Refugee Problems in Australia - Term Paper Example

Refugee Problems Name: University: Course Title: Instructor: Date of Submission: Executive Summary Australia has a long history of hosting immigrants. The same has been extended to refugees with Australia being a signatory of 1951 Refugee Convention. The country is one of the leading developed nations in humanitarian settlement and financers of UNHCR. The purpose of the paper is to examine refugee problem in Australia. In addressing the same, the discourse adopted a tripled pronged approach where general problems were analysed; problems fronted by host community/ nation towards the refugees and problems fronted by refugees towards the refugees. The discourse established that refugee’s generally experiences trauma as result of separation from the families and breakup of the social capital network as result of separation. In regard to problems afflicted by the host community, they face stigmatisation, social seclusion, and physical segregation in camps, negative labelling and lower status job placement. As the problem to the host society, they constitute a major part of expenditure by the national government which at times causes friction with local community in relation to welfare programme. To overcome these problems, the expose recommends that Australian government should invest in proactive measure such conflict resolution; it should continue supporting UNHCR so that refugees can be supported at their home countries or the immediate neighbouring countries and lastly, in implementing humanitarian programme, a consultative and participatory processes should be conducted so as to help in seamless resettlement. Table of Contents Executive Summary i Table of Contents ii List of Figures 1 1.0 Introduction 2 2.0 Conceptualising Refugee 3 2.1 Definition 3 2.2 Background Information and Causes 5 2.3 Protection of Refugee 5 3.0 Refugees in Australia 6 3.1 Background Information and Obligations of Australia 6 3.2 Problems of Refugees in Australia 7 4.0 Conclusions 11 5.0 Recommendations 11 References 13 List of Figures Figure 1:Major refugee hosting countries 4 Figure 2: Number of people seeking Australia’s protection 6 Figure 3: Number of asylum seekers in Australia as compared to other industrialized countries 7 Figure 4: Main countries of resettlement of refugees 8 1.0 Introduction Certain human activities do render others especial the helpless and vulnerable displaced. This forces them to involuntarily move so as to find safe and stable environment outside their home country. While the issue of involuntary cross border movement has been for a long time, at international arena the phenomenon began being appreciated as result of Westphalia Treaty of 1648. However, the defining moments were as result of World War I and II which culminated in signing of Refugee Convention in 1951. The history of refugees in Australia is traceable back to 1976 when the first refuge seekers from Southern Vietnam arrived in Darwin harbour in attempt of escaping communist rule. The number has continually expanded hitting high in 1979-80 and 1990-91 and currently Australia hosts 30, 083 refugees. Refugees hosted in a country such Australia undergo numerous challenges. Equally they present to the host country numerous challenges and or problems. The aim of the paper is to asses and outline refugee problems in Australia. Within, this context, the paper adopts a three pronged approach in assessing refugee problems. The first perspective is the problem that the refugees front to the host nation/ community in terms of economic burden, insecurity, pressure on resource & physical facilities. Second, is those fronted towards the refugees by the host community or nation such as prejudice, discrimination, seclusion and second class rating. The last is the general problem such as health risk and trauma as result of being in camp and not being able to move freely as would have been in their home country. Apart from the above, the paper defines the term ‘refugee’, establishes the background information and causes. Additionally, it narrows down on the refugee issues in Australia and the obligation of the country regard to the same. Lastly, the paper offers recommendations on how the identified problems can be addressed. 2.0 Conceptualising Refugee 2.1 Definition UNHCR (1991 cited in Richmond, 1993, p.7); Steinbock (1997, p.733) observes that there is no universal definition of who a refugee is under the international law, it has varied over a period of time and that at a time individuals may fail to prove or fail to meet the threshold outlined by the UN convention so as to be conferred the status of a refugee. The paper relies on the 1951 convention which was ratified by the 1967 protocol so as to conceptualise the term. In conceptualising refugee, the guiding principle was the article 14 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of human rights that protects asylum seekers from persecution in other nations. According to the two, a refugee is “a person [who] owing to [a] well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country”. Figure 1 below represents major refugee hosting countries in 2003. Figure 1:Major refugee hosting countries Source: Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, 2005, p.4 Nevertheless, other works have proven that this definition in scope. For instance, Arboleda (1991, p.185) indicates that the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees has certain performance gaps in determining or defining who a refugee is. Hence, for a broader perspective, the paper adopts the definition fronted by Africa Union formerly known as Organisation of Africa Unity cited by Gunning (1989, p.37) who define a refugee as “every person who, owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in either part of the whole of his country of origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place outside his country of origin or nationality”. In a nutshell, these are forced emigrants who unwillingly leave their home countries as opposed to economic migrants who move in order to search for better economic opportunities (Gunning, 1989, p.38). 2.2 Background Information and Causes From historical timeline, the issue of refugees has been there for a while with earlier recognition being Westphalia treaty of 1648(Barnett, 2002, p.238). Nevertheless, the concept gained prominence after World War 1 particularly as result of European response (Gunning, 1989, p.37). The hallmark of this process was the 1951 Refugee Convention that culminated in the formation of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Barnett, 2002, p.238). Goodwin-Gill & McAdam (1996, p. 117) observes that various action by human beings have made the helpless and vulnerable to flee their country of birth (externally displaced persons) in millions or thousands as result of persecution, conflict violation of human rights and systematic discrimination. Nevertheless, they note that refugee phenomenon is not only restricted to human causes, but also to natural causes such as famine, disease, flooding and earthquakes. Thus, the principal causes are wars, famine, civil strife, and persecution (Gunning, 1989, p.38). By the end of 2011, it is estimated that there were 15.4 million refugees globally (UNHCR, 2013). 2.3 Protection of Refugee Countries are urged to design legal and humanitarian programmes that are proactive in safeguarding refugees. According to UNHCR (2010, p.3), the 1951 convention doubles as status and rights based tool with a number of significant principles. The fundamental principles in this document that a country should adhere to while handling a refugee include non-discrimination, non-penalisation and non-refoulement. For instance, countries are urged not to be discriminative while handling refugees along religion, gender, race, age or place of origin. The convention equally realises that at a time the refugees can breach the migration law of a country and thus, urges non-penalisation in relation to illegal entry and stay in a country. Lastly, the convention urges nations not to expel refuge seekers especially against their wish even if this strains the host country. Lastly, convention calls for provision of minimum standards such as access to basic education, access to courts, provision of documentation such as travelling documents and access to work. Figure 2 below shows the number of people seeking protection in Australia. Figure 2: Number of people seeking Australia’s protection Source: Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2013, p.1 3.0 Refugees in Australia 3.1 Background Information and Obligations of Australia The first recorded refugees in Australia were in 1976 when five Vietnamese escaping communist rules landed in Darwin harbour (Farouque, 2006). In the same breadth, Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Border Protection (2009) indicate until mid 1989, the number of refugees seeking residence in Australia was less than 500. However, this changed as a result of the happenings in Tiananmen Square in People’s Republic of China in 1989. The arrivals in Australia peaked in 1979-80 and 1990-91 (Farouque, 2006). On comparative basis, Australia is hosting a relatively small number of refugees as compared to global statistics and is currently ranked 49 in terms of the numbers hosted. At the end of 2012, Australia was hosting 30, 083 refugees (Gordon, 2013). Lastly, as part of the international community and a signatory of the 1951 convention, Australia is obliged to adhere to the expectations outlined earlier in subsection 2.3. figure 2 below shows the number of asylum seekers in Australia as compared to the top 10 industrialized asylum countries in 2004. Figure 3: Number of asylum seekers in Australia as compared to other industrialized countries Source: Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, 2005, p.6 3.2 Problems of Refugees in Australia In discussing refugee problems, a triple faceted approach is advanced. The first is the general cross cutting problems experienced by refugees. The second is the problem experienced by the refugees which are afflicted on them by the host community. The third is the problems presented by the refugees to the host community or nation. The general or overall problem faced by the refugees is trauma. The reality is that most individuals moving as refugees as compared to economic migrants move involuntarily after being forced out by certain circumstances outside their control. Such circumstances lead to family separation (Murray, Davidson, & Schweitzer, 2008, p.6). Such separation, normally makes certain section of the refugees especially children and women vulnerable to exploitation and attacks which constitutes human rights violation under the 1948 Human Rights declaration and crimes against humanity (Murray, Davidson, & Schweitzer, 2008, p.8). Closely related to the above point is the acculturation process which empowers them to integrate within the host community especially for those who have been granted refugee visa under the humanitarian programme by Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. This process is not an easy one especially for a grownup who was accustomed to a certain social/ cultural lifestyle (Shakespeare‐Finch & Wickham, 2010, p.26). in 2003, Australia ranked 2nd after the US as the main country of resettlement of refugees. This is depicted by figure 3 below. Figure 4: Main countries of resettlement of refugees Source: Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, 2005, p.7 One of the problems faced by refugees from the host country is the negative labelling by the host community, racial prejudice, dehumanising and harsh treatment meted on them by the host government. For instance, McMaster (2001, p.ix & x) notes that September 2001 attack in USA enhanced racists view on Muslims who were seeking refuges and or asylum status from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. They were either perceived as terrorists or ‘enemy’ hence leading to their detention in holding camps in remote desert and pacific island such as Woomera, Port Hedland, Nauru, Curtin and Manus Island (Jupp, 2002, p.1). Such mistreatment resulted into major demonstrations in Woomera. At the same time in a bid to curtail such rebellion in future, the government proposed punitive measures by passing bill that allowed strip searches, restriction of visitors visiting detention camp and increase of prison terms for those who escape detention zones. Indeed such treatment at the expense of refugees has taken political connotation where politicians use it to gain political mileage as was before 2001 election. Closely related to tough conditions is the social exclusion. Imagine one moving away from his or her home country where he or she had all the social capital/ networks necessary for survival to a new strange place involuntarily. Ramzi (2012, p.450) sees it this capital as integral in ones survival and lack of it coupled with stringent rules leads to exclusion. For instance, refugees who arrive without valid visa in Australia are usually subjected to mandatory detention (Taylor, 2004, p.19). Moreover, the seclusion is not only experienced as result of mandatory detention, but also as result of language and cultural barrier. For instance, majority of refugees are drawn from Sudan and Iraq yet their national language is Arabic as compared to English which is the national language in Australia. Taylor (2004, p.20) notes that “at least 42 per cent of refugees had poor or no literacy in their own language and 64 per cent stated that they required an English language interpreter”. Such experiences enhance the trauma that the refugees have already experienced and thus, reducing the notion of refugee as people with ‘urgent need’. The seclusion and discrimination does not stop at social level, but also extends to employment market. Employment is critical in offering individuals opportunities to earn a living. If one cannot have such access it means he or she is vulnerable and unable to adequately cope and provide for his or her household. According to the study done by Colic-Peisker & Tilbury (2006, p.203), refugees mostly from ex-Yugoslavs, black Africans and people from the Middle East only find job placement at lower cadre levels in fields such as care of the aged, taxi driving, cleaning services, building industry and meat processing. Indeed the study affirms existence of segmented labour market coupled with occupational status loss based along racial basis where culturally visible migrants are allocated low job irrespective of their qualification. Now, let us examine the impact of refugees on the host community or nation. Humanitarian programmes are not for economic gain and this is where the challenge lies especially for the host community. Refugees whether granted access to Australia or those held in camps need basic materials for their survival such as food, clothing, medical care and other welfare benefit programmes. Economically, such support programme implies a great deal of expenses which is catered for by the government and UNHCR. Such preferential treatment has elicited negative reaction from a section of Australian society who feels that refugees receive higher welfare benefits than Australians. For instance, certified refugees are not subjected to standard waiting time that is applicable to other migrants while processing social security payment and concession cards (Buckmaster, 2012). 4.0 Conclusions The principal focus of the discourse was to interrogate and outline the refugee problems in Australia. The paper begun by first providing overview information relating to refugees such as who a refugee is, causes of refugee menace, international ratifications that protects refugees and the current situation of refugee handling in Australia. In analysing refugee problem in Australia, the expose adopted a three tier approach where general problems were examined, problems fronted by host community towards the refugees and those fronted by refugees towards host community. The paper established a myriad of problem starting with trauma, social seclusion, stigmatisation, negative labelling, segregation in relation to job placement, prejudice in relation belief that they contribute to criminal activities and the economic cost associated with hosting such numbers either as ‘legal’ refugees or ‘illegal’ asylum seekers. In order to curtail such problems, the paper recommends that Australia should be proactive at international level especial within pacific island and East Asia so to improve situations back at the country of origin. Secondly, it should have integration programme that empowers the ‘legal’ refugees. 5.0 Recommendations The first entry point is to invest in preventive measures that would guarantee a scenario where there is no forced eviction as result of others people threat. This implies Australia has to get actively involved in assistance in conflict resolution, human rights training, rebuilding of infrastructure so as to curtail explosion of humanitarian crisis. The country should heavily rely and invest in third party countries that are the country of first asylum so as to avoid the need for them to come to Australia. To avoid the pressure exerted on the locals and refugees hosted within Australia, the government should be proactive and continue supporting UNHCR so that countries such as Sudan which contribute huge of refugees to Australia are assisted back at their home country. This is critical in sustain that required social network, reducing stigmatisation and acculturation process. The humanitarian resettlement programme should be enhanced and developed in a participatory manner that addresses the needs of the refugees and also the expectations of the locals so as to avoid a possible friction. References Arboleda, E. (1991). Refugee Definition in Africa and Latin America: The Lessons of Pragmatism. International Journal of Refugee Law, 3(2), 185-207. Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Border Protection (2009). Fact sheet 61: seeking protection within Australia. Retrieved on 20 November, 2013 from: https://www.immi.gov.au/media/fact-sheets/61protection.htm. Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Citizenship (2013). Asylum statistics – Australia: Quarterly tables – March Quarter 2013. Retrieved on 24 November, 2013 from: http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/asylum/_files/asylum- stats- march-quarter-2013.pdf Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (2005). Refugee and humanitarian issues: Australian response. Retrieved on 24 November, 2013 from: http://www.immi.gov.au/refugee/_pdf/refhumiss-fullv2.pdf Barnett, L. (2002). Global governance and the evolution of the international refugee regime. International Journal of Refugee Law, 14(2 and 3), 238-262. Buckmaster, L. (2012). Australian Government assistance to refugees: fact v fiction, Background note, Parliamentary Library, Canberra. Colic-Peisker, V., & Tilbury, F. (2006). Employment niches for recent refugees: Segmented labour market in twenty-first century Australia. 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