called tough regime for asylum seekers.
The British Government is establishing three centres to hold 3, asylum seekers at any one time. Residents will expect to have their claims resolved within six months. A network of 15 centres could support about 22, of the , asylum seekers who come to Britain each year.
That means that the great bulk of asylum seekers will still be within the community. At these new centres being established in Britain, residents will expect to sleep in the centre but are otherwise allowed to be out and in the community. In other areas we could again learn from Britain. In October last year, four Iraqi Kurds challenged their day detention at Oakington. The lower court held that the detentions did violate Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights relating to the liberty and security of a person.
The Court of Appeal reversed that decision and held that the detentions were lawful, primarily because they were of very limited duration seven to ten days. If that were the condition in Australia, as identity and criminality were checked, we would have a benign system indeed. The British take seriously the view that detention should only be to establish identity, health and security checks.
There is no reason to reject detention for these purposes. Extended, mandatory, non-reviewable detention is another matter. Australia has attracted attention by her policies. We have travelled a long way in the last years.
Who would have thought Australia would be virtually under investigation on such an issue. Our history of cooperation with international bodies is long. Doc Evatt played a key role in the formulation of the UN Charter, and since the League of Nations Australia has been a keen advocate for a fairer and more just international system.
The Refugee Convention of was partly the result of active involvement by Australian Government representatives and was signed in by the Menzies Government. This convention prohibits the imposition of penalties on those seeking asylum for arriving in an irregular manner without papers or permission. There are no strict guidelines arising from this convention on the manner in which people must flee persecution. The , refugees, who have settled in Australia since the Second World War, know that you flee persecution by whatever means and often without papers.
In the past these people have been welcomed. When the policy of compulsory, mandatory, non-reviewable detention is ultimately abandoned, we will have ended a period of shame for Australia worldwide. European countries, which have a far larger problem in a more densely populated part of the world than Australia, have given us some leads. The new policies being put in place by the United Kingdom offer one set of alternatives.
Mosaic and Ads Up Canada have lodged sponsorship applications with the Canadian government and organised volunteer groups to support refugees after arrival.
Ordinary Australians have made this unique collaboration possible; they saw suffering and found solutions where they could. This is what makes Operation NotForgotten unique: it is a true collaboration of civic society across continents. In Canada, private sponsors, which are often community, humanitarian or faith groups, commit to providing income support for refugees for the first year after arrival.
Other countries have adopted the model. In October, the US, after decades of only government-sponsored resettlement, announced a Sponsor Circle Program for Afghans , specifically to assist with the resettlement of more than 50, Afghans currently being housed in military bases across the US, some of those who made it onto flights out of Kabul as the country fell to the Taliban.
Ireland, the UK and New Zealand have committed to or established similar schemes. Email: sign up for our daily morning briefing newsletter.
App: download the free app and never miss the biggest stories, or get our weekend edition for a curated selection of the week's best stories. Podcast: listen to our daily episodes on Apple Podcasts , Spotify or search "Full Story" in your favourite app. Email, postal and telephone contact details for all MPs and Senators are available here. Write To Be Heard is asking you to contact the cross-bench Senators and urge them to vote against the Bill.
Find out how here. Let MPs know that we will not support a Bill that strips refugees and asylum seekers of the few rights they have. Phil's pleas followed revelations in The Saturday Paper that an asylum seeker Zainullah Naseri, who was returned in August , was subsequently abducted and tortured by the Taliban.
The Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Scott Morrison said he would investigate the circumstances surrounding Zainullah's case. Write to Mr Morrison and urge him to immediately suspend the forced return of asylum seekers to Afghanistan.
We have developed a sample letter which can be used to press the case for supsending returns. There is still time to write to Members of Parliament — in particular the Senators from the minor parties and independents — and let them know why the TPVs must be rejected.
We have developed a sample letter which outlines the case against TPVs and a series of key points you can use to write your own letters. Please share any responses you receive through your advocacy work. Send any feedback to writetobeheard refugeecouncil. If you no longer wish to receive this bulletin, please email unsubscribe refugeecouncil. You are likely to get a wordy or evasive answer. Read it carefully. If it does not actually answer your question, write again pointing out politely that they have not answered the question.
Repeat the question and ask for an answer. Repeat this process as often as necessary.
0コメント