English Speech
Australia is a country built on immigrants, in a 2010 study the ABS presented that 26.8 precent of the Australian population are immigrants and it is estimated that by 2050 over a 3rd of the Australian population will be immigrants, so why can’t we accept more refugees. Asylum Seekers are people who flee their homes and countries in the face of persecution or threats to their lives. These people need all the compassion and support that they can get so why aren’t we letting these people seek shelter in Australia? Don’t we as Australians pride ourselves on looking after the needy, disadvantaged and the vulnerable? Some of you may not know this but Australia is one of the many countries that signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. They define a refugee as a person who is
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It is quite bogus to see that some Australians are willing to generalise all of the asylum seekers as terrorists, because many of these asylum seekers are in actuality genuine refugees who come to Australia to seek a better life, and leave their old and unhappy one. Imagine you are in the shoes of one of the asylum seekers. They travelled by boat with their family to get to Australia because they are facing a threat to their lives; would you do the same thing? If you had any common sense the answer would probably be a yes because you want a better life for your family and yourself. How would you feel if people from Australia did not let you into their country and turned their backs on you? You would probably feel horrible because you want to see the people you love smile. This is what every asylum seeker out there is feeling. They want to live in Australia. They want a happy life like the one we have and they want to feel safe and secure in their own homes. Therefore, asylum seekers should be allowed to live in Australia. Also, asylum seekers that live in the Australian community do not receive four times the income from Centre link that aged pensioners do as
I, along with many other people believe that as a human we deserve Human Rights, regardless of who we are of what our background is, where we live, what we look like, what we think or what we believe in. However this is not the case. In Australia we are believed to be a multicultural community and a diverse society. Nevertheless the way Asylum Seeker and Refugees are being treated is
I believe that all people who are fleeing from situations that are impossible to exist within, deserve all of our sympathy and support. Every one of the asylum seekers is a legitimate refugee who is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and risk their lives to make it to Australia, to have a better life. Only together can we help people like Mona live a better fuller life. And personally, once that veneer is broken down I don’t believe that the majority of Australians would support mandatory detention or offshore processing. We need to discuss the real stories, the complex mix of issues around these people and allow the people leaning to the right to see the large number of positive refugee stories that exist in our culturally diverse country. People need to understand that asylum seekers are people too. This is what I believe and I hope this podcast has shown you that offshore processing centres are an embarrassment to this nation and a violation of their human
A Refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country because of the war or the
An extraordinary 65.3 million Refugees have been displaced around the world. In 2015 Australia took 12,000 of them. But where are Australians placing these Refugees? Australia is deporting these Refugees to a third country, either on Manus or Nauru Island. These Islands have reports of inhumane and cruel treatment towards Refugees For those who aren’t fully aware of what Refugees are; they are people whom come to Australia illegally without the appropriate visas. They cannot obtain these visas because of the reasons they are fleeing their country … their Government. None the less it should be the Australian Government they fear. The concepts of refugees are kept hidden away from us by our own Government in reflection of their Governments own self-interest. This tragedy is classified as a modern day witch hunt.
In doing so, we are also blocking out people who have the potential to bring even more cultural diversity into the community. If we honestly believe that we are a generous and multicultural nation, it’s time we show it by empathising with our fellow human beings. In order to improve the conditions in detention centres there must be a change to our unnecessarily harsh system. We need rules to be enforced, such as; a maximum 30 day time limit, and the people that are detained must be let out within this time frame. Within this time, health, character and identity checks must be completed. Shutting down isolating and remote detention centres. Speeding up the processing system. Asylum seekers must be given the opportunity to communicate with the outside world and have full access to legal advice and counselling. This means that telephones, internet and external activities need to be an option. Unaccompanied minors also need to be a priority. It is time that Australia treats our neighbours with all the dignity and respect that they finally
One of Australia’s biggest moral wrongdoings that has been continued to be overlooked is the providing of safety for refugees. Under the article 14, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it states that everyone has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. It is not in anyway, shape or form illegal to seek asylum from maltreatment. Australia is obliged under international law to: offer protection, give support, ensure that any individual is not sent back unwillingly to the country of their origin. A report made by
Phillips, J. (2011), ‘Asylum seekers and refugees: What are the facts?’, Background note, Parliamentry library, Canberra.
Secondly, I would like to clarify some of the widely accepted myths regarding asylum seekers in Australia.
Refugee is someone who fled his/her country because of conflict or for fear of been prosecuted for reason of race, nationality, religion, sexuality, and political opinion (UNHCR, 1 February, 2002). An asylum seeker is someone who fled his/her country of origin and applies for recognition as a refugee in another country, and
Although, asylum seekers and refugees are given a few options if they feel as though their rights are being breached, like they can apply to tribunals and courts to view their visa related decisions, they can also make a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission about their human rights being breached in immigration detention centres, yet they do not have control over who enters the country, the government is not obliged to comply with the recommendations that are made. Although the government has made few attempts to comply with the human rights obligations towards asylum seekers and refugees by introducing new policies and prioritising the safety of the children in these detention camps, there are currently still many breaches towards their rights that the government continues to adapt, therefore they are still constituting a breach of international law.
They have been found to have detrimental psychological effects, as they leave refugees in a state of limbo, fearing their imminent forced return, where they are unable to integrate into society. This emotional distress is often compounded by the fact that refugees on TPVs in Australia are not able to apply for family reunification nor are they able to leave the country. Family reunification is a well-established right in Sweden, as well as most western countries. Moreover, it is a human right protected under the ICCPR whereby refugees have the right to family (Article 23) and the right to freedom from arbitrary interference with family life (Article 17). As a result of living in a state of uncertainty and heartache caused by family separation, refugees on TPVs face a “700 percent increased risk of developing depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in comparison with PPV (permanent protection visa) refugees (Mansouri et al. 2009, pp. 145). Denial of family reunification under TPVs is likely to cause more asylum seekers to engage in illegal means to arrive in
According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugee is a term applied to anyone who is outside his/her own country and cannot return due to the fear of being persecuted on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership of a group or political opinion. Many “refugees” that the media and the general public refer to today are known as internally displaced persons, which are people forced to flee their homes to avoid things such as armed conflict, generalized violations of human rights or natural and non-natural disasters. These two groups are distinctly different but fall ...
Thanks for commenting. I agree with many of you points, however I do not believe that immigrants are taking the jobs of able Americans. Farm work, gardening, and other labor intensive jobs are not be filled by U.S. citizens (possibly having to do with low wages), so why would it be an issue if these immigrants decided to work in these fields? In addition to this, refugees can create their own businesses, so this doesn’t necessarily take jobs away from American workers. Unfortuanely there are many unemployed Americans, however in many cases, it is a matter of multiple applications and having the right skills. If people are not qualified for the job, then obviously it should be given to someone with the proper credentials. If immigrants have these skills then why wouldn’t a company want to hire them, versus someone who is lacking the specific background and or education?
Asylum seeker issue is a complex and continuing struggle between the heart and the head. It will continue to haunt us as long as Australia shines to be an oasis of space, peace and prosperity in a global sea of overcrowding and escalating suffering.
Immigration is an important feature of Australian society. Since 1945, over six million people from 200 countries have come to Australia as new settlers. Migrants have made a major contribution to shaping modern Australia. People born overseas make up almost one quarter of the total population. About its ethics distribution, aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people totaled 410 003 at the last census, nearly 2.2 per cent of the population. Two thirds of the indigenous people live in towns and cities. Many others live in rural and remote areas, and some still have a broadly traditional way of life.(Ning)