tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/asylum-seeker-policy-and-practice-105724/articlesasylum seeker policy and practice – The Conversation2022-07-20T01:14:25Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1807792022-07-20T01:14:25Z2022-07-20T01:14:25ZDoes Australia’s harsh asylum seeker policy matter to the average Australian? It depends whether they have to get off the couch<p>The Albanese government’s turnback of a Sri Lankan <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-government-turns-around-its-first-asylum-seeker-boat-20220524-p5ao2y.html">asylum seeker vessel</a> just a day after being sworn in suggests it’s business as usual for Australia’s treatment of arrivals by boat. </p>
<p>Ever since the 2001 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/22/the-tampa-affair-20-years-on-the-ship-that-capsized-australias-refugee-policy">Tampa Incident</a> – when a freighter rescued several hundred drowning refugees from a dilapidated fishing boat but was prevented from bringing them to Australian shores – “boat arrivals” have featured prominently in public debates.</p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/australias-refugee-policy-overview">draconian</a> refugee policies receive bipartisan support and high <a href="https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/charts/asylum-seekers">public approval</a>, despite attracting widespread criticism overseas. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/attitudes-and-action-in-international-refugee-policy-evidence-from-australia/543308408106402667E9207B58289708">new research</a>, we asked Australians what they thought of the country’s boat arrivals policy – and studied whether their views changed when they were told the policies breached international law, were immoral, or harmed Australia’s international reputation.</p>
<h2>International criticism</h2>
<p>The UN has repeatedly told Australia its boat arrivals policies <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/30/australias-asylum-boat-turnbacks-are-illegal-and-risk-lives-un-told">violate international law</a>, including a key <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/mar/09/un-reports-australias-immigration-detention-breaches-torture-convention">anti-torture treaty</a>. They also breach the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/national-inquiry-childen-immigration-detention-background-paper-1-introduction">UN Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>. </p>
<p>Doctors Without Borders says the mental health suffering in detention facilities is among the worst it has <a href="https://msf.org.au/sites/default/files/attachments/indefinite_despair_3.pdf">seen</a>. Others describe the facilities as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/08/un-human-rights-expert-decries-boat-turnbacks-as-australia-criticised-for-secrecy-of-on-water-matters">cruel and inhumane</a>. </p>
<p>Still others argue Australia’s policy <a href="https://theconversation.com/cruel-costly-and-ineffective-australias-offshore-processing-asylum-seeker-policy-turns-9-166014">harms its international reputation</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/on-the-ground-at-australias-universal-periodic-review-50525">entrenching the nation’s pariah status</a> on the issue.</p>
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<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/attitudes-and-action-in-international-refugee-policy-evidence-from-australia/543308408106402667E9207B58289708">recent research</a> involved a survey using a nationally representative sample of over 2,000 Australians. </p>
<p>We found that over 56% of them agreed or strongly agreed with the policy. Only 37% disapproved or strongly disapproved. That’s generally consistent with what <a href="https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/charts/asylum-seekers/">other surveys have found</a>, although those views <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/polls-apart-how-australian-views-have-changed-on-boat-people">may be shifting</a>.</p>
<p>We were also specifically interested in whether it matters how Australia’s policy is framed. </p>
<p>After (randomly) dividing our respondents into four groups, we then told one group that Australia’s policy breached international law, one group that it was immoral, and one group that it harmed Australia’s international reputation. The fourth group received no additional information.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-temporary-visa-system-is-unfair-expensive-impractical-and-inconsistent-heres-how-the-new-government-could-fix-it-185870">Australia's temporary visa system is unfair, expensive, impractical and inconsistent. Here's how the new government could fix it</a>
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<p>Everyone who received negative information was more critical of current policy. It isn’t altogether surprising that negative information makes people more negative. But given how entrenched Australia’s policy has become, it’s interesting that attitudes are still movable.</p>
<p>Even more interestingly, we found that describing current policy as a breach of international law is far more effective at dampening support than describing it as morally egregious or harmful to our international reputation.</p>
<p>Of the three frames, the international reputation argument got the least traction. This lends some credence to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s claim that Australians are “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/tony-abbott-australians-sick-of-being-lectured-to-by-united-nations-after-report-finds-antitorture-breach-20150309-13z3j0.html">sick of being lectured to by the UN</a>”.</p>
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<h2>Getting people to act is much harder</h2>
<p>We did find emphasising international law or morality makes people more willing to mobilise (compared to accentuating reputational harm). </p>
<p>But overall, most people just aren’t motivated to take political action – even if they strongly dislike the policy. </p>
<p>Our study found less than 30% of respondents were willing to sign a petition against current policy, and less than 10% were interested in protesting or donating.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-biloela-family-are-going-home-but-what-will-labor-do-with-thousands-of-other-asylum-seekers-in-limbo-in-australia-183621">The ‘Biloela family’ are going home – but what will Labor do with thousands of other asylum seekers in limbo in Australia?</a>
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<p>These findings are consistent with a longstanding body of research which shows people are less willing to mobilise as the costs of action go up. </p>
<p>They also corroborate an age-old challenge for activists. Most forms of political activism involve some cost in terms of time or money. Particularly when your own rights or interests aren’t at stake, turning that outrage into action rarely looks as appealing as staying on the couch.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jill Sheppard is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery grant (DP210101517).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jana von Stein 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>Our study found that overall, most people just aren’t motivated to take political action against Australia’s refugee policies – even if they strongly dislike them.Jill Sheppard, Senior Lecturer, School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National UniversityJana von Stein, Associate Professor, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1858702022-06-29T23:24:15Z2022-06-29T23:24:15ZAustralia’s temporary visa system is unfair, expensive, impractical and inconsistent. Here’s how the new government could fix it<p>The election of the Albanese Labor government brings an opportunity to end one of the most detrimental elements of Australian refugee law and policy in the past decade: the use of temporary visas. </p>
<p>Temporary protection has been the only option available for asylum seekers who arrived by boat a decade ago and were recognised as refugees. Known as the “legacy caseload”, these people are caught in a system of law and policy that keeps them in a state of perpetual limbo. </p>
<p>As the new government committed to end temporary protection, we have <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/news/new-kaldor-centre-policy-brief-proposes-reforms-australia%E2%80%99s-temporary-protection-system">just published a policy brief</a> with the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law outlining how this could be achieved.</p>
<p>Our report sets out practical reforms that can be implemented relatively simply, within existing legislative provisions and with only minimal changes to policy and regulations. </p>
<p>The 17 recommendations were produced in consultation with refugees and asylum seekers living on temporary protection visas and bridging visas. We also consulted civil society, including former and current temporary protection visa holders and legal groups working with refugees.</p>
<p>The impact of temporary protection and the fast-track system on refugees and
asylum seekers has left many <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/inm.12325">depressed and suicidal</a>. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/29/the-new-government-gives-me-hope-that-the-cruel-limbo-of-temporary-protection-visas-might-end">Expectations</a> from those living on temporary visas and the wider refugee advocates are high and there is significant apprehension about the transition.</p>
<p>The new government understands it will need to approach reforms carefully. Our recommendations are accompanied by a trauma-informed strategy to help reduce mental distress, deterioration and retraumatisation of asylum seekers, while also increasing community engagement.</p>
<h2>The current system is damaging</h2>
<p>Australia’s temporary protection system is <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/news/new-kaldor-centre-policy-brief-proposes-reforms-australia%E2%80%99s-temporary-protection-system">unfair, expensive, impractical and inconsistent</a> with our international human rights obligations.</p>
<p>In 2014, the Coalition government reintroduced a Howard-era three-year Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) and a five-year Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) for the more than 30,000 people who arrived by boat between August 13 2012 and January 1 2014. </p>
<p>However, unlike the earlier Howard policy, the temporary visas this time provided no realistic prospect of applying for permanent protection. </p>
<p>The number of people in this “legacy caseload” as <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/uma-legacy-caseload-may-2022.pdf">of May 2022</a> is 31,256. </p>
<p>They come from many countries. The largest number are from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The majority – around 19,500 people – have been found to be refugees and have been granted TPV and SHEV. </p>
<p>The 10,000 who have been refused a visa were assessed through a “fast-track” process that has <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-biloela-tamil-family-deportation-case-highlights-the-failures-of-our-refugee-system-123685">been neither fair nor fast</a>. </p>
<p>People who have been refused have been living in the Australian community for ten years or more while awaiting the outcome of appeals. </p>
<p>Some (<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-biloela-family-are-going-home-but-what-will-labor-do-with-thousands-of-other-asylum-seekers-in-limbo-in-australia-183621">such as the Nadeselingham family</a>) are working or have had children in Australia.</p>
<p>There are also many asylum seekers from Afghanistan who have been refused visas but who cannot return due to the reemergence of the Taliban in August 2021. </p>
<p>In other words, some of those refused visas may well be refugees or have other ties to the Australian community. However, the current legal system does not allow them to apply for other visas without going through cumbersome, expensive appeals and ministerial intervention processes. </p>
<p>People who hold TPVs and SHEVs are allowed to work but not to reunite with family or travel freely overseas.</p>
<p>Others live on precarious short-term bridging visas, some without the right to work. Many are without access to income support. In either situation, the uncertainty is damaging people’s mental health and well-being. </p>
<h2>Key recommendations</h2>
<p>The focus of the policy brief was to set out reforms either within the current legislative and policy framework, or with minimal changes. </p>
<p>This means changes can occur within a relatively short time frame. </p>
<p>Key recommendations include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>refugees on TPVs and SHEVs should be moved onto permanent visas known as Resolution of Status visas. People who have not yet been assessed or who have previously been refused protection should also be able to apply for a permanent visa that does not require another assessment of their protection claims</p></li>
<li><p>restrictions on travel for TPV and SHEV holders should be removed, pending the grant of a permanent visa and includes specific recommendations in relation to travel documents. Travel is essential for re-establishing links to separated family</p></li>
<li><p>family reunion, particularly partners and children, should be prioritised. Granting people permanent visas allows them to begin the process of family reunion through the family or humanitarian programs</p></li>
<li><p>the government should establish a specialised team in the Department of Home Affairs to work closely with migration agents, lawyers and refugee communities. This group could identify other options for allowing reunification of close relatives and children who, under current law, may not fall within the definition of “member of a family unit”. Families have been separated for at least 10 years; many left children at home who have now reached ages where they will no longer be considered dependent. </p></li>
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<p>In 2014, the new minister for immigration, citizenship and multicultural affairs Andrew Giles <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/chamber/hansardr/a275472e-b699-46e7-ac29-bcf2fb8ee942/0018/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">said</a></p>
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<p>Labor has a longstanding policy of opposing TPVs, for good reason. They do not provide a sustainable solution for refugees. The uncertainty exacerbates real mental health issues and denies people the capacity to live full lives. As well as significant international law concerns with these provisions, they put people in limbo. There is no deterrence value here, even if you accept that to be a valid policy objective – they only place vulnerable people in a place of uncertainty.</p>
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<p>He now has significant power to put those words into action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185870/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Anne Kenny has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council and sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ali Reza Yunespour is a Board Member of Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) and volunteer Partnership Coordinator with Indigo Foundation Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol Grech is a board member of the Rosemary Bryant Research Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Procter has previously received grant funding and sitting fees from from Department of Health and Department of Home Affairs. </span></em></p>Our report sets out practical reforms that can be implemented relatively simply, within existing legislative provisions and with only minimal changes to policy and regulations.Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch UniversityAli Reza Yunespour, Academic Internships Coordinator, The University of MelbourneCarol Grech, Professor, University of South AustraliaNicholas Procter, Professor and Chair: Mental Health Nursing, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1830352022-05-16T05:48:58Z2022-05-16T05:48:58Z‘Futile and cruel’: plan to charge fees for immigration detention has no redeeming features<p>Some people in immigration detention could be asked to pay for their own incarceration, as part of a new border protection policy announced by the Coalition on Friday.</p>
<p>The government has indicated “foreign criminals” awaiting deportation will be the main targets of the policy. This is an ambiguous statement given the government’s propensity to <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/illegals/">criminalise refugees and asylum seekers</a>. But it likely refers primarily to people whose visas have been cancelled on “<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealanders-have-a-right-to-be-angry-when-australia-deports-a-15-year-old-157583">character grounds</a>” under provisions in the Migration Act. This includes many people who have <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-new-zealanders-are-feeling-the-hard-edge-of-australias-deportation-policy-99447">no serious criminal history</a>. </p>
<p>The proposal would see detainees charged <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/post/max-opray/2022/05/13/coalition-tightens-screws-deportees">$456 for each day they’re detained</a>. With <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/immigration-detention-statistics-31-january-2022.pdf">average detention times</a> currently exceeding <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/16/australia-holding-people-in-immigration-detention-for-record-689-days-on-average-report-finds">680 days</a>, the debts could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>This isn’t the first time the Coalition has sought to charge immigration detainees for their time in detention. Morrison’s policy closely resembles a Howard-era scheme that was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2009/s2680219.htm">dismantled by the Rudd Labor government</a> in 2009. </p>
<p>This time, however, Labor has <a href="https://twitter.com/KKeneally/status/1524860819334303745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">backed the plan</a>. </p>
<p>Whatever political thinking underlies the major parties’ positions, charging detainees for their incarceration is a bad move. Beyond cynical political calculation, this is a policy with no redeeming features.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Sky News’ coverage of the Prime Minister’s announcement.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Nobody is ‘free riding’ in detention</h2>
<p>According to Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, making detainees pay for their detention is necessary to prevent “free riding”. </p>
<p>Hawke <a href="https://nswliberal.org.au/Shared-Content/News/2022/The-Coalitions-plan-for-protecting-our-borders">said on Friday</a>:</p>
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<p>We don’t believe foreign criminals deserve free rent, food and medical treatment while we go through the process of deporting them.</p>
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<p>The idea that people in detention are living comfortably at taxpayers’ expense is far from accurate. <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/visiting-immigration-detention">Having researched immigration detention for years</a>, I can attest that conditions in detention are far from hospitable. </p>
<p>People in detention endure constant surveillance and minimal privacy. Access to <a href="https://www.piac.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/18.06.14-Asylum-Seeker-Health-Rights-Report.pdf">health care</a>, recreational facilities, and legal support is highly limited. Detainees are <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jrs/article-abstract/34/3/2655/5570305">regularly moved between interstate detention centres</a> without warning or explanation. Friends and family members in the community struggle to visit. Frequent changes to internal rules breed instability, and centre guards sometimes use <a href="https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2020/8/17/damning-report-excessive-use-of-force-by-immigration-detention-staff">excessive force</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-63359-001">A wealth of evidence</a> links immigration detention with psychological injuries including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. <a href="https://theconversation.com/self-harm-in-immigration-detention-has-risen-sharply-here-are-6-ways-to-address-this-health-crisis-146679">Rates of self-harm in Australian detention centres</a> are alarmingly high.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/self-harm-in-immigration-detention-has-risen-sharply-here-are-6-ways-to-address-this-health-crisis-146679">Self-harm in immigration detention has risen sharply. Here are 6 ways to address this health crisis</a>
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<p>People in detention do not choose to remain there as a lifestyle preference. If they elect to endure these conditions and fight their deportation in the courts, they typically do so because returning to their country of citizenship isn’t a viable option. </p>
<p>In some cases, detainees come from refugee backgrounds and fear violence or persecution in their country of origin. In others, detainees have spent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/13/deported-to-a-land-they-barely-know-anger-rises-over-australias-character-test-for-non-citizens">years in Australia</a> and don’t wish to abandon their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/15/australia-tried-to-use-charge-to-deport-otherwise-model-nz-citizen-who-has-lived-here-for-40-years">lives and loved ones</a> for a country that’s no longer “home”. </p>
<p>The right to appeal these deportation decisions is fundamental for justice. Yet pressuring detainees to leave Australia swiftly <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-13/coalition-promises-to-recoup-detention-debts-from-deportees/101063556">seems to be</a> a key rationale for the policy change.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-zealanders-have-a-right-to-be-angry-when-australia-deports-a-15-year-old-157583">New Zealanders have a right to be angry when Australia deports a 15-year-old</a>
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<h2>Recovering funds may prove impossible</h2>
<p>Until now, the Coalition <a href="https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/federal-election/labor-wont-take-morrison-on-face-value/video/81eafcbc34a8c9f3693b95705fd340bc">hadn’t sought to revive its previous scheme</a>. One likely reason is because the Howard government’s measures simply <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-13/coalition-promises-to-recoup-detention-debts-from-deportees/101063556">didn’t work</a>. Howard’s debt recovery program cost <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-13/coalition-promises-to-recoup-detention-debts-from-deportees/101063556">more to administer</a> than it raised in revenue. </p>
<p>Part of the problem with a model where detainees pay is that many debtors will ultimately be deported to or resettled in a third country. This makes debt recovery difficult. </p>
<p>Another issue is that people in detention often have few financial resources. It’s both futile and cruel to ask people with almost nothing to pay for the privilege of being held against their will. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-13/coalition-promises-to-recoup-detention-debts-from-deportees/101063556">Speaking to these challenges last week</a>, Hawke indicated funds would be recovered by seizing detainees’ assets in Australia. This is a troubling proposition, not least because Australia’s immigration detention system is officially <a href="https://www.abf.gov.au/about-us/what-we-do/border-protection/immigration-detention">administrative not punitive</a>. That is, people in detention are not held as part of a criminal sentence. Legally speaking, detention isn’t supposed to be a punishment.</p>
<p>Seizing assets certainly appears punitive. It would compound the social and financial pressures detainees already face as a consequence of their incarceration. And it would impose serious collateral harm, punishing detainees’ children, partners, parents and families.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-are-crying-and-begging-the-human-cost-of-forced-relocations-in-immigration-detention-132193">'People are crying and begging': the human cost of forced relocations in immigration detention</a>
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<h2>Is this all just an election ploy?</h2>
<p>Coming just one week before the election, the political calculation of Morrison’s policy revival is difficult to ignore. “Border protection” has traditionally been a vote winner for the Coalition, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/labor-retains-large-newspoll-lead-but-albaneses-ratings-fall-special-poll-gives-labor-clear-house-majority-182858">the polls</a> aren’t looking good for the incumbent prime minister. </p>
<p>In 2001, Howard famously came from behind to claim electoral victory on the back of the Tampa Crisis and the Children Overboard Affair. If last week’s <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=DTWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailytelegraph.com.au%2Ftruecrimeaustralia%2Fpolice-courts-nsw%2Fno-more-free-ride-for-cashedup-foreign-crims-fighting-deportation%2Fnews-story%2F8af5c73f5064ca085d05594302ddb2f2&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-cold-test-noscore&V21spcbehaviour=append">Murdoch media headlines</a> are any indication, Morrison may be hoping to achieve a similar boost through his own <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1440783317690926?ai=1gvoi&mi=3ricys&af=R&">border rhetoric</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/issues-that-swung-elections-tampa-and-the-national-security-election-of-2001-115143">Issues that swung elections: Tampa and the national security election of 2001</a>
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<p>If <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/cost-australias-asylum-policy">the exorbitant costs of detention</a> are a concern for the government, one viable solution would be to only use detention as a last resort.</p>
<p>For its part, Labor has been accused of performing an about-face on its previous position. This policy shift speaks to Labor’s apparent fear of being <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-14/josh-frydenberg-loses-kooyong-cant-blame-labor-campaign-idiocy/101064198">wedged</a> on the issue of immigration. </p>
<p>Labor and the Coalition therefore head to the election with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/19/factcheck-is-labors-policy-on-asylum-seekers-and-refugees-any-different-to-the-coalitions">remarkably similar policies</a> on immigration detention and border security. Both support <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/offshore-processing-overview">offshore processing</a> and <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/turning-back-boats-0">boat turn-backs</a>. And both seem intent on tightening the screws on people already suffering in Australian detention centres.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Peterie receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Coming just one week before the election, the political calculation of Morrison’s policy revival is difficult to ignore.Michelle Peterie, Research Fellow, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1689412021-10-03T19:00:07Z2021-10-03T19:00:07ZMultibillion-dollar strategy with no end in sight: Australia’s ‘enduring’ offshore processing deal with Nauru<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424138/original/file-20211001-13-1e0vw0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=366%2C12%2C3645%2C2249&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>Late last month, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews and the president of Nauru, Lionel Aingimea, quietly <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/KarenAndrews/Pages/maritime-people-smuggling.aspx">announced</a> they had signed a new agreement to establish an “enduring form” of offshore processing for asylum seekers taken to the Pacific island.</p>
<p>The text of the new agreement has not been made public. This is unsurprising. </p>
<p>All the publicly available information indicates Australia’s offshore processing strategy is an ongoing human rights — not to mention financial — <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/press/2021/7/60f558274/unhcr-statement-on-8-years-of-offshore-asylum-policy.html">disaster</a>. </p>
<p>The deliberate opaqueness is intended to make it difficult to hold the government to account for these human and other costs. This is, of course, all the more reason to subject the new deal with Nauru to intense scrutiny.</p>
<h2>Policies 20 years in the making</h2>
<p>In order to fully understand the new deal — and the ramifications of it — it is necessary to briefly recount 20 years of history. </p>
<p>In late August 2001, the Howard government impulsively refused to allow asylum seekers <a href="https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/tampa-affair">rescued at sea by the Tampa freighter</a> to disembark on Australian soil. This began policy-making on the run and led to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Solution#:%7E:text=The%20Pacific%20Solution%20is%20the,land%20on%20the%20Australian%20mainland.">Pacific Solution Mark I</a>. </p>
<p>The governments of Nauru and Papua New Guinea were persuaded to enter into agreements allowing people attempting to reach Australia by boat to be detained in facilities on their territory while their protection claims were considered by Australian officials. </p>
<p>By the 2007 election, boat arrivals to Australia had dwindled substantially.</p>
<p>In February 2008, the newly elected Labor government closed down the facilities in Nauru and PNG. Within a year, boat arrivals had increased dramatically, causing the government to rethink its policy. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424144/original/file-20211001-15-4u7zxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424144/original/file-20211001-15-4u7zxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424144/original/file-20211001-15-4u7zxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424144/original/file-20211001-15-4u7zxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424144/original/file-20211001-15-4u7zxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424144/original/file-20211001-15-4u7zxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424144/original/file-20211001-15-4u7zxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&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">Sri Lankan migrants bound for Australia after they were intercepted by the Indonesian navy in 2009.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Irwin Fedriansyah/AP</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>After a <a href="http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n7824/pdf/ch09.pdf">couple of false starts</a>, it signed new deals with Nauru and PNG in late 2012. An expert panel had <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/expert-panel-report.pdf">described</a> the new arrangements as a “necessary circuit breaker to the current surge in irregular migration to Australia”. </p>
<p>This was the <a href="http://www.refugeeaction.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Pacific-Solution-II-fact-sheet.pdf">Pacific Solution Mark II</a>. In contrast to the first iteration, it provided for boat arrivals taken to Nauru and PNG to have protection claims considered under the laws and procedures of the host country. </p>
<p>Moreover, the processing facilities were supposedly run by the host countries, though in reality, the Australian government outsourced this to private companies.</p>
<p>Despite the new arrangements, the boat arrivals continued. And on July 19, 2013, the Rudd government took a hardline stance, <a href="https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20130730234007/http:/pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/79983/20130731-0937/www.pm.gov.au/press-office/transcript-joint-press-conference-2.html">announcing</a> any boat arrivals after that date would have “have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees”. </p>
<h2>New draconian changes to the system</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/downloadestimatesquestions/EstimatesQuestion-CommitteeId6-EstimatesRoundId11-PortfolioId20-QuestionNumber545">1,056</a> individuals who had been transferred to Nauru or PNG before July 19, 2013 were brought to Australia to be processed. </p>
<p>PNG <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/papua-new-guinea/memorandum-of-understanding-between-the-government-of-the-independent-state-of-papua-new-guinea-and-the-government-of-austr">agreed</a> that asylum seekers arriving after this date could resettle there, if they were recognised as refugees.</p>
<p>Nauru made a more equivocal <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/nauru/memorandum-of-understanding-between-the-republic-of-nauru-and-the-commonwealth-of-australia-relating-to-the-transfer-to-and">commitment</a> and has thus far only granted 20-year visas to those it recognises as refugees.</p>
<p>The Coalition then won the September 2013 federal election and implemented the military-led Operation Sovereign Borders policy. This involves turning back boat arrivals to transit countries (like Indonesia), or to their countries of origin. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/foi/files/2021/fa-210100105-fa210100899-document-released-pt1.PDF">cumulative count</a> of interceptions since then stands at 38 boats carrying 873 people. The most recent interception was in January 2020. </p>
<p>It should be noted these figures do not include the large number of interceptions undertaken at Australia’s request by transit countries and countries of origin. </p>
<p>What this means is the mere existence of the offshore processing system — even in the more draconian form in place after July 2013 — has not deterred people from attempting to reach Australia by boat. </p>
<p>Rather, the attempts have continued, but the interception activities of Australia and other countries have prevented them from succeeding.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1443712420891947010"}"></div></p>
<h2>No new asylum seekers in Nauru or PNG since 2014</h2>
<p>Australia acknowledges it has obligations under the <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/1954/5.html">UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees</a> — and other human rights treaties — to refrain from returning people to places where they face the risk of serious harm. </p>
<p>As a result, those intercepted at sea are given <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/downloadestimatesquestions/EstimatesQuestion-CommitteeId6-EstimatesRoundId10-PortfolioId20-QuestionNumber311">on-water screening interviews</a> for the purpose of identifying those with <em>prima facie</em> protection claims. </p>
<p>Those individuals are supposed to be taken to Nauru or PNG instead of being turned back or handed back. <a href="https://www.asyluminsight.com/savitri-taylor#.YVUDX5pBwtI">Concerningly</a>, of the 873 people intercepted since 2013, only two have passed these screenings: both in 2014. </p>
<p>This means no asylum seekers have been taken to either Nauru or PNG since 2014. Since then, Australia has spent years trying to find resettlement options in third countries for recognised refugees in Nauru and PNG, such as in <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/downloadestimatesquestions/EstimatesQuestion-CommitteeId6-EstimatesRoundId4-PortfolioId20-QuestionNumber152">Cambodia</a> and <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/downloadestimatesquestions/EstimatesQuestion-CommitteeId6-EstimatesRoundId11-PortfolioId20-QuestionNumber549">the US</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/downloadestimatesquestions/EstimatesQuestion-CommitteeId6-EstimatesRoundId11-PortfolioId20-QuestionNumber544">As of April 30</a>, 131 asylum seekers were still in PNG and 109 were in Nauru. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-medevac-repeal-and-what-it-means-for-asylum-seekers-on-manus-island-and-nauru-128118">Explainer: the medevac repeal and what it means for asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru</a>
</strong>
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<h2>A boon to the Nauruan government</h2>
<p>Australia has spent <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/downloadestimatesquestions/EstimatesQuestion-CommitteeId6-EstimatesRoundId11-PortfolioId20-QuestionNumber427">billions</a> on Pacific Solution Mark II with no end in sight.</p>
<p>As well as underwriting all the infrastructure and operational costs of the processing facilities, Australia made it worthwhile for Nauru and PNG to participate in the arrangements. </p>
<p>For one thing, it promised to ensure spillover benefits for the local economies by, for example, requiring contractors to hire local staff. In fact, in 2019–20, the processing facility in Nauru employed <a href="https://devpolicy.org/nauru-riches-to-rags-to-riches-20210412/">15% of the country’s entire workforce</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1360001314172727297"}"></div></p>
<p>And from the beginning, Nauru has <a href="http://www.paclii.org/nr/legis/sub_leg/ia2014ir2014385.pdf">required</a> every transferee to hold a regional processing centre visa. This is a temporary visa which must be renewed every three months by the Australian government. </p>
<p>The visa fee each time is A$3,000, so that’s A$12,000 per transferee per year that Australia is required to pay the Nauruan government. </p>
<p>Where a transferee is found to be a person in need of protection, that visa <a href="http://www.paclii.org/nr/legis/sub_leg/ia2014irn4o2014511/">converts automatically</a> into a temporary settlement visa, which must be renewed every six months. The temporary settlement visa fee is A$3,000 per month — again paid by the Australian government. </p>
<p>In 2019-20, direct and indirect revenue from the processing facility made up <a href="https://devpolicy.org/nauru-riches-to-rags-to-riches-20210412/">58% of total Nauruan government revenue</a>. It is no wonder Nauru is on board with making an “enduring form” of offshore processing available to Australia.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cruel-costly-and-ineffective-australias-offshore-processing-asylum-seeker-policy-turns-9-166014">Cruel, costly and ineffective: Australia's offshore processing asylum seeker policy turns 9</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>‘Not to use it, but to be willing to use it’</h2>
<p>In 2016, the PNG Supreme Court <a href="http://www.paclii.org/pg/cases/PGSC/2016/13.pdf">ruled</a> the detention of asylum seekers in the offshore processing facility was unconstitutional. Australia and PNG then <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/estimate/3a32f9b8-b53d-4251-a739-7e12e1fc506e/toc_pdf/Legal%20and%20Constitutional%20Affairs%20Legislation%20Committee_2017_10_23_5658_Official.pdf;fileType=application/pdf#search=%22committees/estimate/3a32f9b8-b53d-4251-a739-7e12e1fc506e/0001%22">agreed</a> to close the PNG facility in late 2017 and residents were moved to alternative accommodation. Australia is <a href="https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2017/10/29/Media_Release-Minister_Thomas_on_Closure_of_Manus_RPC.pdf">underwriting the costs</a>.</p>
<p>Australia decided, however, to maintain a processing facility in Nauru. Senator Jim Molan <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22committees/estimate/2c68087e-f913-401c-88da-f76e4cc7f2fc/0002%22">asked</a> Home Affairs Secretary Michael Pezzullo about this in Senate Estimates in February 2018, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So it’s more appropriate to say that we are not maintaining Nauru as an offshore processing centre; we are maintaining a relationship with the Nauru government.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Pezzullo responded,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the whole purpose is, as you would well recall, in fact not to have to use those facilities. But, as in all deterrents, you need to have an asset that is credible so that you are deterring future eventualities. So the whole point of it is actually not to use it but to be willing to use it. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is how we ended up where we are now, with a new deal with the Nauru government for an “enduring” — that is indefinitely maintained — offshore processing capability, at great cost to the Australian people.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/could-the-biden-administration-pressure-australia-to-adopt-more-humane-refugee-policies-153718">Could the Biden administration pressure Australia to adopt more humane refugee policies?</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Little has been made public about this new arrangement. We do know in December 2020, the incoming minister for immigration, Alex Hawke, was <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/foi/files/2021/fa-210100105-fa210100899-document-released-pt1.PDF">told</a> the government was undertaking “a major procurement” for “enduring capability services”. </p>
<p>We also know a <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/downloadestimatesquestions/EstimatesQuestion-CommitteeId6-EstimatesRoundId11-PortfolioId20-QuestionNumber423">budget of A$731.2 million</a> has been appropriated for regional processing in 2021-22. </p>
<p>Of this, $187 million is for service provider fees and host government costs in PNG. Almost all of the remainder goes to Nauru, to ensure that, beyond hosting its current population of 109 transferees, it “stands ready to receive new arrivals”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Savitri Taylor receives funding from the Australian Research Council.
She is a member of the Committee of Management of Refugee Legal.
She is a member of the Kim for Canberra Party.
The views expressed in this article are her own.</span></em></p>Nauru is receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from Australia annually to house 109 asylum seekers. The real purpose, though, is to ‘stand ready to receive new arrivals’.Savitri Taylor, Associate Professor, Law School, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1668162021-08-30T20:06:24Z2021-08-30T20:06:24ZThe situation in Afghanistan is beyond horrifying: this is what you can do to help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418156/original/file-20210826-23147-1vtyfi0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Akhter Gulfam/EPA/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The situation in Afghanistan is rapidly unfolding as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-a-way-to-get-refugees-out-of-afghanistan-after-this-weeks-deadline-if-the-taliban-agrees-166739">humanitarian crisis</a>. We are seeing images and stories of violence and despair on a daily, sometimes even an hourly basis. </p>
<p>If you are looking at practical ways to help, here are some suggestions to support refugees from Afghanistan locally, nationally, and internationally.</p>
<h2>Show your support for policy change</h2>
<p>One option is to support what many Australians from Afghanistan are calling for. </p>
<p>The Afghan Australian Advocacy Network, made up of a diverse range of ethnic and religious groups from Afghanistan, <a href="https://www.actionforafghanistan.com.au/">wants</a> the federal government to increase our humanitarian intake, grant permanent protection to people from Afghanistan in Australia on temporary visas and prioritise family reunions.</p>
<p>An easy first step is to support and share the Afghan Australian Advocacy Network’s <a href="https://www.change.org/p/prime-minister-scott-morrison-action-for-afghanistan">petition</a>, which currently has more than 140,000 signatures. </p>
<p>Another option is to <a href="https://saveafghanistannow.good.do/contact/mp/">write</a> to federal members of parliament and ask them to support of these actions. When you write to your local federal MP, ask to meet with them to discuss your concerns.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1428305776116830215"}"></div></p>
<p>Approach your state, territory and local governments. Ask them to demonstrate acts of solidarity such as providing <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/states-step-up-for-afghan-humanitarian-arrivals/">additional quarantine places</a>, follow the South Australian parliament’s lead to <a href="https://welcoming.org.au/initiatives/afghanistan-solidarity/#1630288394860-1dbc5abe-39bf">pass a motion</a> supporting refugees from Afghanistan or lighting up public buildings. </p>
<h2>Donate or volunteer</h2>
<p>There are many local, national and international organisations working with refugee communities from Afghanistan. </p>
<p>While many people want to donate goods, most agencies <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-giving-cash-not-clothing-is-usually-best-after-disasters-83405">prefer</a> a financial donation as agencies are able to work with communities and find out what they need. </p>
<p>War artist Ben Quilty has taken matters into his own hands, and is appealing for funds for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (<a href="https://www.unrefugees.org.au/campaigns/afghanistan-crisis/?utm_code=meda0821&utm_source=media&utm_medium=media&utm_content=&utm_campaign=au_en_media_afghanistan_emergency">UNHCR</a>). </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1430771910258794501"}"></div></p>
<p>Apart from the UNHCR, some other established organisations supplying practical things like food, water and supplies in Afghanistan are the <a href="https://www.redcross.org.au/get-involved/take-action/help-refugees">Australian Red Cross</a> and <a href="https://www.unicef.org.au/appeals/help-children-in-afghanistan#donateform">UNICEF</a> Australia. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://emergencyaction.org.au">Emergency Action Alliance</a> is made up of 16 Australian-based charities. It has set up a list of ten of its members, including World Vision and Save the Children, who are running appeals for Afghanistan. </p>
<p>People in each state can donate or volunteer with local organisations to support their work with refugees.</p>
<p>This includes:</p>
<ul>
<li>NSW: the <a href="https://asylumseekerscentre.org.au/">Asylum Seekers Centre</a> and <a href="https://aus.jrs.net/en/jesuit-refugee-service/">Jesuit Refugee Service</a> </li>
<li>Victoria: <a href="https://asrc.org.au/">Asylum Seeker Resource Centre</a> </li>
<li>Western Australia: <a href="https://www.carad.org.au/">Coalition Assisting Refugees and Detainees</a> </li>
<li>South Australia <a href="https://welcoming.org.au/">Welcoming Australia</a> </li>
<li>Queensland: <a href="https://www.multiculturalaustralia.org.au/">Multicultural Australia</a> and <a href="https://romero.mercycommunity.org.au/">Romero Centre</a></li>
<li>ACT: <a href="https://www.companionhouse.org.au/">Companion House</a> </li>
<li>Tasmania: <a href="https://mrctas.org.au/">Multicultural Resource Centre</a> </li>
<li>Northern Territory: <a href="http://www.melaleuca.org.au/">Melaluca Centre</a> </li>
</ul>
<h2>Help for refugees in the community</h2>
<p>If you or someone you know is seeking information for their family or friends in difficulty in Afghanistan, their priority will be trying to access legal advice or assistance. </p>
<p>The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre <a href="https://asrc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Infosheet-Afghanistan-Help-1.pdf">has a list</a> of legal resources. Refugee Legal in Melbourne also have <a href="https://refugeelegal.org.au/">a hotline</a> for people impacted by the crisis in Afghanistan.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-a-way-to-get-refugees-out-of-afghanistan-after-this-weeks-deadline-if-the-taliban-agrees-166739">There's a way to get refugees out of Afghanistan after this week's deadline — if the Taliban agrees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Foundation House (a Victorian organisation for torture survivors) has basic <a href="https://foundationhouse.org.au/news/to-all-members-of-the-afghan-community-foundation-house-stands-in-solidarity-with-you/">information</a> about visas and mental health support in English and Dari. The Refugee Council of Australia has a comprehensive <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/services/">list of services</a>, including legal and financial support to refugees, all around Australia.</p>
<p>Legal services, advocates and advisers are experiencing a huge increase in demand and are working at capacity. So, another practical way you can help here is to donate to a refugee community legal centre in your state or territory.</p>
<h2>How to provide emotional support</h2>
<p>People from refugee backgrounds are likely to be highly distressed by the crisis in Afghanistan. Distress can come and go in waves.</p>
<p>The Australian Torture and Trauma network has <a href="https://www.refugeehealthnetworkqld.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/210823-Responding-to-People-in-Distress.pdf">useful tips</a> on how to respond in a compassion first, trauma-informed way. This includes: listening and acknowledging feelings, resisting the urge to offer quick solutions and encouraging people to take breaks from the media coverage. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1428308840718626823"}"></div></p>
<p>For teachers supporting students and families from refugee backgrounds, Foundation House has a <a href="https://sifr.foundationhouse.org.au/news-event/supporting-students-and-families-of-afghan-background/">video</a> to support students and families of Afghan backgrounds. </p>
<h2>Own a business? Sponsor a refugee</h2>
<p>An organisation called <a href="https://www.talentbeyondboundaries.org/blog/responding-to-the-crisis-in-afghanistan">Talent Beyond Boundaries</a> helps connect businesses to people with skills who are displaced. </p>
<p>It uses visa programs in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom to help employers gain a talented refugee while also bringing them to safety.</p>
<p>Employers can get in touch direct and the organisation also takes tax-deductible donations.</p>
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<p><em>Correction: this piece has been updated to amend the work of the Emergency Action Alliance.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166816/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Anne Kenny is a member of the WA Refugees and People Seeking Asylum Network. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ali Reza is Board of Director at Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia and a volunteer Partnership Coordinator with Indigo Foundation Australia.
He has been appointed to the federal government's Advisory Panel on Australia’s Resettlement of Afghan Nationals. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Fleay is a member of the WA Refugee and People Seeking Asylum Network.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Procter receives funding from Overseas Services to Survivors of Torture and Trauma. </span></em></p>Here are some ways to support people from Afghanistan locally, nationally and overseas.Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch UniversityAli Reza Yunespour, Academic Internships Coordinator, The University of MelbourneCaroline Fleay, Associate Professor, Curtin UniversityNicholas Procter, Professor and Chair: Mental Health Nursing, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1667392021-08-29T20:06:21Z2021-08-29T20:06:21ZThere’s a way to get refugees out of Afghanistan after this week’s deadline — if the Taliban agrees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418155/original/file-20210826-13-1lc3ivf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=565%2C35%2C4607%2C2514&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jose Luis Magana/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>US President Joe Biden’s deadline of August 31 to complete US evacuation efforts from Afghanistan is fast approaching. And after last week’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-27/kabul-airport-explosion-leads-to-multiple-casualties/100411678">bombing at the Kabul airport</a>, the security situation for Afghans trying to flee the country has become even more perilous.</p>
<p>Yet, thousands of Afghan nationals are still hoping for an escape. </p>
<p>Leaders of G7 nations have said they are pushing for the Taliban to grant “<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/24/g7-taliban-afghanistan-evacuation-deadline">safe passage</a>” for Afghans who need to leave after this week’s deadline passes. According to international refugee advocates, safe passage could include an “<a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/policy-brief-8-safe-journeys-and-sound-policy-expanding-protected-entry-refugees">orderly departure program</a>” for would-be refugees, like those previously run in Vietnam, Cuba and many other countries. </p>
<p>History shows these programs hold promise and pitfalls. But if combined with other measures — such as expanded resettlement efforts — a scheme for orderly departure by air or through safe <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/3-things-know-about-getting-afghan-refugees-safety">land corridors</a> could offer a vital additional way out.</p>
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<h2>How orderly departure worked in Cuba and Vietnam</h2>
<p>Orderly departure is a unique practice. Ordinarily, a person at risk of persecution or other serious harm must first flee across an international border before trying to access protection under international refugee and human rights law. </p>
<p>In contrast, orderly departure involves some, if not all, of the immigration, medical and security checks to be conducted while applicants are still in their home country, otherwise known as “in country”. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/where-do-afghanistans-refugees-go-166316">Where do Afghanistan's refugees go?</a>
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<p>Would-be refugees may be transferred to a transit country if the paperwork cannot be finalised quickly enough, something the Biden administration already organised for the Afghan nationals evacuated before the August 31 deadline.</p>
<p>The United States has more experience with this set-up than most. Most recently, the Biden administration <a href="https://www.state.gov/restarting-the-central-american-minors-program/">re-opened</a> an Obama-era “in-country” program through which Central American children can apply to enter the US to access protection as refugees. </p>
<p>In fact, “in-country processing” has had a permanent place in the United States’ annual refugee admissions program for decades. </p>
<p>After President Fidel Castro encouraged an exodus of Cubans by boat to Florida in 1965, the US worked through the Swiss government to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3002808?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">strike a deal</a> with Castro’s regime to allow a massive airlift of Cubans to the US. </p>
<p>This involved primarily those with close relatives in the US, who travelled aboard two flights every weekday to Miami from 1965–73. Despite Havana’s tight <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/12/06/archives/cuba-reassessing-refugee-airlift-halt-in-71-or-72-is-seen-drain-on.html">restrictions</a> on eligibility, some <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520211179/havana-usa">300,000 Cubans</a> were brought to the US in total. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418167/original/file-20210827-22-1vt5fpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418167/original/file-20210827-22-1vt5fpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418167/original/file-20210827-22-1vt5fpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418167/original/file-20210827-22-1vt5fpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418167/original/file-20210827-22-1vt5fpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418167/original/file-20210827-22-1vt5fpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418167/original/file-20210827-22-1vt5fpt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&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">Cuban refugees being greeted after arriving in Miami on a Freedom Flight from Cuba.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of University of Miami Libraries via Sunshine State Digital Network</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In 1979, four years after the end of the United States’ war in Vietnam, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Vietnamese government signed a <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae68f420.html">deal</a> under which more than <a href="https://academic.oup.com/rsq/article-abstract/27/1/104/1532948?redirectedFrom=PDF">30 countries</a> participated in an orderly departure program out of Vietnam. </p>
<p>Foreign governments exchanged lists of names with the Vietnamese government to secure exit permits for people (a practice that would not be possible in Afghanistan at present). While the program was far from perfect — the US and Vietnam disagreed over eligibility criteria — it nonetheless allowed <a href="https://academic.oup.com/rsq/article-abstract/27/1/104/1532948?redirectedFrom=PDF">650,000</a> Vietnamese to leave from 1979 to the mid-1990s.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-compare-australias-intake-of-afghan-refugees-with-the-post-vietnam-war-era-heres-why-166408">We can't compare Australia’s intake of Afghan refugees with the post-Vietnam War era. Here's why</a>
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<p>Some countries, like Australia, opted to admit many Vietnamese on family reunion visas rather than humanitarian ones, demonstrating the flexibility with which foreign governments could approach a similar program today. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418162/original/file-20210827-15-1owvzn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418162/original/file-20210827-15-1owvzn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418162/original/file-20210827-15-1owvzn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418162/original/file-20210827-15-1owvzn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418162/original/file-20210827-15-1owvzn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418162/original/file-20210827-15-1owvzn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418162/original/file-20210827-15-1owvzn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A family waiting for an interview with US officials in Vietnam in 1990 as part of the Orderly Departure Program.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Charlesworth/Contributor/Getty</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Yet, departures were not always orderly</h2>
<p>History <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/policy-brief-8-safe-journeys-and-sound-policy-expanding-protected-entry-refugees">shows</a> negotiating the safe and orderly departure of would-be refugees from home countries can take time to organise and get up and running. It can also take time to gain the confidence of people who might seek to leave. </p>
<p>Word-of-mouth and proof-of-concept build momentum. In Vietnam, the orderly departure program was secured by the UN refugee agency years after the communist forces took Saigon. Prospective applicants were initially cautious. </p>
<p>Many fled clandestinely by boat instead, <a href="https://foia.state.gov/">telling</a> US immigration officials in Malaysia they “were unaware” of how the program would work and “had seen no signs of its implementation”. </p>
<p>Even after the programs in both Vietnam and Cuba were set up, authorities in both countries still exercised some influence over the ability of people to leave.</p>
<p>This is why orderly departure programs today must operate <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/policy-brief-8-safe-journeys-and-sound-policy-expanding-protected-entry-refugees">in addition</a> to other efforts by the international community to protect refugees who flee on their own.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/afghanistan-western-powers-must-accept-defeat-and-deal-realistically-with-the-taliban-166588">Afghanistan: western powers must accept defeat and deal realistically with the Taliban</a>
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<h2>Will the Taliban agree to it?</h2>
<p>One major obstacle the orderly departure of would-be refugees is it requires the consent – tacit or otherwise – of authorities in the country of origin. </p>
<p>Scores of countries have <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/news/media-release/joint-statement-afghanistan">signed a join statement</a> calling for the Taliban to allow</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the safe and orderly departure of foreign nationals and Afghans who wish to leave the country.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Taliban is looking increasingly wary of allowing a longer-term evacuation to take place. Last week, a spokesman for the group declined to extend the deadline beyond August 31 and told the US to <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/taliban-issue-new-warning-against-evacuation-of-skilled-afghans-as-deadline-looms/article36086618.ece">stop encouraging</a> skilled Afghans to flee.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ykv6CrUrCEM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>However, with the spotlight on Afghanistan’s new leaders, the former foreign ministers of 25 countries have <a href="https://www.aspeninstitute.org/of-interest/the-international-community-must-do-more-for-vulnerable-afghans/">argued</a> there’s room to negotiate.</p>
<p>France and Britain are now reportedly set to propose a UN resolution calling for the establishment of a safe zone in Kabul that would “allow humanitarian operations to continue”, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/us-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal/france-britain-call-kabul-safe-zone-macron-says">according</a> to French President Emmanuel Macron.</p>
<p>The international community must use this opportunity to make good on promises to help former locally-engaged staff and their families, as well as women leaders, journalists, ethnic minorities, and and many <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.au/morrison-must-engage-with-biden-to-secure-safe-passage-from-afghanistan/">others</a> who might face persecution or other serious harm under the new regime.</p>
<p>Former interpreters who fled Afghanistan years earlier have <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-58269289">reported</a> their family members are now at risk by association, so it is essential the US and other governments cast a wide net in trying to get Afghans out.</p>
<p>If orderly departure arrangements can be established, however, this doesn’t mean governments can close off <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Policy_Brief_8_Protected_Entry.pdf">other pathways</a> through which Afghans can seek protection, such as asylum procedures and expanded resettlement programs.</p>
<p>No matter how orderly or safe a program is, there are many reasons why some people will still need to flee across an international border to seek protection.</p>
<p>The need for foreign governments to protect their Afghan partners was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/07/australias-refusal-to-protect-afghan-interpreters-from-the-taliban-is-a-catastrophic-moral-failure">known</a> for years. As August 31 approaches, now is the time to double down, not to back out. Safe passage may still be possible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166739/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Higgins receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>An ‘orderly departure program’ similar to the one set up after the Vietnam War could offer a vital pathway out of Afghanistan for refugees over the next several years.Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1664982021-08-26T01:58:50Z2021-08-26T01:58:50ZWe studied Afghan refugees for 3 years to find out what life is like for them in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417404/original/file-20210823-16-lcpawe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Department of Defence/ AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The shocking scenes at Kabul airport — reminiscent of the images of the fall of Saigon in 1975 — highlight the desperate situation many Afghans face following the unexpectedly quick Taliban victory. </p>
<p>In the 1970s, the Fraser government responded generously to the plight of the Vietnamese people seeking refuge in Australia, taking 15,000 refugees a year. In contrast, last week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Australia will take in 3,000 Afghan refugees. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-permanent-settlement-for-afghans-who-did-not-come-the-right-way-morrison-166354">No permanent settlement for Afghans who did not come 'the right way': Morrison</a>
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<p>This <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-19/afghan-refugee-intake-australia-humanitarian-visa-taliban/100388678">comes from</a> our existing annual intake of 13,750 humanitarian visas a year. </p>
<p>Our new research shows the government’s reluctance to take a more generous approach to Afghan refugees is not rooted in evidence about how they settle once they get to Australia. </p>
<h2>Our research on Afghan refugee families</h2>
<p>We have been doing a three-year study of recent refugees, examining what happens to them once they come to Australia. We followed Afghan, Syrian, and Iraqi refugee families who settled in metropolitan and regional NSW, Queensland and Victoria between 2018 and 2020. Most arrived in 2016 or 2017. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Afghan mother and child leave an ADF flight to Australia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417405/original/file-20210823-24-ashzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417405/original/file-20210823-24-ashzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417405/original/file-20210823-24-ashzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417405/original/file-20210823-24-ashzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417405/original/file-20210823-24-ashzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417405/original/file-20210823-24-ashzga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417405/original/file-20210823-24-ashzga.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">Since the fall of Kabul last week, Australia has been conducting rescue flights out of Afghanisatn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Department of Defence/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this article, we present the results for the Afghan group, which involves 33 families. Many were Hazaras who fled persecution by the Taliban and many were in large, single female parent families who had arrived on women-at-risk visas. </p>
<p>Adults and young people aged five to 18 were interviewed and surveyed three times over three years. </p>
<p>They were asked a range of questions about their experience and life in Australia. This included how difficult it was to find accommodation, work, make friends, speak and read English, access good schools, and how they felt about their lives. </p>
<h2>Feeling happy and safe</h2>
<p>Overall, the adults we surveyed were optimistic and positive about their lives in Australia and felt welcome in their communities. </p>
<p>Just over half had no difficulty finding accommodation, while more than 70% said they found it “easy” to make friends. By 2020, 100% of respondents agreed they had access to good schools and felt safe in their neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>Some still struggled with English language ability, though this improved year on year. By 2020, more than half (55%) said they understood English “well to very well”. </p>
<p>At least 86% of respondents were “mostly to very happy” with their lives, over the three years of questioning. As a 20-year-old female respondent exlained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Australia has given us safety, security, education, so we have to work for Australia’s improvement […] The Aussie people, they are very good […]Though our cultures are really different, but they respect us.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In addition to feeling safe, there was a recognition of equality: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Everybody is having the equal life. The biggest thing I can find here is equality. Here we cannot find any difference between girls and guys.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At least 96% were “mostly to very confident” about their children’s future. Meanwhile, 100% agreed Australia was a good place to raise children.</p>
<h2>Finding a job</h2>
<p>A significant improvement was seen in employment, although there is still room for more growth. </p>
<p>One of the biggest concerns Afghan adults mentioned in the first year of the study was getting a job and just 8% had paid work. By year two, this was up to 35% and then back to 26% in year three, when COVID hit. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/afghan-refugees-can-no-longer-wait-australia-must-offer-permanent-protection-now-166180">Afghan refugees can no longer wait — Australia must offer permanent protection now</a>
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<p>A number of factors created barriers to employment, including a protracted work history due to war and moving from country to country seeking safety. Once in Australia, the immediate need to focus on learning English and the need to understand a new job market also delayed getting a job.</p>
<p>Opportunities to volunteer or take up internships helped break the catch-22 of “no job if you don’t have Australian employment experience”. While English language fluency created barriers to employment, employment was also key to learning English:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yes, my English is getting better. Yes, working is good because I’m using English — people talk and I listen. Yes, that’s how I get better.“ </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘Real Aussies’</h2>
<p>As part of our research, we also spoke to young Afghan refugees. They were markedly positive about their lives in Australia. By 2020, 100% replied "very good to excellent” when asked how they were finding school or TAFE. One 13-year-old told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have made lots of friends at school. I don’t go one day, I miss all of them. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>They were also very confident about their English ability — 100% rated their speaking and listening at “very good to excellent”. More than 80% rated their reading and writing as “very good to excellent”. </p>
<p>More than 92% said they felt safe in their neighbourhoods and as though they belonged. As one 17 year-old boy said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I do play soccer. Yes, I do play for the school team […] Do I do swimming? I do. Yes, I’ve become a real Aussie boy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One 15 year-old respondent also described her work and study program, illustrating the ambition and work ethic of this young cohort. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There was a scholarship — it was from UQ [Queensland University]. Finally, I got accepted and it pays for four years of uni. Yes [I got a part-time job] […] Twelve hours a week. I’m also [a] Toowoomba regional youth leader.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Compelling practical reasons</h2>
<p>Beyond the humanitarian and moral arguments for accepting more Afghan refugees in Australia, our research shows there are compelling practical reasons to increase our intake. </p>
<p>It demonstrates how Afghan refugees can overcome settlement challenges and achieve strong outcomes in terms of education and employment and belonging. This confirms findings of earlier research with <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/sites/default/files/2017-10/From%20Boats%20to%20Businesses%20Full%20Report%20-%20Web.pdf">Hazara boat people</a> who set up successful businesses in Adelaide, many in partnership with those they met in detention centres. </p>
<p>This also ties with our <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/research-and-teaching/our-research/centre-business-and-social-innovation/research/projects/settlement-outcomes-refugee-families-australia">current research</a> with Syrian and Iraqi refugee families, which demonstrates their resilience and determination to create a better future in Australia for their children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jock Collins receives funding from the Australian Research Council for a Linkage Project with Industry Partners Settlement Services International, Multicultural Australia, Access Community Services and AMES.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol Reid receives funding from The Australian Research Council for a Linkage Project with Industry Partners Settlement Services International, Multicultural Australia, Access Community Services and AMES.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dimitria Groutsis receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Watson and Stuart Hughes 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>The Afghans people surveyed were optimistic and positive about their lives in Australia — and felt welcome in their communities.Jock Collins, Professor of Social Economics, UTS Business School, University of Technology SydneyCarol Reid, Professor, Western Sydney UniversityDimitria Groutsis, Associate professor, University of SydneyKatherine Watson, Senior Research Assistant, University of Technology SydneyStuart Hughes, Assistant researcher, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1661012021-08-23T01:23:54Z2021-08-23T01:23:54ZHow many people in immigration detention have been vaccinated? Home Affairs won’t tell us<p>When the federal government first announced Australia’s COVID vaccination program in January, the eligibility criteria indicated refugees and asylum seekers, as well as certain other non-citizens, would not be able to access free vaccines.</p>
<p>Days later, Health Minister Greg Hunt <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/i-am-relieved-government-announces-all-visa-holders-will-get-covid-19-vaccine-free-of-cost">clarified</a> all visa holders, including refugees and asylums seekers, would be eligible. The initial announcement, however, was revealing.</p>
<p>Although refugees and asylum seekers are, in fact, eligible to be vaccinated for COVID, the government <a href="https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2021/8/2/morrison-government-must-act-urgently-to-avoid-covid-catastrophe-in-immigration-detention">has not ensured or prioritised</a> vaccination for those held in crowded detention centres.</p>
<p>A coalition of refugee law and advocacy organisations <a href="https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2021/8/2/morrison-government-must-act-urgently-to-avoid-covid-catastrophe-in-immigration-detention">asserted</a> earlier this month the government had yet to even make vaccines available to detainees. They added:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This has created an incomprehensible situation where people who would be vaccinated if they were released into the community, are instead trapped in a high-risk environment unable to access a potentially life-saving vaccine. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>When asked by The Conversation last week how many people in detention had received vaccinations, the Department of Home Affairs declined to release any data. Instead, a departmental spokesperson said Home Affairs: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>continues to liaise with the Department of Health on the rollout of vaccinations for detainees. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It also said the rollout timeline “will depend on supply of the vaccine”, consistent with the Department of Health’s strategy nationally.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/for-refugees-in-australia-life-during-covid-lockdowns-recalls-the-trauma-of-war-and-persecution-165884">For refugees in Australia, life during COVID lockdowns recalls the trauma of war and persecution</a>
</strong>
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<h2>Villawood Detention Centre at particular risk</h2>
<p>The government’s apparent failure to include immigration detainees in the first phases of the vaccine rollout demonstrates, once again, how it is prioritising border policies over public health and safety.</p>
<p>As the Delta outbreak in NSW worsens, this is particularly dangerous for those being held in Villawood Detention Centre. The facility is located in Canterbury-Bankstown, which is a “<a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/rules/affected-area">local government area of concern</a>” and currently has one of the <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/stats-local.aspx">highest</a> rates of confirmed COVID cases of any LGA in the state.</p>
<p>Approximately <a href="https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2021/8/2/morrison-government-must-act-urgently-to-avoid-covid-catastrophe-in-immigration-detention">500 people</a> are currently detained in Villawood Detention Centre — the largest, in terms of population, in the country. Across Australia, around <a href="https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/2021/8/2/morrison-government-must-act-urgently-to-avoid-covid-catastrophe-in-immigration-detention">1,486 people</a> in total are being held in immigration detention, including “<a href="https://theconversation.com/hotels-are-no-luxury-place-to-detain-people-seeking-asylum-in-australia-134544">alternative places of detention</a>”, such as hotels.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1422476730275491841"}"></div></p>
<p>Last week, nearly two dozen detainees at Villawood were <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-18/detainees-from-sydney-covid-19-hotspot-fly-to-western-australia/100387032">reportedly awakened</a> in the middle of the night and put on a plane bound for a detention centre in Western Australia. The reason for the detainee transfer is not clear; Australian Border Force would not comment on the operation. </p>
<p>In September 2020, Home Affairs itself <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/asylum-seekers-and-refugees/publications/management-covid-19-risks-immigration-detention">said</a> 247 people in closed immigration detention were assessed as particularly vulnerable to COVID.</p>
<p>Home Affairs said in its statement to The Conversation that no detainee has so far contracted COVID in the immigration detention network.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-are-crying-and-begging-the-human-cost-of-forced-relocations-in-immigration-detention-132193">'People are crying and begging': the human cost of forced relocations in immigration detention</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Immigration detention centres are porous places</h2>
<p>COVID thrives in confined spaces, which makes people incarcerated in prisons and immigration detention among the most at-risk populations in terms of infection. </p>
<p>Like prisons, immigration detention centres are also porous places. Guards and other workers constantly move in and out of these facilities and into the community. This creates a risk of infection for people in detention, the staff and for the broader community. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1417627884089380868"}"></div></p>
<p>Guards and other detention workers are also often casually employed. This means they do not have sick leave and other entitlements to facilitate full compliance with testing and isolation measures. Instead, those in NSW must rely on the goverment’s emergency payments if they need a COVID test or to self-isolate. </p>
<p>Home Affairs and ABF have also <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2021/07/17/covid-19-and-immigration-detention/162644400012071">not released</a> details of vaccination levels among detention centre staff nationwide. </p>
<p>Following COVID outbreaks in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-17/sydney-news-silverwater-jail-inmates-covid/100380902">Silverwater</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-13/bathurst-jail-concerns-after-covid-exposure/100371298">Bathurst</a> jails this month, <a href="https://twitter.com/_pcthug/status/1427524711236308993?s=20">advocates and experts</a> have renewed calls to immediately release prisoners before the situation becomes catastrophic. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/human-rights-commissioner-calls-for-immigration-detainees-release-over-coronavirus-infection-fears/e76e94a1-1b56-4b8a-a164-f6f5f89df648">Similar calls</a> were made in relation to immigration detention as soon as the virus broke out over 18 months ago. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1427524711236308993"}"></div></p>
<h2>What the government should be doing</h2>
<p>Under <a href="https://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/FilesHandler.ashx?enc=4slQ6QSmlBEDzFEovLCuW1AVC1NkPsgUedPlF1vfPMJ2c7ey6PAz2qaojTzDJmC0y%2B9t%2BsAtGDNzdEqA6SuP2r0w%2F6sVBGTpvTSCbiOr4XVFTqhQY65auTFbQRPWNDxL">international law</a>, nations have an obligation to ensure the right of access to “health facilities, goods and services” on a non-discriminatory basis. This includes access to vaccinations. </p>
<p>In March, international and regional human rights groups <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26860&LangID=E">urged</a> governments to guarantee all migrants access to COVID vaccines on an equal basis with their citizens and regardless of nationality or migration status. </p>
<p>There is genuine concern, however that refugees in Australia will <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-23/can-refugees-asylums-seekers-in-australia-get-the-covid-vaccine/100135134">fall through the cracks</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-billions-more-allocated-to-immigration-detention-its-another-bleak-year-for-refugees-160783">With billions more allocated to immigration detention, it's another bleak year for refugees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Public health campaigns have not specifically targeted or engaged with those in immigration detention as part of the limited <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-greg-hunt-mp/media/covid-19-vaccine-campaign-to-support-culturally-and-linguistically-diverse-audiences">$1.3 million in federal government funding</a> specifically earmarked for messaging to so-called “diverse” communities. </p>
<p>Earlier this month, an ABC report <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-12/covid-19-information-weeks-out-of-date/100369794">revealed</a> the government’s own translated vaccination information was almost eight weeks out of date. </p>
<p>The government should immediately respond to the danger of COVID infection in all sites of incarceration, including immigration detention. </p>
<p>This would involve the urgent release of refugees, asylum seekers and other non-citizens from detention as <a href="https://idcoalition.org/publication/covid-19-impacts-on-immigration-detention-global-responses/">numerous other countries</a> have done in response to the pandemic. At a bare minimum, the government should make vaccines available.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166101/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthea Vogl 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>The largest immigration detention centre is located in a COVID hot spot in western Sydney. We need to make vaccinations for detainees and staff an urgent priority.Anthea Vogl, Senior lecturer, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1664082021-08-22T20:07:18Z2021-08-22T20:07:18ZWe can’t compare Australia’s intake of Afghan refugees with the post-Vietnam War era. Here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417155/original/file-20210820-15-1elrjg6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C4%2C551%2C356&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AMES Australia/Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the fall of Kabul this week, many commentators have noted the parallels with the fall of Saigon 46 years ago. </p>
<p>The rapid advance of the Taliban insurgents and seizing of the capital left the US humiliated once again. Dramatic images of frantic evacuations by helicopters from the US embassy triggered memories of similar scenes in Saigon in April 1975. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/04/26/402208267/remembering-the-doomed-first-flight-of-operation-babylift">Like then</a>, civilians fearing enemy retribution were desperate to escape, risking – and in some cases losing – their lives in the process.</p>
<p>Historical analogies help us make sense of a rapidly changing world. In connecting a current crisis with one past, they offer comfort in the implicit promise that we have been through this before. Despite these psychic benefits, historical analogies are more often than not inaccurate and simplistic. </p>
<p>I have written <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/no-the-fraser-era-was-not-a-golden-age-for-asylum-seekers-20120201-1qtce.html">elsewhere</a> that the Fraser government was no golden era for refugees. Far from welcoming Vietnamese refugees with open arms, the Whitlam and Fraser governments were ambivalent about these new arrivals. </p>
<p>Despite this indifference, Australian politicians in the 1970s were open to policy reform and, as good global citizens, were committed to international cooperation to address mass displacement. Between 1975 and 1991, Australia resettled over <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/1011/SeekingAsylum#_ftn11">130,000 Indochinese refugees</a>.</p>
<p>We should not expect the Australian government to accept a similar number of Afghan refugees. Since the 1970s, the Australian policy landscape has changed irrevocably, meaning Kabul can never be “another Saigon” from a refugee standpoint. </p>
<p>There are four main differences between then and now that help explain this.</p>
<h2>1. Australia had no refugee policy</h2>
<p>First, when Saigon fell to the communists in 1975, the Australian government had no formal refugee policy. Australian immigration officials benefited from a blank slate. They were able to craft a refugee policy that responded directly to the Vietnamese refugee crisis. </p>
<p>Today, both major political parties have invested political capital in refusing to resettle asylum seekers who arrive by boat. Our politicians have been cornered into finding a solution for the emerging Afghan crisis within a preexisting, politically motivated refugee policy.</p>
<p>For instance, last week immigration minister Alex Hawke <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AlexHawke/Pages/3000-humanitarian-places-for-afghanistan.aspx">reasserted</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>while the Australian government operates a generous humanitarian program, our approach to combating people smuggling remains unchanged. </p>
</blockquote>
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<h2>2. Politics were fundamentally different</h2>
<p>In April 1975, the Whitlam Labor government was in its last seven months of power. Initially, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was reluctant to admit anticommunist Vietnamese refugees, fearing that once they naturalised, they <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8497.2012.01651.x">would vote for conservatives</a>.</p>
<p>After the Whitlam dismissal in November 1975, the incoming Fraser government was dominated by the “wet”, small “l” liberals who were socially progressive and reform-minded. </p>
<p>Back then, immigration ministers Michael MacKellar (1975-9) and Ian MacPhee (1979-82) were attuned to conversations about migrant rights and emerging multiculturalism. They adopted recommendations from the <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1474121432/view?partId=nla.obj-1475574660">1978 Galbally Report</a>, which called for expanding services to help newly arrived refugees settle in Australia.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1427195609262424064"}"></div></p>
<p>Although <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Immigration-Policy-from-1970-to-the-Present/Stevens/p/book/9781138187764">polls</a> in the late 1970s showed two-thirds of respondents opposed the resettlement of Vietnamese asylum seekers, what mattered was politicians did not succumb to public anxieties. The government implemented policies — such as the telephone interpreter service and SBS television — that made resettlement in a foreign land a little easier than before.</p>
<p>The “dry” revolution of the Liberal Party in the 1980s and ‘90s resulted in a focus on the economic utility of migrants at the expense of humanitarian considerations. </p>
<p>Of course, a humanitarian stream still exists in our immigration program. But, as a proportion of the population, the numbers of refugee admissions have fallen. </p>
<p>For the most part, refugee admissions have remained around 13,000 visas per year since 1979. This is despite the Australian population increasing by 11 million people during that time.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/afghan-refugees-can-no-longer-wait-australia-must-offer-permanent-protection-now-166180">Afghan refugees can no longer wait — Australia must offer permanent protection now</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Family visas were much more common</h2>
<p>Not only have politics changed since the 1970s, the composition of the migration intake bares little similarity to today. It’s important to note that when Vietnamese refugees sought Australian visas, they had two viable channels: the humanitarian visa and family reunification visa. </p>
<p>These family visas became particularly important in the late 1980s and early '90s when refugee camps in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong were cleared and unsuccessful refugee applicants faced <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/admin/hcspeeches/3ae68faf30/statement-mr-jean-pierre-hocke-united-nations-high-commissioner-refugees.html?query=indo%20china%20refugees">repatriation to Vietnam</a>. </p>
<p>The importance of the family reunification channel cannot be overstated, as it gave Vietnamese refugees a second chance at resettlement in Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Vietnamese refugees on an Air Force helicopter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417159/original/file-20210820-25-6l79gc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417159/original/file-20210820-25-6l79gc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417159/original/file-20210820-25-6l79gc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417159/original/file-20210820-25-6l79gc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417159/original/file-20210820-25-6l79gc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417159/original/file-20210820-25-6l79gc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417159/original/file-20210820-25-6l79gc.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vietnamese refugees on an Air Force helicopter to safety near Saigon in 1966.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2844463">1985-6</a>, 65% of Vietnamese arrivals came on refugee visas, while just 35% came under the family migration program. By <a href="http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/f/1cl35st/SLV_VOYAGER1035826">1991-2</a>, more than 80% of Vietnamese migrants came on family reunification visas, while just one in seven received refugee visas. </p>
<p>These historical data tell us two things. First, they show how refugee movements evolve over years, if not decades, after the dust of the revolution settles. </p>
<p>The current <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AlexHawke/Pages/3000-humanitarian-places-for-afghanistan.aspx">proposal</a> announced by immigration minister Alex Hawke to evacuate 3,000 Afghans is shortsighted and will unlikely satisfy refugee demand for resettlement in the years ahead. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-the-compassion-quotient-in-morrisons-afghan-response-needs-a-boost-166435">Grattan on Friday: The compassion quotient in Morrison's Afghan response needs a boost</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>And second, since the Howard government, successive governments have reduced the size of the family migration program relative to the skilled migration program. </p>
<p>At its peak in 1984-5, 81% of visas were allocated to family migration, 18% to skilled migration. In 2019-20, the figures were 31% family migration and 68% skilled migration. </p>
<p>The government’s definition of a family member has also narrowed over the past 40 years. An expansive definition that once included adult siblings and elderly parents has made way for one restricted to a western-centric nuclear family. </p>
<p>Without a sizeable family migration program, one wonders what will happen to Afghan asylum seekers who don’t meet the strict eligibility for refugee status.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1428127499859365888"}"></div></p>
<h2>4. Third countries allowed for a more orderly departure</h2>
<p>In the 1970s and '80s, many countries united to share the responsibility of resettling refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. This included the countries where they were coming from, as well as the countries they transited through and their final destinations. </p>
<p>Most notably, the “<a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/admin/hcspeeches/3ae68fcf0/opening-statement-mr-poul-hartling-united-nations-high-commissioner-refugees.html?query=indo%20china%20refugees">orderly departure program</a>” signed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Vietnam in 1979 provided a comprehensive response to the mass displacement of people. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-photographers-war-vietnam-through-a-lens-8759">The photographer’s war: Vietnam through a lens</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This included “in-country processing” of their applications for resettlement overseas. Though thousands still took to boats over the years, this “orderly departure program” saved many others from making the <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Policy_Brief_8_Protected_Entry.pdf">risky and clandestine journeys</a>. In Australia’s case, no asylum seekers arrived by boat from 1981–89. </p>
<p>But this program required cooperation and goodwill between nations, particularly among neighbouring countries in southeast Asia that agreed to keep their borders open to asylum seekers, and for resettlement nations to accept large numbers of refugees. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Vietnamese refugees en route to Israel" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417157/original/file-20210820-21-m2g06t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417157/original/file-20210820-21-m2g06t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417157/original/file-20210820-21-m2g06t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417157/original/file-20210820-21-m2g06t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417157/original/file-20210820-21-m2g06t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417157/original/file-20210820-21-m2g06t.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417157/original/file-20210820-21-m2g06t.jpeg?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">Vietnamese family en route from the Philippines for resettlement in Israel in 1979.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, by contrast, may divide the international community. The Taliban has steadfast support from Pakistan and Iran; it is also likely to be recognised by Russia and China. Meanwhile, western states have recoiled at the Taliban’s human rights record and religious extremism. </p>
<p>When Afghan refugees cross into neighbouring Pakistan, Iran and other <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/19/afghanistans-ex-soviet-neighbours-panic-reject-refugees">central Asian countries</a>, it remains unclear what support they will receive or whether the UNHCR or another third party would be welcome to set up “in-country” processing for resettlement elsewhere.</p>
<p>The fall of Kabul is a seismic event that cannot be reduced to an ill-considered historical analogy. When it comes to the emerging refugee crisis, we should see this event in its full complexity. Only then can we hope to rise to the policy challenges ahead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166408/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Stevens 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>Since the 1970s, Australian immigration policy has changed dramatically, meaning Afghan refugees face far greater hurdles than those who fled Saigon after the Vietnam War.Rachel Stevens, Research fellow, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1661802021-08-17T03:22:37Z2021-08-17T03:22:37ZAfghan refugees can no longer wait — Australia must offer permanent protection now<p>Just hours after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Australia joined the international community in <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/news/media-release/joint-statement-afghanistan">calling</a> for the “safe and orderly departure of foreign nationals and Afghans who wish to leave the country”. </p>
<p>The scenes at Kabul airport yesterday <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/chaos-at-kabul-airport-as-desperate-afghans-try-to-flee-taliban-s-new-rule-20210816-p58jaf.html">were far from orderly</a>, though US forces are now reportedly working to secure the airport so evacuation flights can resume. </p>
<p>If safe departure for Afghans can be coordinated, then it must be a transparent and flexible process — one that is additional to other pathways. And it must begin now. </p>
<p>Canada has already moved quickly, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2021/08/canada-expands-resettlement-program-to-bring-more-afghans-to-safety.html">announcing</a> it will resettle up to 20,000 women leaders, journalists and human rights activists who have fled Afghanistan, in addition to the evacuation of former locally-engaged staff.</p>
<p>A “path to protection”, as the Canadian government has <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2021/07/government-of-canada-offers-refuge-to-afghans-who-assisted-canada.html">called</a> it, has been long overdue for many in Afghanistan who were associated with Australia or other foreign governments, such as interpreters and embassy staff. </p>
<p>Some have waited for years, stymied by overly strict eligibility criteria (a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/23/canada-afghanistan-interpreters/">previous</a> Canadian program was only open to those employed for 12 consecutive months). </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1427050167593684993"}"></div></p>
<h2>Bureaucratic hurdles and long delays</h2>
<p>Australia, Canada, the US and many European nations have decades of experience in offering special <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/incountry-processing-and-other-protected-entry-procedures">visa</a> schemes for asylum seekers in circumstances such as this. </p>
<p>These processes allow people who are at risk of persecution or other serious harm – but are still in their home countries – to enter another country for the purpose of accessing protection under international refugee and human rights law. </p>
<p>The US, for example, settled more than <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/08/16/afghanistan-falls-us-confronts-moral-necessity-it-faced-before/">half a million Vietnamese</a> this way following the Vietnam War, as well as thousands of locally engaged staff from northern Iraq in the mid 1990s. In recent years, Australia has used this visa model – known as “in-country processing” – to settle Yazidi refugees from Iraq. </p>
<p>Australia’s “in-country” visa process has rarely been quick, but applications from some former employees in Afghanistan have dragged on despite dedicated <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/07/australias-refusal-to-protect-afghan-interpreters-from-the-taliban-is-a-catastrophic-moral-failure">lobbying</a> from Australian Defence Force veterans.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-theres-no-getting-away-from-it-weve-all-failed-afghanistans-hopeful-girls-166205">View from The Hill: There's no getting away from it – we've all failed Afghanistan's hopeful girls</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Just days before the Taliban victory, for example, former employees of the Australian embassy in Kabul sent a <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/165906-afghan-employees-sent-pleading-letter-to-australian-government/?mc_cid=b1f8cb11c9&mc_eid=a41cce72d0">letter</a> to the Australian government, describing the persistent bureaucratic hurdles and long <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/15/afghans-who-worked-with-australian-forces-wait-for-death-at-the-hands-of-the-taliban">delays</a> they have faced in applying for Australian visas.</p>
<p>And in recent years, some former employees of foreign governments were <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2014/1/15/spains-hunted-afghan-interpreters">forced</a> to flee Afghanistan rather than wait for formal protection visas, leaving them in limbo abroad and at risk of deportation home. </p>
<p>These processes should be <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Policy_Brief_8_Protected_Entry.pdf">transparent</a> from the start. Would-be refugees need to know how the application process will work — and how long it will take — to decide if it is the best option for their circumstances. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1427344439853322245"}"></div></p>
<h2>Australia must expand its humanitarian uptake</h2>
<p>The Australian government has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-16/australian-military-rescue-afghanistan-proceed-when-possible/100381278">said</a> it will evacuate some Afghans from the country when “the situation allows”. </p>
<p>But any visa process must be <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/policy-brief-8-safe-journeys-and-sound-policy-expanding-protected-entry-refugees">flexible</a> enough to include Afghan <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/15/australian-educated-afghans-plea-with-ministers-for-visas-to-australia?mc_cid=b1f8cb11c9&mc_eid=a41cce72d0">graduates</a> of Australian universities who returned home – and have since received death threats – as well as family members of staff who have already left the country. </p>
<p>Former interpreters in the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/afghanistan-taliban-us-troops-intl-08-13-21/h_a808b8801e66b43d7dacedda4e69b22d">United States</a> and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/10/refugee-files-for-emergency-evacuation-of-family-as-taliban-nears">Australia</a> have struggled to obtain visas for their loved ones. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1427227862810054659"}"></div></p>
<p>The Asia Pacific Network of Refugees and the Refugee Council of Australia have both <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/seven-steps-australian-govt-should-take-on-afghanistan-now/">called</a> on the Australian government to offer asylum to others in Afghanistan, <a href="https://twitter.com/APNORefugees/status/1427227862810054659">especially</a> “women and children at risk as well as other human rights defenders in grave danger”. </p>
<p>This would mean <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-urged-to-consider-special-intake-of-afghan-refugees-facing-threats-from-taliban">expanding</a> Australia’s resettlement program to admit more Afghans beyond the humanitarian intake of 13,750 people already planned for 2021-22. Canberra has done this before. </p>
<p>As Sitarah Mohammadi and Sajjad Askary, Melbourne-based <a href="https://aprrn.org/about-us/structure/">deputy chairs</a> within the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network and members of the Hazara ethic minority from Afghanistan, have recently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/19/life-or-death-for-hazaras-australia-has-a-moral-obligation-to-act-now">argued</a>, Australia offered 12,000 places for Syrians in 2015. They said,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A similar scheme can be established for the most persecuted and high risk groups, such as the Hazaras, who are already at risk of mass atrocities. </p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1427420243018739740"}"></div></p>
<h2>Helping Afghans who flee across borders</h2>
<p>Of course, a dedicated safe and orderly departure program may depend on the tacit consent of the Taliban. In the current context, safe departure will be extremely difficult for applicants who are not already in Kabul, or who are on the <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2021/07/australia-struggles-with-moral-obligation-to-aid-afghan-partners/">run</a> or in hiding from the Taliban.</p>
<p>To be meaningful, then, efforts to secure safe and orderly exit must <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Policy_Brief_8_Protected_Entry.pdf">never replace</a> other avenues through which people fleeing Afghanistan may seek international protection. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-the-taliban-returns-20-years-of-progress-for-women-looks-set-to-disappear-overnight-165012">As the Taliban returns, 20 years of progress for women looks set to disappear overnight</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This includes the right of individuals to make their own way out of Afghanistan to apply for protection in another country. And in cases when people have been rejected from the “in-country” application process, this must not prejudice their ability to apply for protection through other pathways. </p>
<p>Australia’s refugee program should also be opened to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56834217">thousands</a> of Afghans currently stuck in Indonesia. Young people and families have been waiting there for years for a resettlement place abroad. Many are in desperate circumstances, as one family told the BBC:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We registered ourselves with the [UN High Commissioner for Refugees] in 2015. But we’ve not been contacted since then. We have been forgotten.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some have even contemplated <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/afghan-refugees-mull-boat-journey-to-australia-as-desperation-mounts-20210816-p58j3d.html">trying to reach Australia</a> again by boat, according to a report today.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Refugee protest in Indonesia in 2019." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416424/original/file-20210817-27-1hpucjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416424/original/file-20210817-27-1hpucjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416424/original/file-20210817-27-1hpucjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416424/original/file-20210817-27-1hpucjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416424/original/file-20210817-27-1hpucjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416424/original/file-20210817-27-1hpucjm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/416424/original/file-20210817-27-1hpucjm.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">Refugees stage a protest outside the UNHCR representative office in Indonesia in 2019 against Australia’s freeze on resettlement out of the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tatan Syuflana/AP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Permanent protection for Afghans already here</h2>
<p>In Australia, the Asia Pacific Network of Refugees has also <a href="https://twitter.com/APNORefugees/status/1427227862810054659">called</a> on the government to protect Afghan nationals already living in this country. </p>
<p>This would include granting permanent protection to the more than <a href="https://www.racs.org.au/news-old/act-now-to-help-people-from-afghanistan-find-safety">4,000</a> people who have already sought asylum in Australia and are living on temporary visas. This <a href="https://temporary.kaldorcentre.net/">prevents</a> refugees from reuniting with family members and forces them to live with the threat of deportation hanging over their lives. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.racs.org.au/news-old/act-now-to-help-people-from-afghanistan-find-safety">According</a> to Zaki Haidari, an ambassador for the Refugee Advice and Casework Service in Sydney and a temporary visa holder, the Taliban takeover proves </p>
<blockquote>
<p>once again that it is not safe for us to go back and not safe for our families.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Foreign Minister Marise Payne <a href="https://twitter.com/SabraLane/status/1427379248298266637">said today</a> all Afghan citizens who were in Australia on a temporary basis would be supported by the government, adding </p>
<blockquote>
<p>no Afghan visa holder will be asked to return to Afghanistan at this stage.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The words “at this stage” fall well short of Australia’s moral and legal obligations to Afghan refugees, and provide little comfort to temporary visa holders. With a range of options to expand protection for people at risk both within and outside Afghanistan, the Australian government must stop attaching qualifiers to its response, and start acting decisively and with humanity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166180/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Higgins receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Canada is offering to resettle 20,000 Afghan refugees, including women’s leaders and journalists. Why has Australia so far been unwilling to make the same declaration?Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1660142021-08-12T01:04:39Z2021-08-12T01:04:39ZCruel, costly and ineffective: Australia’s offshore processing asylum seeker policy turns 9<p>This week marks nine years since Australia re-introduced a policy of offshore processing for asylum seekers arriving by boat. Nine long years of a cruel, costly and ineffective policy sustained by successive governments of both major parties, despite <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Policy_Brief_11_Offshore_Processing.pdf">consistently failing to meet</a> any of its stated aims.</p>
<p>As we outline in a new Kaldor Centre policy brief, <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Policy_Brief_11_Offshore_Processing.pdf">Cruel, costly and ineffective: the failure of offshore processing in Australia</a>, offshore processing does not “save lives”, “stop the boats” or “break the business model of people smugglers”. Nor is it a benign failure. </p>
<p>Beyond simply not doing what it sets out to do, offshore processing carries enormous costs. There are human costs, for the men, women and children subject to immense suffering, and even to some of the people tasked with implementing it.</p>
<p>It also carries diplomatic costs, as Australia’s international reputation is tarnished. Its relationship with Pacific neighbours in Nauru and Papua New Guinea grows increasingly strained with each passing year. Then there’s the ballooning economic costs for taxpayers, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/12/australia-will-spend-almost-34m-for-each-person-in-offshore-detention-budget-shows">billions are sunk in vain</a> into a disastrous policy failure. </p>
<p>That no Australian government in almost a decade has successfully brought this policy to a formal close is astonishing, and it demands interrogation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-billions-more-allocated-to-immigration-detention-its-another-bleak-year-for-refugees-160783">With billions more allocated to immigration detention, it's another bleak year for refugees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Failing to meet its stated policy aims</h2>
<p>The government’s own data on the impact of offshore processing on boat arrivals is the starkest revelation of this policy’s failure. During its first year, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/BoatTurnbacks">more people sought asylum in Australia by boat</a> than at any other time since boat arrivals were first recorded in the 1970s. Deaths at sea also <a href="https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/2523141/BOB-Research-Brief-18-_border-deaths-annual-report-2020_Final.pdf">continued at broadly comparable rates</a> to previous years. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1425563946153562119"}"></div></p>
<p>People continued to seek safety in Australia via maritime routes until they physically could not do so anymore. The 2013 launch of Operation Sovereign Borders, and the Abbott government’s commitment to intercepting and returning people trying to reach Australia by boat — no matter the legal and humanitarian consequences — effectively rendered it futile to try and reach Australia by sea.</p>
<p>Despite early suggestions offshore processing was a vital complement to this turning back of boats, there is no evidence that this is so.</p>
<p>In fact, while offshore processing has formally remained on foot, and popular rhetoric gives the impression that it is still a key part of the matrix of border security measures necessary to keep the boats “stopped”, Australia <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/library/prspub/4129606/upload_binary/4129606.pdf">ceased transferring new arrivals offshore in 2014</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, Australian officials have gone to extraordinary lengths to intercept at sea and return <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/downloadestimatesquestions/EstimatesQuestion-CommitteeId6-EstimatesRoundId8-PortfolioId20-QuestionNumber203">hundreds of asylum seekers</a> in recent years. </p>
<p>What this means is that transfers offshore occurred for less than two years. The following seven years have been spent in a prolonged and costly policy bind, as successive Labor and Coalition governments have tried to find solutions outside Australia for people who should have been settled here long ago.</p>
<p>Meanwhile almost everyone still subject to this policy is back in Australia, having been either returned following a <a href="https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20130730234007/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/79983/20130731-0937/www.pm.gov.au/press-office/transcript-joint-press-conference-2.html">policy change in July 2013</a> or medically evacuated amid <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/supplementarysubmission_medevac.pdf">spiralling health crises offshore</a> from 2017. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about-us-subsite/files/population-and-number-of-people-resettled.pdf">latest figures</a>, there are barely more than 100 asylum seekers left in each of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. The men and women in Nauru are living in the community. The men in Papua New Guinea are in the capital, Port Moresby, having been transferred there following the closure of the Manus Island detention centre in 2017. </p>
<h2>So why does this policy drag on?</h2>
<p>The reason given publicly for continuation of this policy — that offshore processing is necessary to prevent a resurgence of boat arrivals — has no demonstrated evidentiary basis. </p>
<p>When Australia previously sent asylum seekers offshore, under the Howard government, the majority of people processed offshore and found to be refugees were <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/about_parliament/parliamentary_departments/parliamentary_library/pubs/bn/2012-2013/pacificsolution">settled in Australia</a>. </p>
<p>This fact did not prompt an increase in boat arrivals. More recently, there was no spike in boat arrivals when Australia announced that people offshore would be eligible for <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/australia%E2%80%93united-states-resettlement-arrangement">resettlement in the United States</a>, or when almost everyone was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2020/dec/10/timeline-australia-offshore-immigration-detention-system-program-census-of-asylum-seekers-refugees">moved back to Australia</a>.</p>
<p>We have just over a thousand asylum seekers here in Australia, and a small number offshore, who have been put through significant trauma in a failed attempt to send a harsh deterrence message to others who might consider trying to reach Australia by boat. </p>
<p>They have been waiting years for a solution, when a simple one is available right now. </p>
<p>All should be permitted to settle permanently in Australia or another appropriate country, provided that alternative is voluntary. Serious consideration should be given to what reparation and rehabilitation Australia may owe the victims of offshore processing.</p>
<p>This deeply flawed policy must not be permitted to reach its ten-year mark.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/could-the-biden-administration-pressure-australia-to-adopt-more-humane-refugee-policies-153718">Could the Biden administration pressure Australia to adopt more humane refugee policies?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166014/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeline is the author of 'Offshore: Behind the wire on Manus and Nauru' (NewSouth, 2016). She does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has not disclosed any relevant affiliations beyond her academic appointment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha Yacoub is an international refugee law scholar and practitioner, having worked on refugee protection for two decades with the United Nations in conflict and peacetime settings. She is presently a researcher and doctoral candidate at UNSW. The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations.</span></em></p>That no Australian government in almost a decade has successfully brought this policy to a formal close is astonishing. In fact, Australia ceased transferring new arrivals offshore in 2014.Madeline Gleeson, Senior Research Fellow, Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyNatasha Yacoub, International refugee lawyer and scholar, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1629972021-06-22T23:18:35Z2021-06-22T23:18:35ZAmid a labour shortage, here’s how businesses could hire more refugees — and gain a strategic advantage<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407136/original/file-20210618-25-op7nq4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C51%2C6869%2C4541&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>Australia is in the grip of a <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/crunch-time-on-labour-shortages-20210430-p57nsp">labour shortage</a>, as pandemic border closures stem the flow of workers from other countries. At the same time, Australia has an untapped talent pool of workers: refugees who have settled here and are urgently looking for work.</p>
<p>Survey data from the <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/bnla/">Australian Institute of Family Studies</a> suggests only 6% of refugees find work within six months of arrival. Within two years of arrival, only 25% of refugees are in employment. </p>
<p>Many refugees are victims of a qualifications paradox — the higher their credentials, the more they struggle to find meaningful employment. This is because of the restrictive professional accreditation processes many highly-qualified migrants struggle to overcome, higher language proficiency requirements and limited local professional networks. </p>
<p><a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/davidcoleman/Pages/address-menzies-research-centre-20200207.aspx">Acting immigration minister Alan Tudge</a> last year called for a raft of changes to address this issue but the problem prevails. Even when businesses are keen to hire refugees, there’s very little guidance on how to successfully recruit, train and retain refugee workers.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/21513/Engaging%20business%20in%20refugee%20employment.pdf?sequence=2">report</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1748-8583.12352">study</a> outline some concrete steps businesses can take to boost employment of refugees.</p>
<p>Businesses can start by: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>knowing they can begin with small steps and commitments. Recruiting refugees even for a short term helps build their professional networks and gain local references. </p></li>
<li><p>taking advantage of government subsidies and grants aimed at encouraging employers to consider hiring disadvantaged groups. </p></li>
<li><p>reaching out to industry leaders and learning from peers who have successfully hired refugees. The <a href="https://www.humanslikeus.org/about-humans-like-us#:%7E:text=Who%20we%20are%3A%20A%20group,working%20life%20in%20other%20ways.&text=Contact%20us%20for%20more%20information.">Employer Network for Refugee Inclusion</a> (ENRI) is a community where businesses share knowledge and expertise in refugee recruitment. All newcomers are welcome. </p></li>
<li><p>knowing that businesses are not alone. Many not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises with outstanding recruitment programs can support Australian employers in hiring refugees. Other stakeholders, such as education providers and community organisations, also have extensive knowledge about refugees.</p></li>
</ul>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HI4Q2NNvL4c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Job challenges for refugees</h2>
<p>Some of the challenges faced by refugees seeking employment in Australia include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>their qualifications and skills not being recognised</p></li>
<li><p>having limited or no knowledge of the local job market</p></li>
<li><p>having limited or no networks to connect them with jobs</p></li>
<li><p>facing discrimination.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/very-loyal-productive-workers-the-same-people-we-fear-as-refugees-43401">'Very loyal' productive workers: the same people we fear as refugees</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Take, for example, the case of 21-year-old Zeynab. As an Afghan living in Iran, she faced discrimination and didn’t have a right to the same education, health care and employment opportunities as Iranian citizens. </p>
<p>She told us that after resettling in Australia in 2018, she faced many challenges to find work: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>For two years I applied for job after job with no success. I felt hopeless. I wanted to work so badly but no one would give me the opportunity to show what I could do.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In March 2021, Zeynab participated in a program run by the furnishing giant IKEA, called the IKEA Australia Skills for Employment program. Today, she works as a Logistics Co-worker at IKEA Adelaide and is undertaking a course to prepare for future university study — an opportunity she could never have had in Iran. </p>
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<h2>Collaboration is crucial</h2>
<p>Some employers might feel daunted by the prospect of hiring refugees. Collaboration with not-for-profit organisations can make the process easier — and cheaper.</p>
<p>Close collaboration with not-for-profit organisations reduces recruitment and training costs. It can also make successful induction and onboarding cheaper, as these organisations are able to shoulder some of the work. </p>
<p>Some not-for-profit organisations also provide ongoing support for refugees and employers. Many offer cross-cultural training for local staff. This training is invaluable for those working with culturally diverse job seekers. </p>
<p>As a successful example, IKEA runs eight-week paid placements for refugees in partnership with Community Corporate, an award-winning social enterprise.</p>
<p>Here, refugee job seekers learn about Australian workplace culture, build confidence in using English and gain professional references. </p>
<p>Many participants have secured ongoing work with IKEA, where vacancies were available.</p>
<p>Harriet Pope, IKEA Skills for Employment Program Project Leader, described the experience so far:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We believe businesses in Australia have an important role to play in supporting refugee inclusion. </p>
<p>The program has been mutually enriching for participants and our business, creating a more diverse work environment and access to new co-workers who are highly motivated, adaptable and loyal. </p>
<p>It’s also opened learning and development opportunities for our co-workers as they mentor program participants and enabled us to better support the needs of our diverse customers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many businesses see refugee employment through the lens of corporate social responsibility — a well-meaning act of “good”. </p>
<p>However, it is in fact a strategic move. Hiring refugees can be good for business because it broadens the pool of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/last-year-nsw-had-centrelink-queues-now-there-is-a-skills-shortage-20210617-p58207.html">workforce talent</a>, brings fresh perspectives and insight into teams, allows expansion of client pools to ethnic minority communities, and increases employee morale.</p>
<h2>A call to action for governments, volunteers and businesses</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.buyingfor.vic.gov.au/social-procurement-annual-report-2018-19/opportunities-disadvantaged-victorians">Victoria’s social procurement framework</a> is an example of a government initiative that’s helped businesses hire from within vulnerable communities.</p>
<p>In our research, businesses in Victoria told us this initiative helped open their eyes to a previously invisible talent pool.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407574/original/file-20210622-25-1o0yowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman works on a computer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407574/original/file-20210622-25-1o0yowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407574/original/file-20210622-25-1o0yowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407574/original/file-20210622-25-1o0yowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407574/original/file-20210622-25-1o0yowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407574/original/file-20210622-25-1o0yowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407574/original/file-20210622-25-1o0yowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/407574/original/file-20210622-25-1o0yowq.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>
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<span class="caption">Hiring refugees can be good for business because it broadens the pool of workforce talent and allows expansion of client pools to new communities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Along the way, they sought the help of not-for-profit organisations, which helped to find refugees and asylum seekers for recruitment. These organisations also assisted with onboarding and training. We suggest similar government initiatives could be implemented elsewhere in Australia. </p>
<p>If you are a business owner or HR professional interested in working with not-for-profit organisations to recruit refugees, you can start by looking into available resources, such as this <a href="https://www.tent.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Tent_Australia_V6.pdf">employers’ guides to recruiting refugees</a>. You can also contact <a href="https://www.humanslikeus.org/refugee-employment-services-directory">not-for-profit organisations</a> that excel in providing employment-related support to businesses and refugees. </p>
<p>Or, feel free to contact the authors of this article. We would be more than happy to support your journey to refugee recruitment. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-job-prospects-for-refugees-in-australia-83724">Three charts on: job prospects for refugees in Australia</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162997/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is part of a series on asylum seeker policy supported by a grant from the Broadley Trust.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Betina Szkudlarek received funding from the federal government to investigate employers' perspectives on hiring refugees.</span></em></p>Our research outlines some concrete steps businesses can take to boost employment of refugees. And there are strategic benefits business can reap along the way.Jeannie Eun Su Lee, Lecturer, University of NewcastleBetina Szkudlarek, Associate Professor in Management, Discipline of International Business, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1625052021-06-16T20:08:31Z2021-06-16T20:08:31ZResettling refugees in other countries is not reliable, nor is it fair. So, why is Australia doing it?<p>The federal government has scrambled in recent days to minimise the political fallout from its treatment of the Tamil family from Biloela. After almost two years stuck on Christmas Island, the Murugappans are now being permitted to return to the mainland under community detention while their asylum case is settled.</p>
<p>Last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne raised the prospect of resettling the family in New Zealand or the US, before Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/10/new-zealand-or-us-not-possible-for-biloela-tamil-family-karen-andrews">dismissed the idea</a>, saying they are not eligible because they have not been found to be refugees.</p>
<p>All this talk has caused much <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/KarenAndrews/Pages/4bc-breakfast-10062021.aspx">confusion</a>, and sparked questions around what Canberra is doing to resolve the plight of other displaced people to whom it has refused entry — namely, the <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/what-we-have-learnt-from-the-latest-responses-to-senate-questions-on-notice/">hundreds</a> of refugees who have been held for years in Australia’s system of offshore processing.</p>
<p>Andrews has said the Australian government is exploring resettlement overseas for “<a href="https://twitter.com/karenandrewsmp/status/1402776110606163970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">broad cohorts</a>” of people. The minister’s <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/KarenAndrews/Pages/sunrise-10062021.aspx">focus</a> is apparently on refugees who were held offshore in Papua New Guinea and Nauru, and are currently in Australia for medical treatment.</p>
<p>The chance of a resettlement deal with New Zealand for these refugees is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jun/04/discussions-are-happening-to-resettle-refugees-from-australias-offshore-regime-in-new-zealand">reported</a> to be gaining traction — although there are no tangible results yet.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/nov/13/australias-deal-to-resettle-refugees-in-the-us-what-we-know-so">deal struck with Washington</a> in 2016 to offer resettlement to the US for up to 1,250 refugees held in PNG and Nauru is still playing out years later. </p>
<p>As of last month, there are approximately 200 refugees who have been approved for entry to the United States and are waiting to depart, and a further 260 <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/what-we-have-learnt-from-the-latest-responses-to-senate-questions-on-notice/">pre-approved</a> in advance of final health checks.</p>
<h2>Who is eligible for resettlement in another country?</h2>
<p>For a start, it helps to understand why Canberra wants other countries to resettle refugees who sought protection in Australia. </p>
<p>On July 19 2013, the Rudd Labor government introduced a hardline ban on entry: people who sought asylum by boat on or after that date, and were transferred to PNG or Nauru, would never settle in Australia. This has been maintained under successive Liberal governments, and a total of <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/operation-sovereign-borders-offshore-detention-statistics/2/">3,127</a> people were sent offshore. </p>
<p>The ban has been criticised for its “<a href="https://theconversation.com/robert-manne-how-we-came-to-be-so-cruel-to-asylum-seekers-67542">absolutist ambition</a>” — the idea that the admission of any one person would cause the entire system of border control to collapse. </p>
<p>This is despite the fact Australia has <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/frequently-asked-questions-about-refugees">obligations</a> under international refugee and human rights law to protect people fleeing persecution or other serious human rights violations. </p>
<p>A central plank of this absolutism is that asylum seekers who arrive by boat, and are found to be refugees, will only ever be able to secure a durable and humane solution in another country – if such an opportunity can be found.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406603/original/file-20210616-21-8127yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406603/original/file-20210616-21-8127yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406603/original/file-20210616-21-8127yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406603/original/file-20210616-21-8127yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406603/original/file-20210616-21-8127yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406603/original/file-20210616-21-8127yc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406603/original/file-20210616-21-8127yc.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">
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<span class="caption">Refugees protesting against Australia’s policies outside the UNHCR representative office in Indonesia in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tatan Syuflana/AP</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>For those not subject to the hardline ban on entry — some <a href="https://temporary.kaldorcentre.net/resources">30,000 people</a> who sought asylum by boat after mid-2012 and before January 1 2014, and were not transferred offshore — a complex legal regime narrows their path to protection in Australia. </p>
<p>These people are subject to <a href="https://temporary.kaldorcentre.net/introduction">limited-term visas</a> and a lot of uncertainty. The Biloela family have had to deal with this “<a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/today/russell-marks/2019/19/2019/1568873174/tamil-family-remains-limbo">byzantine</a>” system, having arrived before the ban came into effect.</p>
<h2>Deals with third countries</h2>
<p>After the ban, successive Australian governments have tried to make deals with third countries to resettle those who were sent to PNG or Nauru. </p>
<p>A 2014 agreement with Cambodia was said to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/mar/09/55m-cambodia-deal-that-resettled-two-refugees-a-good-outcome-says-dutton">cost A$55 million</a>, and was ultimately taken up by just a handful of refugees. In 2015, the Philippines was <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/labor-coalition-unite-on-philippines-asylum-seeker-deal">reportedly</a> wooed by Australian officials for a potential deal to resettle refugees worth $150 million that never eventuated.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/resettling-refugees-in-australia-would-not-resume-the-people-smuggling-trade-60253">Resettling refugees in Australia would not resume the people-smuggling trade</a>
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</em>
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<p>The 2016 deal with Washington promised hope for those held offshore. Negotiated with the Obama administration, the deal was soon subject to the whims of President Donald Trump, with resettlement stalling several times. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/leaked-call-transcript-reveals-trump-told-turnbull-you-are-worse-than-i-am-on-refugees-20170804-gxp0oh.html">testy phone call</a> with then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that was leaked to the media, Trump lambasted what he called a “stupid deal” that could allow Australia to export new “Boston bombers” to the US. Turnbull, in turn, provided reassurance that Australia would resettle Central American refugees from the US, telling Trump, “we will take anyone that you want us to take”.</p>
<p>While Trump and Turnbull bickered, the young writer Imran Mohammad, held in detention on Manus Island, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/imrans-story-arriving-on-manus-was-one-of-the-most-excruciating-days-in-my-life-20170718-gxdfcz.html">said he feared</a> “the Australian government has no proper plans for our future”.</p>
<p>Amid long delays in resettlement to the US, non-profit organisations have recently taken up the cause, with one group securing up to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/21/more-than-140-refugees-in-australian-detention-set-to-be-resettled-in-canada-under-sponsorship-scheme">140 places</a> in Canada last month for refugees still held in limbo under the offshore policy.</p>
<h2>Contrary to “common decency”</h2>
<p>Resettlement deals aren’t new. On several occasions since the 1960s, Australia has offered to resettle refugees whose journeys to the US were politically contentious. This includes generations of Cubans who have tried to flee their island nation since the early 1970s. As recently as 2017, Australia <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/aug/22/australia-resettles-cuban-refugees-found-clinging-to-lighthouse-off-florida-keys">resettled 17 Cubans</a> found clinging to a lighthouse off the coast of Florida.</p>
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<p>Washington has responded in turn. The most recent and well-known example is the 2016 resettlement agreement, but the practice has a longer history, involving refugees held under the Howard government’s version of offshore processing in the <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2245417">early 2000s</a>.</p>
<p>These transfers have been upheld by both governments as a sign of bilateral goodwill and cooperation. But the UN refugee agency UNHCR has been less impressed, noting that Canberra’s insistence on denying entry to Australia for even those refugees who have close family in the country is <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/press/2017/7/597217484/unhcr-chief-filippo-grandi-calls-australia-end-harmful-practice-offshore.html">contrary</a> “to common decency”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-tamil-asylum-seekers-need-protection-and-why-does-the-australian-government-say-they-dont-162609">Why do Tamil asylum seekers need protection — and why does the Australian government say they don't?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>No easy answer</h2>
<p>This coming year, Australia will spend around <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-billions-more-allocated-to-immigration-detention-its-another-bleak-year-for-refugees-160783">$2 billion</a> to maintain its onshore and offshore detention centres. Many of the people within that system have been held in limbo for years. </p>
<p>The government rhetoric has not softened on the issue, either, not even with Tharnicaa Murugappan <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/daughter-of-biloela-tamil-family-marks-her-fourth-birthday-in-hospital-as-a-decision-on-their-future-looms">marking her fourth birthday</a> in a Perth hospital after contracting a blood infection caused by untreated pneumonia.</p>
<p>To release these two young children and their parents back to Biloela, the argument goes, would reignite the people smuggling trade – what Attorney-General Michaela Cash has called the “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/biloela-family-unaware-of-option-to-resettle-in-nz-or-us-20210609-p57zj3.html">consequences</a> of blinking”.</p>
<p>But this approach has a significant <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/cost-australias-asylum-policy">human and economic cost</a>, and damages Australia’s reputation abroad. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/world/australia/australia-manus-suicide.html">offshore system</a>, and the treatment of the young family from Biloela, have earned Canberra plenty of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-57478788">criticism</a> in the international press. </p>
<p>With long delays and no guarantees, it is clear that resettlement deals cannot get Australia “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-04/donald-trump-malcolm-turnbull-refugee-phone-call-transcript/8773422">off the hook</a>”, either.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162505/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Higgins receives funding from the Australian Research Council. This article is part of a series on asylum seeker policy supported by a grant from the Broadley Trust.</span></em></p>The home affairs minister says Australia is exploring resettlement overseas for ‘broad cohorts’ of people. But such deals do not get Australia off the hook.Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626612021-06-15T06:16:00Z2021-06-15T06:16:00ZBiloela family to be released into community detention - what happens now?<p>Federal immigration minister Alex Hawke has <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s197ab.html">exercised his power</a> to allow the Murugappan family from Biloela to live in the Perth community. </p>
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<p>The Tamil asylum seeker family was previously held in an “alternative place of detention” (APOD) on Christmas Island. Residence determination, also known as “community detention”, was introduced in 2005 an alternative to held detention. As of <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/immigration-detention-statistics-30-april-2021.pdf">April 2021</a>, there were 536 people in community detention, including 181 children. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/biloela-family-moved-to-perth-in-holding-decision-by-immigration-minister-hawke-162755">Biloela family moved to Perth in holding decision by Immigration Minister Hawke</a>
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<p>Community detention allows people to transition out of detention into the community with appropriate supports. The family will have to live at a specified address and are legally still “detained”. They will not be under any physical supervision and will have the ability to live in the Perth community and engage with local support networks, and the children will be able to go to a local school. However, the requirement to live at a particular place means they are not free to leave Perth and return to Biloela in Queensland, unless the minister allows them to. </p>
<h2>Immediate health and mental health a priority</h2>
<p>Families in community detention are provided with support services from local community based organisations contracted by the Department of Home Affairs under the <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/status-resolution-service/status-resolution-support-services">Status Resolution Support Service </a>. The Murugappans will be given accommodation, health and welfare services as well as casework support. A small income is provided to allow them to pay for food, clothing and utilities, but the parents will not be allowed to work.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.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">
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<span class="caption">The Biloela family’s plight was brought to the head by their youngest daughter Tharunicaa being hospitalised with a serious illness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/supplied</span></span>
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<p>Much has happened in recent days. Physical and mental health must be a priority. There is a strong body of evidence to suggest people’s health deteriorates significantly in immigration detention, with a clear association between time in detention and rates of mental illness. Anxiety, depression and traumatic stress experiences are commonly reported. Length of time in detention is associated with severity of distress. There is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13218719.2010.518551">evidence</a> that mental health improves shortly after release, although results have shown that the negative impact of detention can be ongoing.</p>
<p>After years in detention, the family’s situation has been brought to a head by their youngest daughter, Tharunicaa, being transferred to hospital in Perth with a serious blood infection. Medical experts have <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/doctors-plead-for-authorities-to-reunite-tharnicaa-with-her-family-20210613-p580mn.html">advocated for the family</a> to be reunited as the little girl recovers.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-the-morrison-government-has-escape-hatch-in-tamil-family-case-if-it-wants-to-use-it-162433">View from The Hill: the Morrison government has escape hatch in Tamil family case – if it wants to use it</a>
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<hr>
<h2>What are the legal options now?</h2>
<p>The family’s future remains uncertain. Hawke said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I will consider at a future date whether to lift the statutory bar presently preventing members of the family from reapplying for temporary protection, for which they have previously been rejected.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The parents came to Australia by boat without visas, so the law classifies them as unlawful maritime arrivals. Their children, although born in Australia, are also classified as unlawful maritime arrivals. This means they are not allowed to apply for any visa in Australia unless the immigration minister personally allows it under <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s46a.html">section 46A of the Migration Act</a>. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-young-child-is-evacuated-from-detention-could-this-see-the-biloela-tamil-family-go-free-162289">As a young child is evacuated from detention, could this see the Biloela Tamil family go free?</a>
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<p>The minister has previously allowed the father, Nades, to apply for a protection visa. The mother, Priya, has also applied and included the older daughter in her application. All had applied for protection visas, claiming they would face persecution if returned to Sri Lanka. Their claims were not successful and they were then detained in 2018. </p>
<p>Attempts to remove them from Australia were stopped by an injunction issued by the courts on the basis that the youngest daughter had not had the opportunity to apply for a protection visa.</p>
<p>The minister may allow them to apply for any visa under section 46A, or alternatively allow the family’s claims for protection to be reassessed under section 48B. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s48b.html">Section 48A of the Migration Act</a> allows the minister to personally allow a person to apply again for a protection visa where they have previously been refused if he considers it in the “public interest” to do so. The minister’s guidelines state he can exercise this power if he considers there are “exceptional circumstances”, including new information, or where there is a significant change in the circumstances of the case. </p>
<p>In the case of the Biloela family, this could include a change to the circumstances of their case that has arisen since they last applied, which are known as <em>sur place</em> claims. In May 2021, an <a href="https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKUT/IAC/2021/130.html">asylum tribunal in the United Kingdom</a> issued new country guidance addressing the risk of persecution for Sri Lankan nationals. It sets out the risk of persecution as a result of <em>sur place</em> activities that are (or perceived by the government to be) in opposition to the government of Sri Lanka. </p>
<p>This is important in the case of the Biloela family, as they are clearly identifiable due to the large amount of national and international media coverage, which has included references to their previous asylum claims. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-give-visas-to-the-biloela-tamil-family-and-other-asylum-seekers-stuck-in-the-system-155354">It's time to give visas to the Biloela Tamil family and other asylum seekers stuck in the system</a>
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<h2>The immediate need for a trauma-informed response</h2>
<p>Community detention is an appropriate compassionate response and a step in the right direction. However, the failure to exercise a discretion either granting the Murugappans a visa or allowing them to apply again leaves the family in limbo. </p>
<p>Prolonged uncertainty and ongoing trauma can have devastating impacts. There is a well documented body of evidence that when people are traumatised and at the same time feel trapped by their circumstances, it becomes increasingly difficult to make decisions, sustain healthy, satisfying relationships or manage life’s uncertainties. Efforts must be made to reduce that uncertainty. A <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/inm.12325">trauma-informed approach is essential</a> to reduce ongoing distress and prevent retraumatisation. </p>
<p>Specialist support for both parents and children are essential. How children experience traumatic events, how they express their distress, and what actually helps, <a href="https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources//age_related_reactions_to_traumatic_events.pdf">depends in large part on the children’s</a> age and stage of development. It also depends on the circumstances of the entire family. The goal must be to restore certainty to these children’s lives and the lives of their parents.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162661/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Anne Kenny has previous received funding from the Australian Research Council and sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Procter has previously received grant funding and sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs. This article is part of a series on asylum seeker policy supported by a grant from the Broadley Trust.</span></em></p>While this is a positive step, it still does not allow the Murugappan family to return to their home of Biloela in Queensland, and their situation still has some way to play out in the courts.Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch UniversityNicholas Procter, Professor and Chair: Mental Health Nursing, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626092021-06-15T06:05:57Z2021-06-15T06:05:57ZWhy do Tamil asylum seekers need protection — and why does the Australian government say they don’t?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406367/original/file-20210615-15-s765sl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C0%2C4887%2C3364&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julian Smith/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Immigration Minister Alex Hawke has <a href="https://theconversation.com/biloela-family-moved-to-perth-in-holding-decision-by-immigration-minister-hawke-162755">announced</a> the Murugappans will be moved from detention on Christmas Island, to community detention in Perth. </p>
<p>This follows mounting public concern for the Tamil family, particularly regarding the health of four-year-old Tharunicaa, who was medevaced to Perth from Christmas Island last week. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/biloela-family-moved-to-perth-in-holding-decision-by-immigration-minister-hawke-162755">Biloela family moved to Perth in holding decision by Immigration Minister Hawke</a>
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<p>But the government is yet to make a final decision about where the family can live in the long-term. The family has previously had its refugee claims rejected. </p>
<p>Priya and Nades Murugappan have been trying to stay in Australia for the best part of a decade, through multiple appeals. All the while, Sri Lanka has one of the worst records of state-perpetrated violence against civilians in the early 21st century.</p>
<h2>Tamils and the Sri Lankan civil war</h2>
<p>Tamils are an ethnic group native to Sri Lanka. Many Tamils have sought to come to Australia due to fear of persecution in their home country. This is due to links either real or perceived with the <a href="https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/liberation-tigers-tamil-elam">Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam</a> (Tamil Tigers), a separatist group fighting for an independent homeland for Tamils in north and east Sri Lanka. </p>
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<img alt="Protesters keep a vigil outside the Perth hospital treating Tharunicaa Murugappan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406338/original/file-20210615-27-2t9g3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406338/original/file-20210615-27-2t9g3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406338/original/file-20210615-27-2t9g3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406338/original/file-20210615-27-2t9g3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406338/original/file-20210615-27-2t9g3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406338/original/file-20210615-27-2t9g3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406338/original/file-20210615-27-2t9g3c.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">
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<span class="caption">Tharunicaa Murugappan was evacuated to a Perth hospital last week, suffering pneumonia and a blood infection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Gosati/AAP</span></span>
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<p>The Tamil Tigers fought and lost a brutal 26-year civil war with the Sinhalese majority government, which ended in 2009. This included serious <a href="http://permanentpeoplestribunal.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Sentenza-Sri-Lanka-and-Tamil-II.pdf">allegations of genocide</a> and the military’s intentional shelling of government-designated “no fire zones”. It is estimated at least <a href="https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/11-years-today-massacre-mullivaikkal">100,000 Tamils</a> died in the final stages of the war. </p>
<p>In 2012, the United Nations admitted its “<a href="https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/737299?ln=en">failures</a>” in protecting the Tamils. Namely, its failure to “act within the scope of institutional mandates to meet protection responsibilities”.</p>
<h2>Post-war persecution</h2>
<p>The post-war period has also been marked by the ongoing persecution of the Tamils. </p>
<p>In 2018, the Human Rights Watch reported that military occupation of the north and east of the island “<a href="https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/srilanka1018_web2.pdf">is a cruel legacy</a>”
of the war and encroaches on Tamil civilian life. In 2019, the International Truth and Justice Project reported <a href="https://itjpsl.com/reports/terrorism-investgation-division">Sri Lankan police had committed torture</a> against civilians, with many of the perpetrators who orchestrated such crimes occupying senior positions in government. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-young-child-is-evacuated-from-detention-could-this-see-the-biloela-tamil-family-go-free-162289">As a young child is evacuated from detention, could this see the Biloela Tamil family go free?</a>
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<p>Earlier this year, the United Nations Human Rights Office published a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26695&LangID=E">damning report</a> on the deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka, observing:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>deepening impunity, increasing militarization of governmental functions, ethno-nationalist rhetoric, and intimidation of civil society.</p>
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<h2>Tamils in Australia</h2>
<p>According to the 2016 census, there more than 27,000 Tamil people — who were born in Sri Lanka — living in Australia. But it could be many more. </p>
<p>Tamils seeking asylum in Australia reportedly face <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/15/tamil-family-remain-in-detention-as-australia-mulls-un-request">some of the lowest acceptance rates</a>. And Australia’s position when it comes to Sri Lanka — and the safety of Tamils — has drawn criticism from human rights experts at home and overseas. </p>
<p>The Department of Home Affairs relies heavily on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/country-information-report-sri-lanka.pdf">country information report</a> on Sri Lanka to decide whether to give permanent protection to Tamil asylum seekers. The current (2019) report says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sri Lankans face a low risk of torture on a day-to-day basis. In the case of individuals detained by the authorities, DFAT assesses the risk of torture to be moderate. Where it occurs, some mistreatment may amount to torture. DFAT assesses that Sri Lankans face a low risk of torture overall.</p>
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<p>This is also despite reports from Tamils deported from Australia they have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/sri-lankan-asylum-seekers-are-being-deported-from-australia-despite-fears-of-torture-100240">targeted by local security forces</a> on their return to Sri Lanka.</p>
<p>In May this year, the United Kingdom’s Upper Tribunal (which handles immigration appeals) issued a <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dfat-urged-to-retract-inaccurate-report-saying-sri-lankans-face-low-torture-risk-following-uk-court-finding">damning critique </a>of the DFAT report, <a href="https://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/KK%20%26%20RS%20%28Sri%20Lanka%29.pdf">finding</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>None of the sources are identified, there is no explanation as to how the information from these sources was obtained, and there is no annex containing, for example, records of any interviews.</p>
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<p>The landmark decision by the tribunal challenges decisions in recent years by the UK government — which has been “<a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2017/05/insignificant">considering ceasing</a>” the refugee status of Tamil refugees as recently as 2017. This year, the German government has been <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/31241/germany-collective-deportation-of-tamils-to-sri-lanka-met-with-outrage">deporting Tamils to Sri Lanka</a>, amid public opposition. New Zealand maintains its offer to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/30/new-zealand-offer-to-resettle-australias-offshore-refugees-still-active-as-us-deal-nears-end">resettle Australia’s offshore refugees</a>, which includes Tamils. </p>
<h2>Australia’s relationship with Sri Lanka</h2>
<p>Australia has a special <a href="https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/minister/cpyne/media-releases/indo-pacific-endeavour-2019-launches-western-australia">security relationship</a> with Sri Lanka that can’t help but affect its response to Tamil persecution and asylum seekers.</p>
<p>This relationship has been steadily intensifying since the 1970s, when the Indian Ocean gained strategic importance for both countries. In recent years, the Indian Ocean has become increasingly important for Australia’s national security as part of its geographical location in the Asia-Pacific region. </p>
<p>Along with joint exercises, Australia has gifted Sri Lanka patrol boats to stop people smuggling. This <a href="https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/australia-and-sri-lanka-strengthen-ties-over-aerial-drone-surveillance">April</a>, it gave the police five drones “to support crime fighting”. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1404623085626527744"}"></div></p>
<p>In 2015, Human Rights Watch reported both governments “<a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/country-chapters/sri-lanka">colluded</a>” when it came to the treatment of asylum seekers. </p>
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<p>Australia and Sri Lanka colluded to ensure that asylum seekers leaving Sri Lanka were either returned or else not allowed onto Australian territory. </p>
<p>Australia sent back many asylum seekers to Sri Lanka after cursory interviews at sea; those found to have legitimate claims were processed in other countries. In an apparent bid to secure Sri Lanka’s assistance in stopping migrants and asylum seekers, Australia failed to call for better human rights protections […]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Australia has also <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-opposes-un-resolution-to-conduct-war-crimes-inquiry-in-sri-lanka-20140328-35moj.html">opposed international investigations</a> into war crimes in Sri Lanka. Until today, it has also ignored a 2019 <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/un-urges-australian-government-to-release-tamil-family-from-christmas-island">UN request</a> to release the Murugappan family into the Australian community. </p>
<p>The Australian government will likely continue to grow its special relationship with its Indian Ocean neighbour. </p>
<p>But as more and more Australians show their support to asylum seekers like Priya, Nades, Kopika, and Tharunicaa, the Australian government needs to seriously confront its relationship with a country descending deeper into authoritarianism and human rights abuses.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Niro Kandasamy is affiliated with the Tamil Refugee Council.
Parts of this research have been funded by the Contemporary Histories Research Group Award in History and Policy, Deakin University
This article is part of a series on asylum seeker policy supported by a grant from the Broadley Trust</span></em></p>The Murugappans have been fighting to stay in Australia for years. All the while, Sri Lanka has one of the worst records of state-perpetrated violence against civilians in the early 21st century.Niro Kandasamy, Lecturer, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1622892021-06-08T04:29:27Z2021-06-08T04:29:27ZAs a young child is evacuated from detention, could this see the Biloela Tamil family go free?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404991/original/file-20210608-23-51ixqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A boy holds a poster in support of the Biloela Tamil family at a 2019 rally. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Carrett/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Monday, the image of a small girl in a hospital bed, crying as her big sister gives her a kiss flooded social media feeds.</p>
<p>The girls are Tharunicaa and Kopika Murugappan, the <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/immigration-detention-statistics-31-march-2021.pdf">only two children</a> in immigration detention in Australia. </p>
<p>The photo was released by advocates as three-year-old Tharunicaa was medically evacuated to Perth on Monday evening. She had reportedly been <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/youngest-daughter-of-biloela-tamil-family-medically-evacuated-from-christmas-island">unwell for ten days</a> with high temperatures, vomiting and diarrhoea, as her family called for more medical help.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, family supporter Angela Fredericks <a href="https://7news.com.au/politics/biloela-family-must-be-resettled-mps-c-3043111">told reporters</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It looks like they have said she has untreated pneumonia that led to a blood infection.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While the <a href="https://twitter.com/joshgnosis/status/1402087429692030976?s=20">government denies</a> there were treatment delays, it has once again raised the plight of the Tamil family, who have been detained since 2018.</p>
<h2>Why are the family on Christmas Island?</h2>
<p>Tharunicaa, her parents Priya and Nades and her sister, Kopika, have been in detention on Christmas Island since August 2019.</p>
<p>This followed a Department of Home Affairs attempt to deport the family from a detention centre in Melbourne to Sri Lanka. The deportation was interrupted mid-flight <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-31/tamil-asylum-seeker-family-taken-to-christmas-island-lawyer-says/11467312">after an urgent injunction</a> from the Federal Court. The plane was forced to land in Darwin, and the family was taken to immigration detention on Christmas Island, pending the outcome of their court appeal.</p>
<p>This came after the family had initially settled in the Queensland town of Biloela. Residents welcomed the family and have been actively campaigning for them to come “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-17/tamils-priya-and-nades-murugappan-asylum-seekers/13160708">home to Bilo</a>”. </p>
<h2>Where is their legal fight up to?</h2>
<p>The family has been engaged in legal appeals since 2012. Tharunicaa’s father and mother are both Sri Lankan nationals who arrived in Australia by boat in 2012 and 2013 respectively. </p>
<p>As they arrived without visas, they are considered in law to be “unlawful maritime arrivals.” Although Tharunicaa and six-year-old Kopika were born in Australia, they are also “unlawful maritime arrivals”. </p>
<hr>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-give-visas-to-the-biloela-tamil-family-and-other-asylum-seekers-stuck-in-the-system-155354">It's time to give visas to the Biloela Tamil family and other asylum seekers stuck in the system</a>
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<p>Both parents applied for visas claiming they would be persecuted if they returned to Sri Lanka. Kopika was included in their application. But they <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-biloela-tamil-family-deportation-case-highlights-the-failures-of-our-refugee-system-123685">were refused</a> and appeals to tribunals, courts and the immigration minister were not successful.</p>
<p>Former home affairs minister Peter Dutton <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/using-every-trick-peter-dutton-accuses-detained-biloela-family-of-preventing-deportation">repeatedly said</a> the family is not owed protection. They are part of a caseload who had their claims for refugee status determined under a “fast track” process. The Australian Human Rights Commission found significant issues with the “fast track” process and <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/commissioners-call-compassionate-approach-tamil-family">has called for a compassionate</a> response to this family. </p>
<h2>Tharunicaa</h2>
<p>However, the family’s applications did not include Tharunicaa. </p>
<p>Current legal action centres around the obligations of the government to consider whether she can apply for a visa in Australia. As Tharunicaa is an “unlawful maritime arrival” she cannot apply for a visa unless the Home Affairs Minister (Andrews) personally intervenes. </p>
<p>Lawyers argue she has a strong claim for protection based on a <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCAFC/2021/12.html">range of factors</a> including: the extensive media coverage of the family, the family’s Tamil ethnicity and their “purported” connections to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers). </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protesters hold signs in support of the Biloela Tamil family." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404988/original/file-20210608-135198-3nyrsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404988/original/file-20210608-135198-3nyrsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404988/original/file-20210608-135198-3nyrsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404988/original/file-20210608-135198-3nyrsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404988/original/file-20210608-135198-3nyrsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404988/original/file-20210608-135198-3nyrsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404988/original/file-20210608-135198-3nyrsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&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">There have been ongoing protests in support of the family, calling for them to stay in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julian Smith/AAP</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>In April 2020, <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-federal-court-decision-on-the-tamil-asylum-seeker-family-mean-136504">Federal Court Justice Mark Moshinsky ruled</a> Tharunicaa had not given “procedural fairness” when her September 2018 request for permission to apply for a protection visa was rejected. That decision was <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-give-visas-to-the-biloela-tamil-family-and-other-asylum-seekers-stuck-in-the-system-155354">upheld</a> by the Full Court of the Federal Court in February. But further complicating matters, the court also found the immigration minister did not have an obligation to allow her to apply for a visa. </p>
<p>The ongoing litigation means the family will not be removed from Australia any time soon. But it is not clear whether the family or the government will take the next step and go to the High Court.</p>
<h2>What are the ongoing health dangers for the family?</h2>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/daughter-of-asylum-seekers-medically-evacuated/13377886">media reports</a>, Tharunicaa had been unwell for ten days and did not get hospital access until this week, despite her families’ requests. As <a href="https://twitter.com/HometoBilo/status/1401788959982710784?s=20">Priya said</a> in a statement</p>
<blockquote>
<p>She has been sick for many days, it took a long time for her to get to the hospital.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs <a href="https://twitter.com/joshgnosis/status/1402087429692030976?s=20">denied</a> there had been any treatment delays. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The minor has been receiving medical treatment and daily monitoring on Christmas Island consistent with medical advice. This has included an IHMS general practitioner and the Christmas Island Hospital.</p>
<p>As soon as the ABF was advised by the treating medical practitioners that the minor required medical treatment in Western Australia, the minor was transferred to a hospital in Western Australia.</p>
<p>The Australian Border Force strongly denies any allegations of inaction or mistreatment of individuals in its care.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Health professionals have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/21/christmas-island-delays-in-medical-transfers-life-threatening-say-doctors">long warned</a> of the difficulties of placing vulnerable people in remote locations such as Christmas Island. While primary care is available, there is poorer access to specialist and complex services. </p>
<p>In 2018, a Queensland coroner <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jul/30/death-asylum-seeker-hamid-kehazaei-preventable-coroner-says">found delays</a> in diagnosing and removing Iranian asylum seeker Hamid Kehazaei from Manus Island directly contributed to his death from septicaemia. </p>
<p>Tharunicaa has come to Perth with her mother, while her her father and sister have been left on Christmas Island. Last year, Priya <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-30/tamil-mother-flown-back-to-christmas-island-detention/12506818">was brought to Perth</a> for treatment of an abdominal condition and had to leave the family behind. </p>
<p>This is a grave concern. There is a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8090905/">substantial body of evidence</a> regarding child trauma to suggest that forced involuntary separation from family will have lasting mental health effects. The splitting up of the family will almost certainly compound existing trauma. Children are particularly vulnerable. </p>
<h2>What can Karen Andrews do?</h2>
<p>Andrews, as the senior minister responsible, is under increasing <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2021/06/08/biloela-family-evacuation-karen-andrews-petition/">public pressure </a> to do more for the family. </p>
<p>Dutton has previously said the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/scott-morrison-says-exception-for-tamil-family-an-invitation-to-people-smugglers">reason the family was detained on Christmas Island</a> and not the mainland was that it would allow them to be flown back to Sri Lanka without protesters putting Border Force officers in a “difficult position.” </p>
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<img alt="Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews in the cabinet room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404987/original/file-20210608-21-a9ad40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404987/original/file-20210608-21-a9ad40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404987/original/file-20210608-21-a9ad40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404987/original/file-20210608-21-a9ad40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404987/original/file-20210608-21-a9ad40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404987/original/file-20210608-21-a9ad40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/404987/original/file-20210608-21-a9ad40.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">
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<span class="caption">Karen Andrews was appointed Minister for Home Affairs in March.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
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<p>Due to their status as “unlawful maritime arrivals,” only Andrews or Immigration Minister Alex Hawke have the power to allow them to live in the community. This can either be on Christmas Island or on the mainland on bridging visas or in community detention. Andrews <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/KarenAndrews/Pages/interview-fran-kelly-abc-05052021.aspx">recently said</a> she was taking advice on whether she would allow them to live in the community on Christmas Island.</p>
<p>On Tuesday she added the government was “investigating a range of resettlement options”. </p>
<h2>The ‘public interest’</h2>
<p>The minister can grant any detainee a visa if they consider it to be in the “<a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s195a.html">public interest</a>” to do so. </p>
<p>The published guidelines on the exercise of this power states Andrews can grant a visa if a person has particular needs that cannot be properly cared for in a secured detention facility. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-new-home-affairs-minister-karen-andrews-bring-a-more-compassionate-approach-158065">Will new Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews bring a more compassionate approach?</a>
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<p>In 2013, we were involved in a case with then immigration minister, Scott Morrison. He intervened to release a woman with intellectual disabilities into the community with her family, stating that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/23/morrison-advised-to-move-intellectually-disabled-asylum-seeker-into-community">this was necessary</a> due to her immediate mental health and welfare needs. </p>
<p>The health and welfare of Tharunicaa — at the very least — provides a clear reason to release the family from detention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Anne Kenny has previously received sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Procter has previously received grant funding and sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs.
This article is part of a series on asylum seeker policy supported by a grant from the Broadley Trust.</span></em></p>Three-year-old Tharunicaa Murugappan’s hospitalisation has once again raised the plight of her family, who have been detained since 2018.Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch UniversityNicholas Procter, Professor and Chair: Mental Health Nursing, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1622612021-06-08T00:48:39Z2021-06-08T00:48:39ZFederal Court awards $350,000 to unlawfully detained asylum seeker, opening door to further claims<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404960/original/file-20210608-28202-1nwq72z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5414%2C3620&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>In a <a href="https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2021/2021fca0600">significant judgment</a>, Federal Court judge Geoffrey Flick on Monday ordered the Australian government to pay A$350,000 in damages to a Iraqi asylum seeker who was found to have been unlawfully held in immigration detention for over two years.</p>
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<p>It’s an important case because it represents a rare litigation win for an asylum seeker. While the asylum seeker doesn’t automatically get the right to stay in Australia, he has won damages — and that is unusual.</p>
<p>This case (and another known as “the AJL20 case”, which we’ll get to later) open the door to the possibility others in the same position might also be able to claim damages. </p>
<p>It leaves open the prospect of compensation claims for asylum seekers who have been in detention, where no effort has been made to remove them. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-australias-india-travel-ban-legal-a-citizenship-law-expert-explains-160178">Is Australia's India travel ban legal? A citizenship law expert explains</a>
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<h2>The facts of the case</h2>
<p>The asylum seeker — a 26-year-old man referred to only by the pseudonym “MZZHL” — arrived in Australia by boat in 2012. He applied for a protection visa, and was rejected. He appealed, twice, and was unsuccessful. Despite this, it’s possible that MZZHL may be a genuine refugee. As Justice Flick noted in his judgment, information that emerged much later suggests that the decision to reject his protection claim may have relied on incorrect assumptions. </p>
<p>While his appeals were underway, and for some time after, MZZHL was allowed, by ministerial discretion, to live in the Australian community on a bridging visa. Eventually this bridging visa expired. </p>
<p>Under Australia’s Migration Act, a non-citizen who does not hold a valid visa is an
“<a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s14.html">unlawful non-citizen</a>”, and must be <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s189.html">detained</a> in immigration detention.</p>
<p>In circumstances like MZZHL’s, where options to apply for a visa have been exhausted, this detention must be for the <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s196.html">purpose of removal from Australia</a>, and the government must seek to remove the non-citizen from Australia “<a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s198.html">as soon as reasonably practicable</a>”.</p>
<p>MZZHL was taken into immigration detention in August 2018, and the Department of Home Affairs made initial efforts to arrange his removal from Australia. In October 2018, he made a request in writing to be removed to Iraq, which the department made attempts to fulfil. </p>
<p>Up to this point, Justice Flick found that MZZHL’s detention was lawful, because it was for the purposes of removal from Australia, and the government was making active efforts to remove him as soon as practicable.</p>
<h2>When did the detention become unlawful?</h2>
<p>In March 2019, MZZHL withdrew his request to be removed to Iraq. He feared if he returned his life would be in danger, because authorities had come searching for him and had burned his family home to the ground. </p>
<p>At this point, the government ceased any efforts to remove him from Australia. It did not explore the possibility of finding a country other than Iraq that might have been willing to accept him. </p>
<p>The government also did not explore the prospect of sending MZZHL to Iraq against his will. </p>
<p>This might seem like a good thing, given that a forced return to Iraq may have exposed MZZHL to harm, contravening Australia’s <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Migration/GlobalCompactMigration/ThePrincipleNon-RefoulementUnderInternationalHumanRightsLaw.pdf">non-refoulement obligations</a> under international law. </p>
<p>However, <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s197c.html">section 197C</a> of the Migration Act says that, for the purposes of removing a non-citizen from Australia, Australia’s non-refoulement obligations are “irrelevant”. Section 197C has been <a href="https://jade.io/j/?a=outline&id=812739">amended in the last fortnight</a>, but, at the time MZZHL’s case was heard, it required the government to actively seek to remove him to the first available place — even if this was somewhere where he might face grave harm.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth accepted that, by failing to take active steps to pursue MZZHL’s removal, it had breached its obligation to remove him from Australia as soon as practicable. Nonetheless, it argued MZZHL’s detention was lawful because it was for the legitimate purpose of removal. </p>
<p>Justice Flick disagreed. He held that </p>
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<p>the pursuit of any “purpose”, let alone a “purpose of removing [MZZHL] from Australia” had been abandoned. </p>
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<p>On this basis, he found MZZHL had been unlawfully detained. </p>
<h2>Alternatives to removal</h2>
<p>As Justice Flick noted, there was another option available to the government.</p>
<p>The immigration minister has a power, under <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s195a.html">section 195A</a> of the Migration Act, to grant a visa to a person in detention, where this is in the public interest. The minister has no <em>duty</em> to consider exercising this power — it is simply an option available to them.</p>
<p>On May 4, the first day that MZZHL’s case was listed for hearing, the minister exercised the power under section 195A to grant him a bridging visa. This is not a long term right to remain in Australia, merely an option to live in the community instead of detention until departure becomes possible. </p>
<p>Justice Flick also noted the Commonwealth could have considered whether MZZHL had additional protection claims that had not been determined, in light of the evidence of attacks on his family home, and other information suggesting that, contrary to earlier assessments, he may have been an Iraqi citizen.</p>
<p>For over two years prior to the hearing, none of these options were pursued, and the government also made no efforts to remove MZZHL from Australia. It simply did nothing.</p>
<h2>Damages</h2>
<p>The Commonwealth argued that even if MZZHL’s detention was unlawful, the only available remedy was a court order demanding that it fulfil its obligation to pursue MZZHL’s removal. </p>
<p>Justice Flick disagreed. He concluded MZZHL had been unlawfully deprived of his liberty, and should have been released from detention “soon after March 2019”. </p>
<p>He awarded MZZHL $350,000 in damages, calculated in a similar manner to that used in false imprisonment cases. </p>
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<h2>What next? The future is uncertain for MZZHL</h2>
<p>Last year, in another Federal Court case, <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCA/2020/1305.html">AJL20 v Commonwealth</a>, Justice Bromberg made similar findings to Justice Flick. </p>
<p>The Commonwealth <a href="https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/case_c16-2020">appealed to the High Court</a>, which is yet to deliver a judgment. It remains to be seen whether the outcome of the AJL20 appeal will affect the MZZHL finding. </p>
<p>If the Commonwealth loses, both Federal Court decisions will stand. </p>
<p>But even if the Commonwealth succeeds in overturning the Federal Court decision in AJL20, the decision in MZZHL may stand, because Justice Flick used slightly different reasoning to Justice Bromberg.</p>
<p>Whatever the outcome in the AJL20 appeal, the future is uncertain for MZZHL. He is currently on a bridging visa, but still has an obligation to leave Australia. </p>
<p>The minister has the option to grant him <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/refugee-and-humanitarian-program/onshore-protection/protection-visa-cancelled">another opportunity to apply for a protection visa</a>. </p>
<p>If this isn’t granted, and his bridging visa expires, he will once again face detention and removal, albeit under a statutory regime that has seen some <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/news/joint-statement-refugee-law-organisations-response-migration-amendment-clarifying-international">recent changes</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-billions-more-allocated-to-immigration-detention-its-another-bleak-year-for-refugees-160783">With billions more allocated to immigration detention, it's another bleak year for refugees</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162261/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is part of a series on asylum seeker policy supported by a grant from the Broadley Trust.</span></em></p>This important case because represents a rare litigation win for an asylum seeker. He doesn’t automatically get the right to stay in Australia, but he’s won damages — and that’s unusual.Sangeetha Pillai, Senior Research Associate, Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law School, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.