What Are The Arguments Against Asylum Seekers

Dear Editor,

In recent months, the asylum seeker crisis has intensified, bringing the treatment of asylum seekers, particularly in offshore detention centers forward. While it is fantastic, that Australia has offered to take 12,000 refugees who are fleeing conflict in Iraq, it is a concern that it appears in doing so; many human rights have been overlooked. In August this year, a cache of documents was leaked from Australia’s offshore detention centers documenting details of assaults, sexual assault, trauma, self-harm and inadequate living conditions between 2013 and 2015.

In 1954 Australia chose to commit to the 1951 Refugee Convention. This convention reinstated the dignity and equality of all persons, and therefore Australia became obliged to the acceptance and humane treatment of asylum seekers (Glendenning, 2015). However, over the recent years, asylum seeker policies such as ‘stop the boats’ have instead become a parliamentary campaign, ignoring the focus on humane treatment as well as the human, moral and legal obligations made clear in the Refugee Convention (Glendenning, 2015).

As revealed by the leaked documents, Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers is nothing less than neglect for human dignity, as nothing more clearly violates the dignity of human persons as treatment which degrades or

By improving the conditions in detention centers short term and speeding up the time it takes to screen and settle asylum seekers in Australia as a long term goal, we can work to improve the lives of asylum seekers. As Australians, we must rise above indifference, show compassion and have the courage to open our hearts to Asylum Seekers. We must empathize with their past and welcome them warmly into the community to promote both human dignity and the common good for