Asylum Seekers and the Government of Australia

Asylum Seekers and the Government of Australia

Introduction

Australia is a major player in international politics to protect refugees, displaced persons and refugees. Its history goes back to the end of the Second World War, when the country emerged as one of the largest recipients of refugees, mainly from Europe. Australian immigration officials estimate that between 1945 and 2011 about 700 thousand people have entered Australia as refugees. Thus, the following essay is going to evaluate the role of the Australian governments in the case of the protection of refugees and the role that it plays in the international forum to protect the human rights globally.

Discussions

"This is a very important decision for Australia," told IRIN the National Coordinator for Refugees Amnesty International Australia, Graham Thorn, on March 20. "This statement ends a process discriminates against asylum seekers who depended on how they arrived in Australia and their point of arrival," said Paul Power, director of the Australian Council for Refugees (CJSLPA)

The United Nations Convention stated about the issue of the Refugees as amended by the 1967 protocol (the Refugee Convention) that the refugee is a man who stays outside the borders of his own land. They are unwilling or they are not able to return to their homeland for many reasons. They are not satisfied and feared about the persecution on the basis of their race, religion and nationality membership of a specific social group that has the political opinion. (www.hreoc.gov.au)

The protection of the refugees is the responsibility of the existed government. Thus, the Australian government carries the responsibility to uphold the rights of the refugees and it has the duty to protect them and provide them the houses. These are the basic rights that all the asylum seekers must have and those who belong to Australia. The government should provide the basic facilities irrespective of the fact that from where they have arrived or either they have come with or without the visa. The Australian government is bound and obliged to the various international treaties with its international neighbors to protect and respect the human rights.

Asylum seekers in search for safety are not just an Australian issue it is a global issue affecting 20 million people (www.unhcr.org). Australia plays a minor role in terms of global response but has taken a comparatively tough slant to vulnerable people with the use of compulsory detention and other policies of discouragement in a consistent and unwavering way.

Our politicians and policies are not looking at it from a humanity and crisis response prospective. So how do they view it - remember to look at labor and liberal? In December of 2011 The Labor Party passed a policy to support, for the first time, the offshore processing of asylum-seekers. - this is a misrepresentation - the ALP conference might have done that, but liberal and labor governments have practiced this in government for at least a decade There was an increase in annual visas for humanitarian refugees to 20,000 ...