REFUGEES
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The key facts and figures in relation to Australia, asylum seekers and refugees...
Who are asylum seekers?
A person who has left their country of origin, has applied for recognition as a refugee or sought protection on Complimentary Protection grounds and is awaiting a decision on their application.
The Facts
Who are refugees?
A person who has been found to be a 'refugee' is one who is unable to return to their home country owing to a well- founded fear of persecution, as well as other reasons specified in the 'Refugees Convention'
Do we receive more asylum seekers because we are a first world country?
“According to Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, the reverse is true. "The burden of helping the world's forcibly displaced people is starkly uneven," he said. "Poor countries host vastly more displaced people than wealthier ones. While anti-refugee sentiment is heard loudest in industrialised countries, developing nations host 80 per cent of the world's refugees."”
Is Australia an asylum seeker magnet?
“Nearly half a million - 493,000 - asylum claims were lodged in industrialised countries last year, the second highest number on record after 2003, as war, civil strife, political repression and sectarian violence continue to force movements of populations across borders. Europe received 355,000 asylum seeker claims, while North America had 103,000. Afghanistan alone has a diaspora of more than 2.7 million refugees across 71 countries, but more than 95 per cent are in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran.”
Is Australia being swamped?
"The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says Australia receives about three per cent of the total asylum claims made in industrialised countries around the world and, "by comparison, asylum levels in Australia continue to remain below those recorded by many other industrialised and non industrialised countries"."
Read the full story
here
Are asylum seekers are illegal queue jumpers?
"Those who “arrive in Australia by boat are neither engaging in illegal activity, nor are they immigrants. The UN Refugee Convention (to which Australia is a signatory) recognises that refugees have a right to enter a country for the purposes of seeking asylum, regardless of how they arrive or whether they hold valid travel or identity documents. Australian law also permits unauthorised entry into Australia for the purposes of seeking asylum.”
Do most asylum seekers come by boat?
“A total of 4768 ''plane people'', more than 96 per cent of applicants for refugee status, arrived in that year on legitimate tourist, business and other visas - compared with 161 who arrived by boat during the same period [2008]. While boat numbers have increased, Australian Government statistics from the first quarter of 2013 showed more than 90 per cent of asylum seekers who arrived by boat were found to be genuine refugees. In comparison, those who arrived by plane - despite being eligible for release into the community and not having to face years of detention on Nauru or Manus Island - were almost twice as likely to be rejected as refugees.”
Do asylum seekers take Australian jobs?
"Asylum seekers released into the community are on “bridging visas which stipulate that they're not allowed to get jobs. Nearly half of those asylum seekers are subject to the government's "no advantage" rule, which means they could be in this limbo for many years. Most asylum seekers want to work and will take jobs other Australians don't want to do, report refugee agencies, but their visa conditions make work illegal.”
So Refugees don’t assimilate or contribute?
"Refugees have been coming to Australia for decades and the first big wave of boat people, from Vietnam in the 1970s, have proven to be successful migrants who have assimilated and added much to Australian society. After surviving perilous journeys by their courage and strength, these people epitomise the qualities admired and rewarded in Australian society."
So we can just turn the boats back?
“Wherever they come from, most boat people use Indonesia as a launching point for Australian waters." It is up to Indonesia wether or not the boats can return to their waters, which is a topic of debate in Australian politics.
According to the Refugee Council of Australia:
"most people do not wish to leave their homes, families, friends and everything they know and hold dear. They do so as a last resort, to escape persecution and find safety and security for themselves and their families".
Information above thanks to,
Sutton, C 2013, ‘Ten myths around asylum seekers arriving on boats in Australian waters’, news.com.au, 08 July.
View article here.
Data thanks to 'the guardian'
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 14
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
