tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/refugee-intake-31447/articlesrefugee intake – The Conversation2023-04-04T06:29:10Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2021402023-04-04T06:29:10Z2023-04-04T06:29:10ZMore than 650 refugees arrived in this regional town. Locals’ welcoming attitudes flipped the stereotype<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519179/original/file-20230404-28-9ynrlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5317%2C3419&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When we think of regional towns in Australia, some of us might think “close-knit”, “conservative”, or “resistant to change”.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.ssi.org.au/images/insights/Community_attitudes_toward_refugee_settlement_in_Armidale_Report__2023_1.pdf">new research</a> flips these stereotypes.</p>
<p>Over four years, we examined a regional town’s attitudes before and after hundreds of refugees settled in the area. Our surveys found residents of Armidale, in northeastern New South Wales, started out reasonably positive about the settlement program, and became even more so.</p>
<p>Over time, they had fewer concerns about the impact of refugees on the town, more contact with the refugees, and more positive attitudes towards refugees and the settlement program.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-regions-can-take-more-migrants-and-refugees-with-a-little-help-121942">The regions can take more migrants and refugees, with a little help</a>
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<h2>Welcoming communities</h2>
<p>After a lengthy process, Armidale was chosen as a regional settlement location for Australia’s refugee program under the Turnbull government in 2017. Since 2018, the town has welcomed some 650 Ezidi refugees, boosting the town’s population by almost 3%.</p>
<p>Ezidis are a religious minority mostly from northern Iraq, Syria and Turkey, and are also known as Yazidis or Yezidis. They’ve faced persecution for centuries, including recently by Islamic State (or ISIS), who <a href="https://www.dhi.health.nsw.gov.au/transcultural-mental-health-centre-tmhc/resources/community-mental-health-profiles-and-information-resources/mental-health-of-syrian-conflict-refugees/yazidi-community#:%7E:text=The%20Yazidi%20people%20are%20an,subject%20to%20persecution%20for%20generations.">perpetrated genocide on the group</a> in the mid-2010s.</p>
<p>There are several elements in the equation for successful refugee settlement. Receptive, welcoming communities is one important part.</p>
<p>We documented shifts in the Armidale community’s attitudes towards refugee settlement through six successive surveys. Each surveyed about 200 residents, drawing a new sample each time.</p>
<p>Initially, the main concerns were whether there would be enough jobs, and whether local services were adequate.</p>
<p>Residents’ views changed significantly about how many refugees were OK to accept. The number of residents who believed the number was “too high” declined, and the number of people who thought it was “too low” increased.</p>
<p>But, of course, sentiment was not uniformly positive (or negative).</p>
<h2>Residents’ views on the number of refugees coming to Armidale over time</h2>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519192/original/file-20230404-20-gl2zp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519192/original/file-20230404-20-gl2zp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519192/original/file-20230404-20-gl2zp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519192/original/file-20230404-20-gl2zp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519192/original/file-20230404-20-gl2zp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519192/original/file-20230404-20-gl2zp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519192/original/file-20230404-20-gl2zp5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The percentage of residents who thought the number of refugees coming to Armidale was ‘too high’ decreased over time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ssi.org.au/images/insights/Community_attitudes_toward_refugee_settlement_in_Armidale_Report__2023_1.pdf">University of New England and Settlement Services International</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>We segmented the community to identify clusters of attitudes among like-minded people toward refugee settlement. Initially, there were four clusters, which we named “enthusiastic”, “positive”, “concerned” and “resistant”. Enthusiastic and positive formed the majority.</p>
<p>Over time, the positive clusters expanded, and the negative clusters reduced. By the final survey, our most negative cluster was, in fact, positive towards the refugees. We renamed it “cautious”.</p>
<p>Residents’ contact with Ezidis increased as time went on, and was overwhelmingly rated positively, with residents saying Ezidis were “friendly”, “grateful” and “polite”.</p>
<p>The final three surveys also re-interviewed participants from earlier surveys to examine changes in attitudes at the individual level. As with the community surveys, participants had more positive attitudes over time.</p>
<p>On average, the greatest change was among people who initially had reservations: those who started out negative became more positive. People who started out positive remained positive.</p>
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<h2>A model for regional settlement</h2>
<p>It’s tempting to think of Armidale as an outlier in regional Australia. Local talk was that Armidale was “special” – highly educated, multicultural, welcoming.</p>
<p>But when we <a href="https://scanloninstitute.org.au/research/mapping-social-cohesion">compared</a> Armidale with other similar areas in regional Australia, there were few differences.</p>
<p>Armidale was reasonably representative in socio-demographics and attitudes to immigration and multiculturalism. Contrary to expectations, Armidale actually rated slightly <em>lower</em> on social cohesion, and on having multicultural neighbourhoods. However, we found Armidale improved on all multiculturalism indicators during the settlement period.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/resettling-refugees-in-other-countries-is-not-reliable-nor-is-it-fair-so-why-is-australia-doing-it-162505">Resettling refugees in other countries is not reliable, nor is it fair. So, why is Australia doing it?</a>
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<p>Our research showed Armidale progressively adapting and embracing the refugee settlement program, challenging <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2018.01.014">stereotypes of regional Australia</a>.</p>
<p>The study occurred during a time of disruption to the Armidale community through the impact of a severe drought followed by the COVID pandemic. Nonetheless, the community became increasingly positive, a result that speaks to the hard work of many people and organisations, and the efforts and strengths of Ezidis to settle as they build a new chapter of their lives in Australia.</p>
<p>Indeed, if Armidale is representative of inner regional Australia, which it appears to be, our results are promising for refugee settlement in other regional towns.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202140/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>SSI, University of Newcastle and the University of New England provided funding for the research reported in this article. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefania Paolini receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tadgh McMahon works for SSI which receives funding from the Australian Government to provide settlement services to refugees. He is affiliated with Flinders University. </span></em></p>Over time, Armidale locals had more positive attitudes towards refugees and the regional settlement program.Sue Watt, Associate Professor in Psychology, University of New EnglandStefania Paolini, Professor, Department of Psychology, Durham UniversityTadgh McMahon, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1372172020-05-27T21:42:33Z2020-05-27T21:42:33ZRefugees at increased risk of coronavirus due to barriers to healthcare<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330439/original/file-20200424-163136-egc5vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=784%2C289%2C5268%2C3829&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A migrant covered with a blanket passes in front of dumped garbage outside the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece, Jan. 21, 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Aggelos Barai)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite the coronavirus pandemic, wars and conflicts have not stopped. While some countries have successfully grappled with the virus, in refugee camps the situation remains fraught.</p>
<p>Researching the social epidemiology of zoonotic disease risks in displacement and international human rights law, we have seen firsthand the intersection between health and human rights. Susceptibility to zoonoses — diseases transmitted between animals and humans — is influenced by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.03.017">complex biological, environmental, socio-economical, political and technological processes</a>. For the sake of global health, it is therefore important to ensure that people made marginalized have access to robust services, including health care.</p>
<p>Conflict and disease transmission are often linked. For example, research has found that the collapse of health systems and disease control in Syria led to an increase in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2013.06.001">leishmaniasis, rabies</a> and <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1007014">tuberculosis</a>, including in refugee populations. When polio re-emerged due to a decline in vaccination rates, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2015.1096457">neighbouring countries rapidly responded</a>. </p>
<p>Two months ago, one of us returned from fieldwork in Jordan, studying the risks of zoonotic disease transmission among Syrian refugees, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-jordan/jordans-monarch-announces-state-of-emergency-to-combat-coronavirus-idUSKBN2141FA">just before the country closed its borders</a>. These concerns have become increasingly pressing as COVID-19 pushed humanitarian workers to mitigate the potentially devastating effects of the pandemic on refugees and migrants in incredibly challenging conditions.</p>
<h2>The risk of infection in refugee camps</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000313">risk posed by infectious diseases among vulnerable populations depends on a range of factors</a> with political and socio-economic factors playing an important role. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/01/covid-19-deaths-twice-as-high-in-poorest-areas-in-england-and-wales">Poverty and inequality</a> both influence the occurrence and severity of the disease. In refugee settings, these risks are exacerbated by overcrowding and unhygienic living conditions, while <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30526-2">interpersonal relations</a> within households and communities further impact risks of infection. </p>
<p>Besides facing overpopulation, refugees often tend to have lower immunity levels due to limited quantities and quality of food, water, medical provisions and pre-existing conditions <a href="https://dx-doi-org.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/10.1136%2Fbmjgh-2017-000647">such as respiratory and gastrointestinal infections</a>.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the most effective responses to COVID-19 such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/scientists-say-mass-tests-in-italian-town-have-halted-covid-19">testing, social distancing and quarantine</a> are nearly impossible to implement in many displaced populations due to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/may/14/coronavirus-cases-among-refugees-on-lesbos-spark-fresh-calls-for-evacuation">overpopulation of camps</a> and shelters and inadequate access to resources. In refugee camps, where families often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30086-3">share washing and sanitation facilities</a>, disease control is difficult.</p>
<p>Lockdowns and reduced access of health-care workers to regions with widespread poverty, in combination with a scarcity of essential supplies, are likely to exacerbate poor health. <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/stories/2020/5/5eb294fb4/pandemic-stressed-production-transportation-unprecedented-ways.html">The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) warned</a> of the challenges the organization faces in getting supplies to refugees from their network of regional stockpiled warehouses due to a lack of transportation. </p>
<h2>Worsening living conditions amid a pandemic</h2>
<p>In early April, the first cases of the novel coronavirus were confirmed in a Greek refugee camp on Lesbos, which has hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees since the start of the war in Syria. </p>
<p>In early 2020, Lesbos saw an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/09/tensions-refugees-and-islanders-crisis-on-lesbos">increase of hundreds of refugee arrivals a day</a>. The refugees who remain stranded on the Greek island have strained relations with local residents, resulting in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/25/clashes-over-greeces-migrant-detention-camp-plans-continue">violence targeted at sites planned for new or expanded facilities</a> and the departure of NGOs that provided essential food and medical services. These worsening living conditions in the camps and informal tented settlements greatly increase the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/09/moria-refugee-camp-doctors-story-lesbos-greece">risk of this population to COVID-19 infection</a>.</p>
<p>As the number of refugees increases, their protection against disease can only be safeguarded through resettlement into better living conditions and robust asylum procedures that protect human rights. However, the two UN agencies mandated to resettle refugees and migrants, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration, <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/03/1059602">stopped all resettlement travel indefinitely</a>. Such measures are in direct contravention of the UNHCR’s own <a href="https://www.refworld.org/publisher,UNHCR,,,5e7132834,0.html">international standards</a>. Furthermore, there is limited evidence of the effectiveness of <a href="https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/92/12/14-135590/en/">travel bans in pandemic disease control</a>. </p>
<p>Thousands of refugees will die if they remain in camps with no means of accessing vital health care.</p>
<h2>Political choices and people made vulnerable</h2>
<p>Migration and the global response are always political exercises. People on the move have long been seen as harbingers of disease that must be stopped at all costs. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/world-grips-epidemic-dangerous-coronavirus-200220183206485.html">Xenophobia and racism</a> is already rampant as the world looks for scapegoats for the current outbreak. </p>
<p>While local initiatives such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/18/the-greek-refugees-battling-to-prevent-covid-19-with-handmade-face-masks">homemade masks</a> and COVID-19 helplines are stopgaps, we need a coordinated global response that strengthens universal access to health care including for people crossing borders and claiming asylum.</p>
<p>Refugee camps are full of contradictions: they hold so much pain, yet also showcase the resiliency and complexity of the human spirit. By their very nature, they are a bridge between belonging and uncertainty, locking people in time and space. </p>
<p>The conditions in camps make people vulnerable and exacerbate global health emergencies like the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Our response to the intersection between migration, the coronavirus and systemic barriers to health will determine how and when we get a grip of this disease, a decision which will eventually affect all of us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137217/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorien Braam receives funding from the Gates Cambridge Trust. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Petra Molnar receives funding from The Mozilla Foundation. </span></em></p>Based on how other diseases have moved through refugee camps, there is an urgent need to protect refugees in camps and informal settlements from COVID-19.Dorien Braam, PhD Gates Scholar with the Disease Dynamics Unit at the Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of CambridgePetra Molnar, Adjunct professor and acting director, International Human Rights Program, Faculty of Law, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1161292019-04-27T12:31:33Z2019-04-27T12:31:33ZMorrison brings immigration centre stage with freeze on refugee intake<p>Scott Morrison will seek to bring the debate over immigration and refugees to the centre of the election campaign, with an announcement that a Coalition government would freeze the humanitarian intake. </p>
<p>He will contrast this with Labor plans for an increase in the humanitarian component, claiming this would cost many billions of dollars and challenging Bill Shorten to produce more detail about the consequences. </p>
<p>So far immigration has not had a prominent place in the campaign. The border security issue went quiet when the expected large number of applications for transfer from Nauru and Manus after the medevac legislation failed to materialise. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-palmer-flypaper-sticky-for-both-sides-116096">View from The Hill: Palmer flypaper sticky for both sides</a>
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<p>Morrison on Sunday will announce that the number of migrants coming to Australia as refugees will be frozen at 18,750. </p>
<p>He will appear at a rally with John Howard, who as prime minister was strongly associated with a tough border policy. </p>
<p>The government has already announced a cap on the migration program of 160,000. The previous cap was 190,000, although the actual intake had fallen to about 160,000.</p>
<p>It will contrast its freeze on the humanitarian intake with Labor’s plan to increase it to 32,000 by 2025-26. </p>
<p>Morrison will also outline the proposed makeup of the humanitarian program for the first time. This will include an overall target of 60% of the offshore component allocated to women. Women made up 50.8% in 2017-18.</p>
<p>The Coalition’s Women at Risk program, as a proportion of the offshore component, would be increased from 14% in 2017-18 to 20% (3,500) in 2019-20.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/labors-crackdown-on-temporary-visa-requirements-wont-much-help-australian-workers-115844">Labor's crackdown on temporary visa requirements won't much help Australian workers</a>
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<p>The government also plans to try to boost the number of refugees and humanitarian entrants settled in regional areas from a target of 30% to 40% in 2019-20. But it stresses that people would not be forced to areas that did not want them. </p>
<p>Some 27% of the humanitarian program will be reserved for Women at Risk and the Community Support Program, which is private sponsorship from church and community groups. </p>
<p>In comments ahead of the Sunday announcement, Morrision said: “We’ve got our borders and the budget under control. We make decisions about who comes here based on what’s in Australia’s interests.</p>
<p>"Australia isn’t just about growing our population – it’s about quality of life. We’re capping and freezing our immigration growth so our government’s record A$100 billion congestion busting program for roads and rail can catch up and take the pressure off our cities.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/state-of-the-states-palmers-preference-deal-and-watergate-woes-115910">State of the states: Palmer's preference deal and watergate woes</a>
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<p>Morrison said the government had been upfront that it was reducing the migration intake cap and capping the number Australia let in under its humanitarian program – that was one of the most generous in the world. </p>
<p>“We are telling where we’ll be taking migrants from, who they will be, the skills we want them to have, and working with regions to settle people in towns that want and need more workers, skills and students.</p>
<p>"It’s time for Bill Shorten and Labor to front up and tell Australians about their $6 billion plan to massively increase immigration and where they’re going to house thousands of extra people.</p>
<p>"Labor’s immigration bill is going to go through the roof and the only way they can pay for it is taking $387 billion in higher taxes from Australians.”</p>
<p>The government some time ago put a costing of $6 billion over the medium term on increasing the government-funded humanitarian intake from 17,750 to 27,000 by 2025-26.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>So far immigration has not had a prominent place in the campaign, but Scott Morrison will try to change that on Sunday.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1130742019-03-10T19:29:09Z2019-03-10T19:29:09ZWhich countries have the most immigrants?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262433/original/file-20190306-100802-1ho3o5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C58%2C1632%2C1013&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A group of immigrant workers in Doha, Qatar. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&title=Special:Search&redirs=0&search=migrants+Qatar&fulltext=Search&fulltext=Advanced+search&ns0=1&ns6=1&ns14=1&advanced=1&searchToken=cdwlneokxs2wzg4j9wbulhc5z#%2Fmedia%2FFile%3AMigrant_workers_in_West_Bay_Doha.jpg">Alex Sergeev/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The proportion of immigrants varies considerably from one country to another. In some, it exceeds half the population, while in others it is below 0.1%. Which countries have the most immigrants? Where do they come from? How are they distributed across the world? We provide here an overview of the number and share of immigrants in different countries around the world.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/index.shtml">United Nations</a>, the United States has the highest number of immigrants (foreign-born individuals), with 48 million in 2015, five times more than in Saudi Arabia (11 million) and six times more than in Canada (7.6 million) (figure below). However, in proportion to their population size, these two countries have significantly more immigrants: 34% and 21%, respectively, versus 15% in the United States.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262776/original/file-20190307-82672-1xb57h9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262776/original/file-20190307-82672-1xb57h9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262776/original/file-20190307-82672-1xb57h9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262776/original/file-20190307-82672-1xb57h9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262776/original/file-20190307-82672-1xb57h9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262776/original/file-20190307-82672-1xb57h9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262776/original/file-20190307-82672-1xb57h9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gilles Pison, based on United Nations data</span></span>
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<p>Looking at the ratio of immigrants to the total population (figure below), countries with a high proportion of immigrants can be divided into <a href="https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubrique/28889/563.international.comparison.immigrants.2019.en.pdf">five groups</a>:</p>
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<li><p>The first group comprises countries that are sparsely populated but have abundant oil resources, where immigrants sometimes outnumber the native-born population. In 2015, the world’s highest proportions of immigrants were found in this group: United Arab Emirates (87%), Kuwait (73%), Qatar (68%), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Oman, where the proportion ranges from 34% to 51%.</p></li>
<li><p>The second group consists of very small territories, microstates, often with special tax rules: Macao (57%), Monaco (55%), and Singapore (46%).</p></li>
<li><p>The third group is made up of nations formerly designated as “new countries”, which cover vast territories but are still sparsely populated: Australia (28%) and Canada (21%).</p></li>
<li><p>The fourth group, which is similar to the third in terms of mode of development, is that of Western industrial democracies, in which the proportion of immigrants generally ranges from 9% to 17%: Austria (17%), Sweden (16%), United States (15%), United Kingdom (13%), Spain (13%), Germany (12%), France (12%), the Netherlands (12%), Belgium (11%), and Italy (10%).</p></li>
<li><p>The fifth group includes the so-called “countries of first asylum”, which receive massive flows of refugees due to conflicts in a neighbouring country. For example, at the end of 2015, more than one million Syrian and Iraqi refugees were living in Lebanon, representing the equivalent of 20% of its population, and around 400,000 refugees from Sudan were living in Chad (3% of its population).</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264378/original/file-20190318-28468-em1hkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264378/original/file-20190318-28468-em1hkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264378/original/file-20190318-28468-em1hkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264378/original/file-20190318-28468-em1hkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264378/original/file-20190318-28468-em1hkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264378/original/file-20190318-28468-em1hkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/264378/original/file-20190318-28468-em1hkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gilles Pison, based on United Nations data</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Small countries have higher proportions of immigrants</h2>
<p>With 29% immigrants, Switzerland is ahead of the United States, while the proportion in Luxembourg is even higher (46%). Both the attractiveness and size of the country play a role. The smaller the country, the higher its probable proportion of foreign-born residents. Conversely, the larger the country, the smaller this proportion is likely to be. In 2015, India had 0.4% of immigrants and China 0.07%.</p>
<p>However, if each Chinese province were an independent country – a dozen provinces have more than 50 million inhabitants, and three of them (Guangdong, Shandong, and Henan) have about 100 million – the proportion of immigrants would be much higher, given that migration from province to province, which has increased in scale over recent years, would be counted as international and not internal migration. Conversely, if the European Union formed a single country, the share of immigrants would decrease considerably, since citizens of one EU country living in another would no longer be counted. The relative scale of the two types of migration – internal and international – is thus strongly linked to the way the territory is divided into separate nations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262777/original/file-20190307-82688-1jbyecp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262777/original/file-20190307-82688-1jbyecp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262777/original/file-20190307-82688-1jbyecp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262777/original/file-20190307-82688-1jbyecp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262777/original/file-20190307-82688-1jbyecp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262777/original/file-20190307-82688-1jbyecp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262777/original/file-20190307-82688-1jbyecp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gilles Pison, based on United Nations data</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The number of emigrants is difficult to measure</h2>
<p>All immigrants (in-migrants) are also emigrants (out-migrants) from their home countries. Yet the information available for counting emigrants at the level of a particular country is often of poorer quality than for the immigrants, even though, at the global level, they represent the same set of people. Countries are probably less concerned about counting their emigrants than their immigrants, given that the former, unlike the latter, are no longer residents and do not use government-funded public services or infrastructure.</p>
<p>However, emigrants often contribute substantially to the economy of their home countries by sending back money and in some cases, they still have the right to vote, which is a good reason for sending countries to track their emigrant population more effectively. The statistical sources are another reason for the poor quality of data on emigrants. Migrant arrivals are better recorded than departures, and the number of emigrants is often estimated based on immigrant statistics in the different host countries.</p>
<p>The number of emigrants varies considerably from one country to another. India headed the list in 2015, with nearly 16 million people born in the country but living in another (see the figure below); Mexico comes in second with more than 12 million emigrants living mainly in the United States.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262639/original/file-20190307-82688-qc54i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262639/original/file-20190307-82688-qc54i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262639/original/file-20190307-82688-qc54i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262639/original/file-20190307-82688-qc54i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262639/original/file-20190307-82688-qc54i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262639/original/file-20190307-82688-qc54i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262639/original/file-20190307-82688-qc54i9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gilles Pison, based on United Nations data</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Proportionally, Bosnia and Herzegovina holds a record: there is one Bosnian living abroad for two living in the country, which means that one-third of the people born in Bosnia and Herzegovina have emigrated (figure below). Albania is in a similar situation, as well as Cape Verde, an insular country with few natural resources.</p>
<p>Some countries are both immigration and emigration countries. This is the case of the United Kingdom, which had 8.4 million immigrants and 4.7 million emigrants in 2015. The United States has a considerable number of expatriates (2.9 million in 2015), but this is 17 times less in comparison to the number of immigrants (48 million at the same date).</p>
<p>Until recently, some countries have been relatively closed to migration, both inward and outward. This is the case for Japan, which has few immigrants (only 1.7% of its population in 2015) and few emigrants (0.6%).</p>
<h2>Immigrants: less than 4% of the world population</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/index.shtml">United Nations</a>, there were 258 million immigrants in 2017, representing only a small minority of the world population (3.4%); the vast majority of people live in their country of birth. The proportion of immigrants has only slightly increased over recent decades (30 years ago, in 1990, it was 2.9%, and 55 years ago, in 1965, it was 2.3%). It has probably changed only slightly in 100 years.</p>
<p>But the distribution of immigrants is different than it was a century ago. One change is, in the words of Alfred Sauvy, the “reversal of migratory flows” between North and South, with a considerable share of international migrants now coming from Southern countries.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262443/original/file-20190306-100793-b060op.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/262443/original/file-20190306-100793-b060op.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262443/original/file-20190306-100793-b060op.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262443/original/file-20190306-100793-b060op.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=642&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262443/original/file-20190306-100793-b060op.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262443/original/file-20190306-100793-b060op.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/262443/original/file-20190306-100793-b060op.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=807&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gilles Pison, based on United Nations data</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, migrants can be divided into three groups of practically equal size (figure above): migrants born in the South who live in the North (89 million in 2017, according to the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/index.shtml">United Nations</a>); South-South migrants (97 million), who have migrated from one Southern country to another; and North-North migrants (57 million). The fourth group – those born in the North and who have migrated to the South – was dominant a century ago but is numerically much smaller today (14 million). Despite their large scale, especially in Europe, migrant flows generated since 2015 by conflicts in the Middle East have not significantly changed the global picture of international migration.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>For more information, see <a href="https://www.ined.fr/fichier/s_rubrique/28889/563.international.comparison.immigrants.2019.en.pdf">“The number and proportion of immigrants in the population: International comparisons”</a>, issue no. 563 of Population and Societies (downloadable free of charge).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gilles Pison ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Immigration is seen as a global crisis, but the distribution of immigrants is anything but equal. Which countries have the most? Where they come from? Data provides some surprising answers.Gilles Pison, Anthropologue et démographe, professeur au Muséum national d'histoire naturelle et chercheur associé à l'INED, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1069922019-01-18T03:40:15Z2019-01-18T03:40:15ZRefuge City, a new kind of city for our times<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251446/original/file-20181219-27764-yq366f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A visualisation of a Refuge City street scene.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Richard Weller/Julian Bolleter</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is <a href="https://mckellinstitute.org.au/research/articles/why-australia-is-the-worlds-most-successful-multicultural-society/">one of the most successful multicultural societies in the world</a>. Nonetheless, in recent times many Australians have come to regard population growth, and particularly immigration, as a problem – at best – to be solved. In contrast, we believe population growth and migration present a creative opportunity to shape new Australian cities unlike any we have built to date.</p>
<p>In a globalised economy where technology has prevailed over geography, Australians are natural global citizens. However, all is not well in multicultural Australia. Recent and credible <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/24/australians-growing-more-concerned-over-immigration-guardian-essential-poll">polling</a> indicates that 64% of Australians think the level of immigration over the past decade has been too high – up from 50% in 2016.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-think-immigration-should-be-cut-well-it-depends-on-how-you-ask-108053">Australians think immigration should be cut? Well, it depends on how you ask</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We believe such opinions (in part) stem from entrenched migration patterns. Currently <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/90pc-of-migrants-settling-in-two-cities/news-story/8746797d36bf40f41587d267e8dcdbc4">90% of new arrivals settle in Sydney or Melbourne</a> where they <a href="http://apo.org.au/node/187861">compound housing affordability</a> and congestion issues, among others. Migrants from overseas are the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/3218.0Feature%20Article12016-17?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3218.0&issue=2016-17&num=&view=">main contributors to both cities’ populations growing</a> by over 100,000 people each year.</p>
<p>In response to these issues, the Morrison government is <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/cities-fix-pms-plan-to-send-migrants-to-regions-for-five-years/news-story/c8573e68a1438295818d5aab9de5471b">considering a plan</a> requiring some new migrants, including refugees, to settle for up to five years in regional areas. </p>
<p>However, there are limits to this approach. <a href="https://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/federal_elections/2016/files/2016-aec-results-map.pdf">Voting patterns</a> indicate Australians in regional Australia are also often <a href="http://tapri.org.au/?p=529">resistant to increased migration</a>. Moreover, the mechanisation and automation of farming mean that jobs are often scarce.</p>
<h2>So what can Australia do?</h2>
<p>Australia will need more drastic solutions over the longer term. Refugees now number over <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/figures-at-a-glance.html">25 million people</a> worldwide. Due to climate change alone a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/dev.2011.60">deluge of refugees is predicted by 2050, particularly in Asia</a> – 144 million in China, 63 million in India and 62 million in Bangladesh. </p>
<p>In the face of this, demographer <a href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/the-big-tilt-by-bernard-salt/9781740668880">Bernard Salt asks</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What does Australia do? Board and turn back every boat? Leave the refugees without support on the Kimberley coast? Plan to help as many as we can and then hope we can ship back tens of thousands of people?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Clearly, Australia will need a plan to deal with this situation, particularly given the panic over the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/BoatTurnbacks">arrival of small numbers of “boat people”</a> and the Coalition government <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/cities-fix-pms-plan-to-send-migrants-to-regions-for-five-years/news-story/c8573e68a1438295818d5aab9de5471b">reducing immigration to the lowest level in more than a decade</a>. We could bemoan a lack of support for increased immigration in Australia, or instead bear this resistance in mind and try to find a creative (part) solution.</p>
<p>This is where our Refuge City model is potentially instructive. As <a href="https://oldblog.robwiblin.com/2009/10/17/how-possible-is-a-charter-city-of-refugees-in-australia/">Robert Wiblin has urged in the past</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If Australians are not so enthusiastic about sharing their good luck with refugees [and migrants], a <a href="https://www.caymanfinancialreview.com/2012/10/12/charter-cities-the-future-trade-centres-of-the-world/">charter city</a> administered by Australia will at least allow them access to the governmental and legal institutions which have served Australia so well.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In line with this sentiment, we have designed an urban model for a bustling, multicultural and entrepreneurial metropolis located on Australia’s northern coast which would run under its own charter. Such a city would provide refuge and opportunity for many migrants, above and beyond what Australia already <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-statistics/statistics/visa-statistics/live/humanitarian-program">accepts through its humanitarian migration program</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248233/original/file-20181201-194925-m0i5mu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An indicative plan for Refuge City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'Future Making' students and staff, University of Western Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-cities-its-an-idea-worth-thinking-about-for-australia-92990">New cities? It's an idea worth thinking about for Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A city of cities on the north coast</h2>
<p>Why the northern coast? We selected this area because it has many advantages, such as proximity to rapidly growing Indonesia, availability of mineral and energy resources, and – in the case of the Northern Territory – <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-27/why-isnt-the-northern-territory-a-state-curious-darwin/9457776">Commonwealth control</a> of land. This is important because it gives the federal government full legislative power to create a charter city unconstrained by opposition from the states.</p>
<p>Refuge City would comprise dense, car-phobic and adaptable urban neighbourhoods (of up to 32,000 people) based partly on migrant ethnicities – forming a city of cities, rather than a monolithic mass of urbanism.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248211/original/file-20181201-194944-vwutfs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A city of cities: a model of the proposed Refuge City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'Future Making' students and staff, University of Western Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As required, this form would enable different cultural groups to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cities-Zero-Andraos/dp/1902902602">follow many of their own cultural practices</a> and develop a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01944369708975941">measure of self sufficiency</a>. The design of these neighbourhoods would be developed with the communities and would reference – within limits – the urban traditions of the residents’ home countries so to provide a “home away from home”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248230/original/file-20181201-194928-y30qoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A cross-section view of a Refuge City neighbourhood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nur Mohd Rozlan</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rather than the cultural model of the “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melting_pot">melting pot</a>” – which is under assault in many cities of the world – these urban neighbourhoods would cradle islands of relative cultural specificity yet maintain an overall cultural diversity. Natural areas, recreational open spaces and schools would provide crucial interstitial spaces between the urban islands and their respective communities. Moreover, an integrated bus system and a wide distribution of jobs would also stimulate interactions between communities. This will moderate the cultural specificity of the urban islands over time. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248229/original/file-20181201-194953-1vljztd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The design of each city neighbourhood will reference the urban traditions of the residents’ home countries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'Future Making' students and staff, University of Western Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Adapting the charter city model</h2>
<p>Like <a href="https://www.aurecongroup.com/thinking/thinking-papers/charter-cities-start-scratch">other charter cities such as Shenzen</a>, an independent government would govern the city, running it with respect to a specific charter. The autonomous government will incorporate an alliance of representatives from Australia’s federal and territory governments and potentially other countries within the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/xiongan-xi-jinpings-new-city-making-machine-turned-on-95442">Xiong'an, Xi Jinping's new city-making machine turned on</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The <a href="http://clubtroppo.com.au/2014/10/20/a-charter-city-for-refugees/">charter’s terms, which will define the city’s operation</a>, include a much lower personal and company tax regime than elsewhere in Australia, to stimulate investment and jobs. Businesses would pay workers the Australian minimum wage but would not otherwise offer award wages or conditions. Complementing this will be a basic but liveable social security, housing, education and primary health care system.</p>
<p>On arrival, migrants would receive a <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-statistics/statistics/country-profiles/temporary-migration">temporary visa</a>. They would be able to apply for a <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-statistics/statistics/country-profiles/permanent-migration">skilled migration visa</a> if they gain marketable skills from the city’s trade schools and university campuses, or a permanent business visa if they establish a successful business (both business and education would be conducted in English). </p>
<p>Moreover the city would avoid the need for mandatory offshore detention of arrivals by boat, which the UN Human Rights Council has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/02/scathing-un-migration-report-not-ideal-start-to-australias-human-rights-council-tenure">condemned as a “massive abuse”</a> of migrants. This has in turn profoundly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/mar/02/scathing-un-migration-report-not-ideal-start-to-australias-human-rights-council-tenure">damaged Australia’s moral authority</a> globally. Despite our tarnished reputation, Australian residents would be welcome in Refuge City, whether as students attending global university hubs, starting a business, or enjoying the city’s bustling diversity while on a weekend getaway. Conversely, Refuge City residents would also be able to visit other Australian cities, and in particular Darwin. </p>
<p>Through a leasehold model, Indigenous landholders would maintain ownership of Refuge City land and gain a sustainable and substantial rental income from it. This is not unprecedented. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/curious-canberra/2016-07-04/can-people-own-land-in-the-act/7550166">Canberra embodies a similar system</a>, with all land leased to “owners” as a Crown lease. </p>
<p>Moreover, given Indigenous culture’s continuing ownership and intimate knowledge of the land, we would develop the Refuge City designs with land councils. Without such sincere engagement, traditional owners would rightly veto new city development under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976.</p>
<p>Through our Refuge City model Australians could aid many more refugees than they would otherwise accept as fully fledged immigrants to the existing cities. In so doing, we could make Australia the world’s great 21st-century refuge.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248231/original/file-20181201-194950-9vgwij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Refuge City montage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ozoutback.com.au/Australia/melville/slides/1976090118.html">By Julian Bolleter based on a photo by Ludo Kuipers</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-a-nation-in-need-of-compassion-focused-therapy-38421">Australia, a nation in need of compassion-focused therapy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By adapting the charter city model to create a new city on the northern coast, Australia could be the world’s great 21st-century refuge.Julian Bolleter, Deputy Director, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, The University of Western AustraliaKen Parish, Senior Lecturer in Law, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/981652018-06-21T18:48:07Z2018-06-21T18:48:07ZHow a photo research project gives refugee women a voice in resettlement policy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224148/original/file-20180621-137720-1g4r3bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Research that explores resettlement issues from refugee women's perspectives are needed to inform settlement policy and programs effectively.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Between 2000 and 2017, <a href="http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publications/populationfacts/docs/MigrationPopFacts20175.pdf">the number of refugees and asylum seekers</a> globally increased from 16 to 26 million. In 2016, women made up <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/5943e8a34.pdf">49% of global refugees</a>. Dominant representations of refugee women are that of <a href="https://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/downloads/worldswomen2015_report.pdf">vulnerable and helpless victims</a>. This disregards women’s agency, voice, and deep desire for education and social enterprise. </p>
<p>Australia’s refugee intake is expected to increase to <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/discussion-papers/discussion-paper-humanitarian-programme_2017-18.pdf">18,750</a> in 2018-19, the largest intake <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09557571.2010.523820">in 30 years</a>. In 1989, Australia established a “<a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/discussion-papers/discussion-paper-humanitarian-programme_2017-18.pdf">Woman at Risk</a>” visa subclass for women and their dependants living outside their home country who have been subject to persecution because of their gender. Over 1,600 visas were granted in <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/australia-offshore-humanitarian-program-2016-17.pdf">2016-17</a> to vulnerable women and children.</p>
<p>Upon resettlement, women may face <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26976004">challenges</a> such as language difficulties, isolation, health issues, loss of family and support networks, violence and discrimination. These women’s voices can be excluded in forming policies, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/26/a-tougher-language-test-would-punish-women-like-my-mother-who-have-lost-everything">significant impacts</a>. Research approaches which explore issues related to settlement from their perspective are needed to effectively inform settlement policy and programs.</p>
<h2>The research</h2>
<p>Our research explored refugee women’s perspectives on settlement in Australia. We conducted the research in partnership with <a href="http://www.ishar.org.au/">Ishar Multicultural Women’s Health Centre</a> in Western Australia. </p>
<p>We used the participatory education research method of photovoice, which has become increasingly <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19797541">popular</a> in health research with marginalised groups <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1609406918757631">globally</a>. It’s used as a tool for empowering participants in <a href="http://www.facultadeducacion.ucr.ac.cr/recursos/docs/Contenidos/Empowering_Women.photovoice.pdf">Costa Rica</a>, enhancing their self-perception in <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1757975914528960">Canada</a>, building their networks in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5879794/">Spain</a>, and supporting cultural resilience and <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.94.6.911">influencing policy</a> in the <a href="https://www.springerprofessional.de/en/keystone-characteristics-that-support-cultural-resilience-in-kar/5831026">US</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/allwomencount-art-and-culture-at-the-forefront-of-world-refugee-day-98326">#AllWomenCount: art and culture at the forefront of World Refugee Day</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Participants were provided with cameras and asked to photograph situations that represented their settlement experiences. Some 43 women participated in six small group sessions with a professional photographer. Training included the ethics of taking photographs, selecting topics, and photography practice. </p>
<p>Discussions of their images used the “<a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1609406918757631#">SHOWeD</a>” technique, a form of critical questioning which explored the stories behind their photos. This led to reflective recommendations for supporting successful settlement. We also conducted in-depth interviews with 11 women to explore their experiences of settlement issues and the photovoice method.</p>
<h2>The power of photographs and narratives</h2>
<p>Our participants selected photographs and wrote accompanying narratives for an exhibition which has been travelling across public libraries. This project highlights the challenges of their lives in Australia, the importance of family and social support, the need for education and employment and drawing on personal strength during resettlement. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224149/original/file-20180621-137714-iqs2s6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224149/original/file-20180621-137714-iqs2s6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224149/original/file-20180621-137714-iqs2s6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224149/original/file-20180621-137714-iqs2s6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224149/original/file-20180621-137714-iqs2s6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224149/original/file-20180621-137714-iqs2s6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224149/original/file-20180621-137714-iqs2s6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Light and warmth in war</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Light makes me feel safe. War took all the light from our lives. We used this light to survive and hold us together. </p>
<p>–<strong>Alma</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224150/original/file-20180621-137717-1acf94v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224150/original/file-20180621-137717-1acf94v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224150/original/file-20180621-137717-1acf94v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224150/original/file-20180621-137717-1acf94v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224150/original/file-20180621-137717-1acf94v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224150/original/file-20180621-137717-1acf94v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224150/original/file-20180621-137717-1acf94v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Road to life: leaving weary worlds behind</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>The road represents the difficulties of life before coming to Australia. The turning point in my life came and I was able to overcome the difficulties of life with help from support organisations. </p>
<p>–<strong>Annie</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224151/original/file-20180621-137750-8k3m6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224151/original/file-20180621-137750-8k3m6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224151/original/file-20180621-137750-8k3m6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224151/original/file-20180621-137750-8k3m6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224151/original/file-20180621-137750-8k3m6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224151/original/file-20180621-137750-8k3m6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224151/original/file-20180621-137750-8k3m6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Happy times</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>My son is going to the library. It is important to me because in my country it was not possible for children to go safely to the library or school. In Australia, my children can have the opportunity to be educated, which is something I did not have. I enjoy being part of my son’s school. </p>
<p>–<strong>Gabriella</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Sustained English language education</h2>
<p>Settlement is a long, non-linear process and is shaped by intersecting factors including gender, age, ethnicity and education. English language proficiency is a key facilitator to successful settlement. But many women face competing priorities in accessing English language education when they resettle in Australia, including child care responsibilities and attending to the health needs of family members. </p>
<p>Refugee women need sustained access to English language tuition which takes into account their circumstances and immediate needs. Education and language programs <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/rr38-empowering_migrant_women_report.pdf">need to be flexible</a>, through access to home tutoring or childcare. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-need-to-do-more-to-support-refugee-students-97185">Universities need to do more to support refugee students</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This recommendation was also made in a recent <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportjnt/024098/toc_pdf/NooneteachesyoutobecomeanAustralian.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">parliamentary inquiry</a> into migrant settlement outcomes. It was also discussed in <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/sites/default/files/publication-documents/rr38-empowering_migrant_women_report.pdf">research</a> on empowering migrant and refugee women.</p>
<p>Our participants reported personal benefits from taking part in the photovoice project. They enjoyed learning in small group settings and their confidence increased after talking in a group. They felt a sense of well-being sharing their successes and challenges, learned new skills and knowledge, and felt empowered sharing their resettlement journeys.</p>
<h2>Five recommendations to support settlement</h2>
<p>Our recommendations are drawn from the refugee women themselves and grounded in research. We propose:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>promoting strength-based approaches to support service delivery, that are sensitive to cultural differences</p></li>
<li><p>English language programs for refugees need to be responsive to the gendered circumstances of women</p></li>
<li><p>we support changes <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/fairgo/">proposed</a> by the Refugee Council of Australia to make family reunion accessible to women and their families</p></li>
<li><p>refugee women should be supported to gain education and employment through training, peer mentoring, learning entrepreneurial skills and building networks</p></li>
<li><p>approaches to building social cohesion and combating racism and discrimination from the <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/race-discrimination/publications/building-social-cohesion-our-communities">local</a> to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/dec/05/denounce-racism-in-your-parties-un-rapporteur-urges-australian-leaders">Federal political levels</a> need to be formalised.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Our research has highlighted barriers to successful settlement by locating refugee women’s experiences in a broader Australian social and political context. Women’s resilience and agency should be considered in the development of policy, programs and service delivery.</p>
<p>Refugee women are often left out of the conversations around resettlement, and not enough is known about their specific needs. Our research and the international photovoice research highlights that community-based participatory education methods (such as photovoice) are an effective way to meaningfully add the voices of refugee women to the wider discourse on migration and settlement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98165/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jaya A R Dantas received funding from Healthways (The Health Promotion Foundation of Australia) for a project titled: 'Empowerment and mental health promotion of refugee women through photovoice'. Jaya has also received funding from Healthways to undertake intervention projects with refugee and migrant women. She is the International Health SIG convenor of the Public Health Association of Australia, a Board member of Centacare Employment and Training in WA, the Vice-Chair: Management Committee of Ishar Multicultural Women's Health Centre and a National Council Member of the Australian Federation of Graduate Women.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anita Lumbus is a PhD candidate and was the Project Manager of the Photovoice Project. Anita is a recipient of a Department of Education and Training Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship and a Curtin Research Top-Up Scholarship. She has also previously received a Curtin University Postgraduate Scholarship. Anita is an individual member of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shelley Gower has received funding from Healthways to undertake separate intervention projects with refugee women. She is a Lecturer in the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, a PhD candidate and was Research Officer on the Photovoice project.</span></em></p>Refugee women’s voices are often left out of resettlement policy. A participatory research method called photovoice helps uncover resettlement issues from their perspectives.Jaya Dantas, Dean International, Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of International Health, Curtin UniversityAnita Lumbus, Researcher and PhD Candidate, Curtin UniversityShelley Gower, Lecturer in Research Methods, Research Officer in International Health, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/725742017-02-23T03:42:23Z2017-02-23T03:42:23ZExplainer: how Australia decides who is a genuine refugee<p>Every year, Australia <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/about/corporate/information/fact-sheets/60refugee">provides protection to thousands</a> of refugees under its humanitarian program. <a href="http://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/humanitarian-programme-outcomes-offshore-2015-16.pdf">In 2015-16</a>, the government issued 15,552 visas to people in need of humanitarian assistance overseas. These included people determined to be refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in camps outside Australia. </p>
<p>A further 2,003 people received “onshore” permanent protection visas after being found to be refugees by the Australian government. </p>
<p>The term <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/why-australia-us-refugee-deal-is-contentious/">“genuine refugee”</a> is thrown around often, yet many take for granted the complicated process of how someone is deemed to be one. So, what is a refugee? And how does the Australian government make the decision?</p>
<h2>Who is a refugee?</h2>
<p>Australia has signed and ratified the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/1951-refugee-convention.html">United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees</a> and several other human rights treaties. These set the definition of a refugee and create a legal obligation not to return a person to a country where they will face persecution or serious harm. </p>
<p>Australia <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-does-australia-take-more-refugees-per-capita-through-the-unhcr-than-any-other-country-47151">resettles</a> refugees from camps outside the country as part of the government’s humanitarian program, not out of legal obligation. In <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-how-are-the-12-000-extra-refugees-coming-to-australia-chosen-51324">choosing these refugees</a>, Australia works with the UNHCR to resettle those considered most vulnerable.</p>
<p>We do have a legal obligation to determine whether those who seek asylum when already in Australia need protection. This is regardless of whether they arrive by boat or plane.</p>
<p>A refugee is <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s5h.html">defined</a> as someone who does not want to return to their country of origin owing to a <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s5j.html">“well-founded fear of persecution”</a> on the grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. </p>
<p>The person can also receive <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s36.html">complementary protection</a> if there are “substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk he or she will suffer significant harm”.</p>
<h2>What is the refugee determination process?</h2>
<p>The Refugee Convention does not set out the procedures that must be followed to determine whether a person is a refugee. But, to comply with its international obligations, Australia must have a procedure to identify accurately the people to whom it owes protection.</p>
<p>The onshore refugee determination process begins when a person applies for a <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/866-">protection visa</a>. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection assesses their claim. The purpose of this assessment is to decide whether the person engages Australia’s protection obligations as set out in the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/">Migration Act</a>.</p>
<p>Essentially, the decision-maker must decide whether the person faces a “real chance” or “real risk” of serious harm if they return home. The ultimate objective of refugee determination is humanitarian, so the refugee status isn’t based on a standard of “beyond reasonable doubt” or “balance of probablities” as it would be in other areas of law. </p>
<p>In Australian law, “real chance” means the fear of persecution is “likely” and not remote or far-fetched.</p>
<h2>How is ‘real chance’ determined?</h2>
<p>The Immigration Department considers the applicant’s personal account along with independent information about their country of origin. The department will interview the person about their claim. Interpreters are present if needed, and the person may have a migration agent in the interview.</p>
<p>For example, a woman may claim she cannot return to Afghanistan because she fears violent attacks from other community members due to her work as a human rights activist. The department would need to assess if her fear is well-founded by considering evidence that may corroborate her story. This may be independent information from government sources, NGOs and the <a href="http://www.refworld.org/publisher,UNHCR,COUNTRYPOS,AFG,570f96564,0.html">UNCHR</a> about the treatment of female human rights defenders in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>If the department decides she fits the definition of refugee, they will grant a permanent <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/Refugeeandhumanitarian/Pages/grant-of-a-permanent-protection-visa.aspx">protection visa</a>. The applicant will have to satisfy other health, character and security requirements. </p>
<p>People who have their initial application for protection refused can apply for an <a href="http://www.aat.gov.au/migration-and-refugee-division">independent merits review</a>. A tribunal member will have a hearing with the asylum seeker and consider the case again. They will take into account any new or additional evidence, such as country information that might have changed since the original decision was made. </p>
<p>The member may find the person to be a refugee and return the case to the Immigration Department for reconsideration. Or the original decision may be upheld.</p>
<h2>What about those who come by boat?</h2>
<p>In 2014, the government introduced a <a href="http://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/refugee-status-determination-australia">different determination process</a> for those who arrived in Australia by boat after August 2012. Under the <a href="http://www.ima.border.gov.au/en/Applying-for-a-protection-visa/Fast-Track-Assessment-process">fast-track assessment</a> process, timeframes for the provision and assessment of claims are truncated. </p>
<p>If the department rejects the claim, it may be referred to the <a href="http://www.iaa.gov.au/about">Independent Assessment Authority</a>. Reviews by the authority are on the basis of the original information provided by the asylum seeker. Only in “exceptional circumstances” will the authority accept new information or interview the applicant. </p>
<p>If found to be owed protection, boat arrivals will be <a href="https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Refu/protection-application-information-and-guides-paig/grant-of-a-temporary-protection-visa-or-safe-haven-enterprise-visa">eligible</a> only for a three-year Temporary Protection Visa or a five-year Safe Haven Enterprise Visa. </p>
<p>People who arrived in Australia by boat after July 2013, and who have been transferred to Manus Island or Nauru, undergo refugee status determination in those countries. <a href="http://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/offshore-processing-refugee-status-determination-asylum-seekers-manus-island">Papua New Guinea</a> and <a href="http://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/offshore-processing-refugee-status-determination-asylum-seekers-nauru">Nauru</a> are both signatories to the Refugee Convention and have their own refugee determination procedures. </p>
<h2>Is the process fair?</h2>
<p>Asylum seekers rarely have documentary evidence that strongly supports their claim for protection. They may also have difficulty presenting a comprehensive account of their claims due to literacy, language, culture, shame, problems with memory and difficulty in recounting traumatic experiences.</p>
<p>Determinations may also vary depending on the decision-maker. Some studies have identified a “culture of disbelief” in certain areas of decision-making, including claims <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ijrl/article/21/1/1/1550619/The-Ring-of-Truth-A-Case-Study-of-Credibility">based on sexual orientation</a>. Some decision-makers who hear many cases may consciously or unconsciously <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/protection/operations/51a8a08a9/full-report-beyond-proof-credibility-assessment-eu-asylum-systems.html">form predetermined</a> views on certain types of claims. </p>
<p>In 2014, the government <a href="http://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/legal-assistance-asylum-seekers">made cuts</a> that severely limited access to vital legal assistance for asylum seekers. Research conducted in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/199962/horr70.pdf">UK</a> and <a href="http://www.irishrefugeecouncil.ie/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Providing-Protection_Access-to-ELA-for-asylum-seekers.pdf">Ireland</a> shows legal assistance increases the confidence of asylum seekers and improves the quality of decisions.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/%E2%80%98fast-tracking%E2%80%99-refugee-status-determination">UNHCR and other human rights organisations</a> have raised concerns that accelerated assessments of protection claims may lead to vulnerable people being returned to places where they are at risk of serious harm.</p>
<p>It is unclear whether Australia’s fast-tracking process allows the <a href="https://theconversation.com/fast-track-asylum-processing-risks-fairness-for-efficiency-35146">possibility</a> to arrive at a fair and true decision.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72574/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Anne Kenny has received funding from the Australian Research Council. She receives sitting fees from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.</span></em></p>The term ‘genuine refugee’ is thrown around often, yet few know the complicated process of how someone is deemed to be one.Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/688072016-11-20T23:50:23Z2016-11-20T23:50:23ZFactCheck Q&A: how much was spent on the Cambodia refugee deal and how many were settled?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146510/original/image-20161118-19371-199qxy7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Labor MP Kate Ellis, speaking on Q&A.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Q&A</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>The Conversation is fact-checking claims made on Q&A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9.35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via <a href="http://www.twitter.com/conversationEDU">Twitter</a> using hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a> or by <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">email</a>.</strong></p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qJxGfngVvrg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Excerpt from Q&A, November 14, 2016, watch from 0.40.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<blockquote>
<p>…when it comes to the government’s previous attempts, we know when there was announced with great fanfare that people were all set to head off to Cambodia, and of course we saw that millions of taxpayer dollars – but very few lives which were changed by that. <strong>– Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Development Kate Ellis, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4553607.htm">speaking on Q&A</a>, November 14, 2016.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Shortly after the Australian government <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-shores-up-defences-against-asylum-seekers-as-us-deal-provides-escape-for-refugees-68715">announced</a> it planned to send refugees from Papua New Guinea and Nauru to the US, Labor’s Kate Ellis told Q&A viewers that the government had previously said it would send people to Cambodia, that millions of taxpayer dollars were spent and “very few lives which were changed by that”.</p>
<p>What was Ellis talking about – and was she correct?</p>
<h2>Checking the source</h2>
<p>Kate Ellis is referring to an <a href="http://www.refworld.org/docid/5436588e4.html">agreement</a> signed by Australia and Cambodia on September 26, 2014, providing for the relocation of refugees from Nauru to Cambodia. The agreement was intended to cover any person who:</p>
<ul>
<li>had arrived in Australia by boat as an asylum seeker and been removed to Nauru for processing;</li>
<li>had undergone refugee status determination in Nauru and been found to be a refugee, as defined in the 1951 Refugee Convention;</li>
<li>met certain unspecified “entry and settlement requirements” of Cambodia;</li>
<li>had been provided with information by Cambodian officials on the living conditions, customs, traditions, culture and religion of Cambodia; and</li>
<li>voluntarily accepted an offer of settlement in Cambodia.</li>
</ul>
<p>When asked for a source to support her statement, a spokesperson for Kate Ellis referred the Conversation to a <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=COMMITTEES;id=committees%2Fcommsen%2F7c5373e7-1e5d-401d-b707-c1325abac2d2%2F0002;query=Id%3A%22committees%2Fcommsen%2F7c5373e7-1e5d-401d-b707-c1325abac2d2%2F0000%22">Senate committee hearing</a> that took place in November 2016.</p>
<p>In that hearing, Labor senator Murray Watt said about $55 million had been earmarked for the agreement, “divided between $40 million in aid and about $15 million for the actual resettlement”, to which a senior official from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection replied: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yes, not all of which has been drawn down.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the same <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/commsen/7c5373e7-1e5d-401d-b707-c1325abac2d2/toc_pdf/Legal%20and%20Constitutional%20Affairs%20References%20Committee_2016_11_11_4578.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22committees/commsen/7c5373e7-1e5d-401d-b707-c1325abac2d2/0000%22">Senate hearing</a>, another departmental official, Claire Roennfeldt, said $3.48 million of the $15 million earmarked for the resettlement program had been spent since the agreement was struck.</p>
<p>It appears the money is spent through payments to service providers rather to the government of Cambodia directly.</p>
<p>Another exchange between Watt and another senior Department of Immigration and Border Protection official, David Nockels, revealed the number of refugees resettled:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Senator Watt: And I am right that in total there have been five people resettled there? Is that right?</p>
<p>Mr Nockels : Five or six… Excuse me, Secretary. It is six. Two are still there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When asked if all these numbers discussed in the Senate hearing were up to date, a spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection told The Conversation:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The testimony referenced is correct, however, current figures for the total expenditure of the resettlement assistance to date is now $4.77 million.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So Kate Ellis was correct. It is fair to describe the Cambodia deal as having cost millions of taxpayer dollars but changing very few refugee lives. </p>
<h2>Why was the Cambodia deal pursued?</h2>
<p>When the agreement was signed in September 2014, then immigration minister, Scott Morrison, <a href="http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/143035/20141222-1032/www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm218187.htm">described it</a> as a regional solution that was</p>
<blockquote>
<p>about providing genuine resettlement in a third country.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It came at a time when conditions were worsening and tensions were rising at the two regional processing centres in Nauru and on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea (PNG). There was a clear and urgent need for an answer to where the people found to be refugees at these two centres would subsequently go.</p>
<p>The Australian government maintained that they would never be settled in Australia, and neither Nauru nor PNG had a workable settlement policy. So the agreement with Cambodia appeared, to some, to offer a much-needed solution. </p>
<p>However, others expressed concern about the workability of the agreement from the outset, including the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2014/9/542526db9/unhcr-statement-australia-cambodia-agreement-refugee-relocation.html">United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and António Guterres</a> (then the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, now the Secretary-General-designate of the United Nations).</p>
<p>It was never clear how many people the agreement would cover. Its provisions do not specify a number, and state only that decisions about the number and timing of relocations are to be made by Cambodia. </p>
<h2>What happened next?</h2>
<p>At the time it was signed, <a href="http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/143035/20141222-1032/www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm218207.htm">Scott Morrison announced</a> that the two countries would:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>undertake an initial trial arrangement with a small group of refugees which will be followed by further resettlement in accordance with Cambodia’s capacity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He said there would be “<a href="http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/143035/20141222-1032/www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm218187.htm">no caps</a>” to the agreement, and there were <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-24/scott-morrison-to-head-to-cambodia-to-sign-refugee-resettlement/5766282">reports that as many as 1,000 people</a> could be relocated. </p>
<p>But Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Interior, Sar Kheng, <a href="http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/refugees-09252014175418.html">rejected such a high number</a>, committing only to Cambodia accepting “three to four people first”.</p>
<p>In April 2015, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/apr/27/four-nauru-refugees-who-agreed-to-go-to-cambodia-wait-to-fly-out">four people accepted offers of resettlement</a> to Cambodia from Nauru – an Iranian couple, an Iranian man, and a man from Myanmar. </p>
<p>The four <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-04/refugees-from-nauru-detention-centre-arrive-in-cambodia/6521972">arrived in Cambodia in June 2015</a>. Despite <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/four-refugees-detained-by-australia-on-nauru-volunteer-to-resettle-in-cambodia">rumours of more refugees</a> joining them, just one more man – a Rohingya from Myanmar – <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/fifth-refugee-transferred-to-cambodia-from-nauru-under-55m-resettlement-deal-20151125-gl8ec3.html">joined them in November 2015</a>. </p>
<p>By May 2016, he would be the only one left in the country, with the initial four refugees all choosing to return to their countries of origin between <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/first-failure-of-australias-55-million-cambodia-refugee-plan-20151016-gkb42q.html">October 2015</a> and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/refugee-leaves-cambodia-after-being-deeply-unhappy-with-move-from-nauru-20160527-gp6170.html">May 2016</a>, despite having been assessed to have genuine fears of persecution or other serious harm there. </p>
<p>Rumours of further transfers from Nauru <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/oct/15/three-nauru-refugees-volunteer-to-be-resettled-in-cambodia">again surfaced in October 2016</a>, but only one more man – from Syria – is <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/sixth-refugee-flown-from-nauru-to-cambodia-under-55-million-deal-20161108-gskxqe.html">known to have gone</a>. </p>
<p>These transfers bring the total number of refugees currently in Cambodia to two, with one saying <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-03/nauru-refugee-in-cambodia-could-have-australian-funding-cut/7472966">he would leave if he could</a>.</p>
<h2>Breaking down the cost</h2>
<p>At the time it was signed, immigration minister Scott Morrison <a href="http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/143035/20141222-1032/www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/sm/2014/sm218187.htm">announced</a> that Australia would provide Cambodia with $40 million over four years “to support various overseas aid development projects”, in addition to the approximately $79 million that it was providing in aid to Cambodia. </p>
<p>In October 2015, Michael Pezzullo, the Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/estimate/c952e672-02c0-4a05-9274-643291cd067d/toc_pdf/Legal%20and%20Constitutional%20Affairs%20Legislation%20Committee_2015_10_19_3916_Official.pdf;fileType=application/pdf#search=%222010s%202015%2010%2019%22">clarified</a> that Australia was providing $40 million “in development assistance – not directly related to the resettlement per se”, as well as $15 million for the overall resettlement program that would be “pay on performance”. </p>
<p>It appeared that the $15 million would not be paid all at once, but rather would be disbursed on a progressive basis depending on how many refugees were resettled. </p>
<p>As discussed earlier, a spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection told The Conversation that the current figure for the total expenditure of the resettlement assistance to date is now $4.77 million.</p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>Kate Ellis was correct. It is a fair to describe the Cambodia deal as having cost millions of taxpayer dollars, while changing very few refugee lives. <strong>– Madeline Gleeson</strong></p>
<hr>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>This is a sound analysis. There appears to be some difference in approach by politicians as to how much the Cambodian deal has actually cost. This is because the government has divided the funds between $40 million in aid and approximately $15 million directly for resettlement services and support. </p>
<p>I think it is more accurate to view the resettlement agreement amount holistically as totalling $55 million. This is because the “development assistance” was tied to the resettlement agreement. Putting any dispute as to the exact monetary contribution aside, it is correct that it has assisted very few refugees. <strong>– Maria O'Sullivan</strong></p>
<p><em>CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it was Labor senator Tim Watts who asked about the Cambodia deal in the Senate hearing. In fact, it was Labor senator Murray Watt. The Conversation takes responsibility and apologises for this error, which was introduced in the editing process.</em></p>
<hr>
<p><div class="callout"> Have you ever seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68807/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeline Gleeson is the author of a new book, 'Offshore: Behind the Wire on Manus and Nauru', available now from NewSouth Books.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria O'Sullivan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After Australia announced a refugee deal with the US, Labor’s Kate Ellis told Q&A that millions of dollars were spent on an earlier deal with Cambodia, yet very few lives were changed. Is that right?Madeline Gleeson, Research Associate, Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/663362016-11-07T03:29:27Z2016-11-07T03:29:27ZEuropean leaders taking cues from Australia on asylum seeker policies<p>Across Europe <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-polands-new-government-is-a-problem-for-migrants-to-the-eu-51005">anti immigration political leaders</a> are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/18/australias-refugee-policies-a-global-inspiration-for-all-the-wrong-reasons">turning to Australia</a> for inspiration on how to reduce the number of people seeking asylum in their countries.</p>
<p>Australia’s asylum seeker policies have <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/un-human-rights-review-slams-australias-asylum-seeker-policies/news-story/29a4c5e8b0ecf94a327f7fe822dfec07">attracted condemnation</a> from <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-international-condemnation-on-human-rights-mean-so-little-to-australia-53814">human rights organisations</a> and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/un-human-rights-review-countries-line-up-to-criticise-australia-for-its-treatment-of-asylum-seekers-20151109-gkusj4.html">many countries around the world</a>. But in speeches given at US President Barack Obama’s <a href="http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/speech-at-president-obamas-leaders-summit-on-refugees">Leaders’ Summit on Refugees</a> and the <a href="http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/australias-national-statement-in-the-general-debate-of-the-71st-session-at">United Nations (UN) General Assembly</a> in September, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urged his fellow leaders to adopt Australia’s strict border protection policies.</p>
<p>In some quarters, the Australian perspective is taking hold.</p>
<p>In September, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson echoed the “<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/migrant-crisis/migrant-crisis-british-foreign-secretary-boris-johnson-says-eu-mission-should-turn-back-boats-20160915-grhizg.html">stop the boats</a>” mantra adopted over the years by Australian Prime Ministers <a href="http://electionspeeches.moadoph.gov.au/speeches/2001-john-howard">John Howard</a>, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/kevin-rudd-to-unveil-manus-island-expansion-plan-in-bid-to-stop-boats/story-fn9hm1gu-1226681830019">Kevin Rudd</a>, <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2010/07/06/full-transcript-gillards-asylum-policy-speech">Julia Gillard</a>, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-12/abbott-refuses-to-deny-people-smugglers-paid-to-turn-back/6540866">Tony Abbott</a>, and now <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-20/australia-urges-un-nations-to-adopt-its-border-control-policy/7860160">Turnbull</a>. Days later, in her speech to the UN General Assembly, British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke of the need for countries to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-mays-first-speech-to-the-un-general-assembly-read-the-complete-text-a7319601.html">exercise control over their borders</a>.</p>
<p>The European Union’s (EU) <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/19/world/europe/european-union-turkey-refugees-migrants.html">deal with Turkey</a> to send asylum seekers back in exchange for aid parallels Australia’s “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Solution">Pacific Solution</a>”, in which Australian governments outsource their processing of asylum seekers to third party countries.</p>
<p>Spain has developed a system of “<a href="https://openmigration.org/en/analyses/a-political-laboratory-how-spain-closed-the-borders-to-refugees/">border externalisation</a>” similar to the Pacific Solution. Under the Spanish plan, Moroccan authorities in particular intervene to stop asylum seekers from setting sail, or from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2014/jun/20/migrants-attempt-to-cross-border-from-morocco-into-spain-in-pictures">climbing the wall</a> into the Spanish enclaves of <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/638855/EU-migrant-crisis-refugees-Spain-Ceuta-Melilla-Morocco-Britain-Calais">Melilla and Ceuta</a>. Sometimes they use <a href="http://www.news.com.au/world/extraordinary-photo-sums-up-immigration-crisis-on-spainmorocco-border/news-story/5f9b8d009a88e7c602b2b3d47fd51f57">violent force</a> to achieve this.</p>
<p>Seville-based analyst <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rafael-rodriguez-prieto-15792/articles">Rafael Rodriguez Prieto</a> has described this as the “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerberus">Cerberus</a> response”. This is a reference to the mythical three-headed dogs of Hades guarding the gateways to Hell, or in this case blocking the pathways at either end of Europe. </p>
<p>In the face of international condemnation, how does a country justify a hard-line stance on accepting asylum seekers? </p>
<p>The moral architecture behind Australia’s position is based on a number of ideas, from theories about human motivation drawn from behavioural economics to the concept of national self determination. </p>
<h2>The right to sovereignty</h2>
<p>Australia is a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-nation-state-is-key-to-peace-and-prosperity-20141118-11pieq.html">nation state</a> emerging from the resolution of European wars in the 17th century under the <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/why-the-1648-peace-of-westphalia-treaty-merits-scrutiny-today">Westphalia Treaty</a>. Its legitimacy is based on claims that date back to the invasion of Aboriginal country by the British Crown in the 18th century, legislation enacted by the British parliament in the 19th century and the inheritance of that power by the Commonwealth in the 20th century. </p>
<p>Nation states are designed to define and protect particular ethno-religious polities against challenges brought by competing groups. Therefore, people entering the country who have not been sanctified by the state - “unauthorised arrivals” - can be resisted using <em>force majeure</em>. </p>
<p>In order to defend the legitimacy of the state, it is imagined permissible or even necessary to prevent the unauthorised arrival of those who might seek to claim refuge. In Australia’s moral architecture, this trumps any moral claims made by asylum seekers.</p>
<h2>The greater good</h2>
<p>In order to justify this action, it is necessary to claim that not only is there the national imperative, but an even greater moral good.</p>
<p>The first argument is the prevention of further <a href="https://theconversation.com/factcheck-did-1200-refugees-die-at-sea-under-labor-38094">deaths at sea</a> as asylum seekers take to boats in an attempt to reach safer shores. The second is the refugee “pay-off”: that authorised refugees (<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/refugee-intake-will-minimise-single-sunni-men-favour-christians/news-story/81c18d53915dbc89a7c80ce00d2d6dd0">preferably not Sunni Muslims</a>) can be taken in <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-to-take-central-american-refugees-as-malcolm-turnbull-pledges-to-do-more-at-obama-summit-20160920-grkcq9.html">increasing numbers</a>.</p>
<p>Without “unauthorised” asylum seekers “jumping” the (non-existent) queue, there will be wider public support for authorised refugees. The Australian population will feel better about itself, and its reputation as having “<a href="http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/australias-national-statement-in-the-general-debate-of-the-71st-session-at">one of the most successful</a>” <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-national-multicultural-legislation-would-strengthen-australian-society-50061">multicultural societies</a> in the world will be enhanced. </p>
<p>These arguments justify <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/were-asylum-seeker-boats-paid-to-turn-back/news-story/f19bd5b8e14e590b31e0579a80b4c535">paying people smugglers</a> significant sums to turn their boats around. They permit the paying of significant sums to adjacent states to hold the “illegals”, process their applications and “settle” them.</p>
<p>And they make it possible to ensure and accept that the conditions under which the asylum seekers are “protected” are <a href="https://theconversation.com/amnesty-human-rights-watch-investigation-reports-medical-neglect-and-assaults-on-nauru-63451">sufficiently onerous</a>, and the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-30/malcolm-turnbull-illegal-asylum-seekers/7978274">likelihood of salvation so distant</a>, that asylum seekers will choose to return “home”.</p>
<h2>Putting an end to people smuggling</h2>
<p>The crucial element is the capacity to prevent a person seeking refuge from physically setting foot in the country.</p>
<p>Entering a country unauthorised is not in itself illegal - seeking refuge is an authorised action under international agreements. But nation states can trump international agreements by <a href="http://www.ichrp.org/files/papers/140/122_Santhiago.pdf">declaring the “attempt to arrive” as illegal</a>, or deciding that the asylum seeker has no legitimate case for protection. </p>
<p>In Australia, the label of illegality does not result in criminal charges against the refugees, but <a href="https://sydney.edu.au/law/slr/slr_38/slr38_1/SLRv38n1SchloenhardtCraig.pdf">against the boat crews</a> who bring them. Together these elements are justified on the crude behavioural economics basis of removing the financial incentive for people smugglers.</p>
<h2>Will Australia’s framework prevail?</h2>
<p>The refugee crisis, generated in part by failed or failing states and likely to be exacerbated by <a href="https://www.mpg.de/10481936/climate-change-middle-east-north-africa">climate change</a>, positions contemporary ideologies of transnational collaboration against the realities of ethnic and nationalist solidarity and self-interest. </p>
<p>It is the beneficiaries of the Westphalia agreement (the advanced nation states of Europe and their clones, such as Australia) who have been most challenged by the emergence of transnational structures of governance such as the UN and the EU, despite their formulation of and participation in them. </p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>Australia’s contribution to the response of the Global North to the crises of the Global South has already been quite powerful.</p>
<p>Following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/brexit-is-on-britain-votes-to-leave-the-eu-experts-respond-61576">Brexit</a> decision in the UK, rafts of public servants in agencies such as the Home Office and the Equal Opportunities Commission have been charged with extracting the country from its European human rights obligations.</p>
<p>The “Australian solution” has already found <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/britte-van-tiem/what-brexit-could-mean-for-refugee-protection-in-britain">influence</a>, not only in the rhetoric of politicians such as the UK Independent Party’s Nigel Farage, but in the portfolio of responses being explored in the corridors of Whitehall.</p>
<p>Johnson’s <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/migrant-crisis/migrant-crisis-british-foreign-secretary-boris-johnson-says-eu-mission-should-turn-back-boats-20160915-grhizg.html">call for</a> an EU naval force deployed in the Mediterranean to turn back migrant boats after they leave Libya to stem the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-01/spike-in-asylum-seekers-shows-europes-migration-crisis-not-over/7805190">vast numbers</a> of asylum seekers trying to get to Italy is one insight.</p>
<p>For as long as the <a href="http://ecommerce-journal.com/2016/09/libya-says-1425-migrants-turned-back-over-two-days/">Libyan state remains in crisis</a> and unable to assert its sovereignty over its own waters, the British navy could take it upon itself to “stop the boats”. Or it could try to force its European counterparts to toughen up their border protection policies. </p>
<p>Either way, it sounds very Australian.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66336/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Jakubowicz receives funding from Australian Research council, the Human Rights Commission and Vichealth for research on cyber-racism. </span></em></p>Across Europe anti immigration political leaders are turning to Australia for inspiration on how to reduce the number of people seeking asylum in their countries.Andrew Jakubowicz, Professor of Sociology, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/657852016-09-21T01:36:09Z2016-09-21T01:36:09ZTurnbull announces a new refugee plan, but will it solve the crisis?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/138546/original/image-20160921-12483-1fj3f3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Malcolm Turnbull has announced a permanent rise in Australia's humanitarian refugee intake to nearly 19,000.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Jason Szenes</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-to-take-central-american-refugees-as-malcolm-turnbull-pledges-to-do-more-at-obama-summit-20160920-grkcq9.html">has announced</a> that Australia will increase its refugee intake from 13,750 to 18,750 in 2018-19. Australia will also resettle refugees from Central America. </p>
<p>Turnbull made the announcement at the invitation-only refugee summit held by US President Barack Obama. The figure of 18,750 was a pledge of the Abbott government, but has not yet been acted on; the humanitarian intake <a href="http://www.border.gov.au/about/corporate/information/fact-sheets/60refugee#e">has remained at</a> about 13,750 in the last two financial years. </p>
<p>The pledge to resettle refugees from Central America is a completely new policy initiative, and begs the question of why the government is extending the source countries of its resettlement program. </p>
<p>Does Australia have the capacity to take 18,750 refugees? And has it got the capacity to take refugees from new source countries in Central America? </p>
<h2>How the numbers stack up</h2>
<p>In 2015, 2.45 million refugees had their status recognised or were resettled around the world. Australia resettled 11,776 people, or 0.48% of the total. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/getfacts/statistics/unchr2015/">According to the Refugee Council of Australia</a>, Australia was ranked 25th overall, 32nd per capita, and 47th relative to total national GDP in terms of how it contributes to the refugee crisis.</p>
<p>These figures do not take account of the fact that Australia has, according to Turnbull, the third-largest planned migration program in the world. This means Australia’s contribution to refugee resettlement is extremely low as a proportion of its overall annual migration.</p>
<p>Australia’s resettlement program can be broken into two groups of refugees: those who arrive onshore and seek asylum in Australia (2,377 in 2015), and those who are resettled from refugee camps around the world under an agreement with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR (9,399 in 2015). </p>
<p>The government often points to Australia’s contribution to this second group as an indicator of its contribution to the global refugee crisis. Of the 2.45 million refugees resettled around the world in 2015, 107,000 (0.66%) were resettled through the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/576408cd7">UNHCR resettlement program</a>. Only a small number of countries who do not receive large numbers of asylum seekers at their borders have the capacity to assist in this way.</p>
<p>In 2015, the <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/576408cd7">major contributors</a> to the UNHCR resettlement program were the US, which resettled more than 66,000 people, Canada with 20,000, and Australia with 9,399. On a <a href="http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/getfacts/statistics/unchr2015/">per-capita basis</a>, Australia has the fifth-most-generous resettlement program. </p>
<p>In world terms, a refugee intake of 18,750 is modest by any measure. When Labor came to office in 2007, it immediately increased the intake to 20,000. The <a href="http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/thebordercrossingobservatory/files/2015/03/expert_panel_on_asylum_seekers_full_report.pdf">report of the expert panel on asylum seekers</a> in 2012 – the blueprint for Australia’s current refugee policy – recommended an increase in numbers to 26,000. <a href="http://greens.org.au/refugees">The Greens’ policy</a> is for a refugee intake of 50,000.</p>
<h2>How many refugees should we be taking?</h2>
<p>Given that in recent times our planned migration program has run at about 190,000, it is hard to argue that Australia does not have the capacity to take in many more refugees. </p>
<p>The barriers are the economic, social and cultural costs associated with replacing a migrant under the skilled or family migration programs with a refugee. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, refugees find it harder than other migrants to hold down work and integrate into the Australian community in the short term. However, they make a <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/01_2014/economic-social-civic-contributions-booklet2011.pdf">considerable contribution in the long term</a>, are very loyal to Australia, and disproportionately successful in entrepreneurial endeavours.</p>
<p>The government has a clear preference for contributing through the UNHCR resettlement program, rather than processing asylum seekers arriving at the border. In New York, Turnbull <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-to-take-central-american-refugees-as-malcolm-turnbull-pledges-to-do-more-at-obama-summit-20160920-grkcq9.html">put it like this</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our strategy addresses all parts of the problem – employing strong border protection policies and a tough stance on people smugglers, while tackling the causes of displacement, with a generous and compassionate resettlement program supporting refugees in our communities.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is little question that the government will devote many of the new places to the resettlement program. However, it will also need to use the extra numbers to work through the backlog of 28,000 asylum seekers living in the community who arrived prior to the re-introduction of offshore processing. </p>
<p>One possible positive outcome is that processing of these asylum seekers, which has been occurring at a glacial pace since <a href="http://www.ima.border.gov.au/en/Applying-for-a-protection-visa/Temporary-Protection-visas">temporary protection visas</a> and <a href="http://www.ima.border.gov.au/Applying-for-a-protection-visa/Safe-Haven-Enterprise-visas">safe haven enterprise visas</a> were introduced at the beginning of 2015, might occur more quickly.</p>
<h2>Refugees from Central America</h2>
<p>Refugees in Central America are predominantly political refugees from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras fleeing violence in their home countries. Many <a href="http://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2016/4/5703ab396/unhcr-calls-urgent-action-central-america-asylum-claims-soar.html">end up in refugee camps</a> on the Costa Rican border. </p>
<p>Latin America is not a traditional source country for refugees to Australia. Furthermore, Latin Americans make up a very small portion of the Australian population. Among people living in Australia who were born overseas, there are <a href="http://www.racismnoway.com.au/about-racism/population/index-Diversit.html">no Central or South American countries</a> in the top 30 source countries.</p>
<p>So why is Australia undertaking to resettle refugees from Central America? There is some suggestion that Turnbull will strike a deal with the US government for the resettlement of Central American refugees in Australia in exchange for the resettlement of refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island. </p>
<p>Such a deal would be a dramatic final chapter in the offshore detention policy for which Labor and Coalition governments have been roundly criticised. If Turnbull can pull this off, it will demonstrate the benefits of regional co-operation. </p>
<p>However, there would be an element of politics trumping common sense in any such deal. There are established migrant and refugee communities from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Sri Lanka in Australia (the source countries of many refugees on Nauru and Manus Island). These include many immediate family members of those on Nauru and Manus Island. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there are very small Honduran, Guatemalan and El Salvadorian communities in Australia to support refugees from these countries. It is important to remember that the refugees from all these countries are fleeing situations of great stress. Support networks in countries of settlement are of vital importance for their mental health and wellbeing. </p>
<p>Before striking any deal, the Australian government needs to be satisfied that it has the capacity to offer the necessary support to refugees from Central America.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65785/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Reilly receives funding from Horticulture Innovation Australia for research into labour supply in the horticulture industry. He is also a member of the board of the Refugee Advocacy Service of South Australia, a voluntary service providing free legal and migration advice to asylum seekers.</span></em></p>A new policy to take refugees from Central America may be paving the way to solve the refugee problem on Manus Island and Nauru.Alex Reilly, Deputy Dean and Director of the Public Law and Policy Research Unit, Adelaide Law School, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.