Asylum Seekers Research Paper

The focal issue of this argument is when an Asylum Seeker arrives in Australia without a visa, they are required to stay in detention well beyond the period of time it should take to gather basic information about an asylum claim, health identity or security issues. This can lead to an asylum seeker often being detained for months and sometimes for years. Under the Migration Act (Cth.) 1958 there is no time limit on this detention and only very limited review by the courts is available. The ‘United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty’, rule 11 (b) (UNHCR) considers ‘detention as; confinement within a narrowly bounded or restricted location, where freedom of movement is substantially curtailed, and where the only opportunity

For the vast majority of Australians asylum seekers are an issue of concern, where most people disregard and do not accept the idea. In 2001 sociologist Katherine Betts analysed opinion poll date on the issue of boat arrivals. She analysed the date from the past 25 years and it showed that in the late 1970’s 60% of Australians wanted to let a limited number of asylum seekers to stay and 30% wanted to stop them from staying. In 1993, 45% wanted to send asylum seeker straight back without assessing any claims, where only 7% believed that they have a right to stay and 48% approved the idea of holding asylum seekers in detention. Finally, in 2001 77% of Australia supported the Howard government decision to refuse entry to asylum seekers. Most attitudes

Asylum Seekers People who flee their homes in the face of persecution, or threats to

Almost all children in Australian detention centres either travelled to Australia by boat without a visa or were born in detention. The number of people arriving by boat rose substantially from

In May 2013, the Government made some extension in policy to apply to asylum seekers who arrive by boat anywhere in Australia. Under this system, Asylum seekers who have arrived by boat must be transferred to the third country. Additionally, if these people transferred to third country then their claims of protection will be processed under this country’s law. Reciprocally, if asylum seekers who arrive by boat are allowed by the minister to remain in Australia, then their claims will be processes under Australian law. However, as of June 2013, Australian Government has not yet started processing any claims by asylum seekers, who arrived after 13 August, 2013. This was the step taken by former government maybe under the pressure of its own people who are Australians. As far as Australians are concerned, it is true that Australians are racist and they won’t people of other countries to come and live in their country. Racism can be seen in clubs and pubs where those Australian see other people with angrily and heatedly. Even though, Racism factor is present in Australia; but still it is a beautiful and safe country. Meanwhile, as far as the Australians views are concerned in regarding to asylum seekers who arrive on boats or any other way to

Political unrest and local war happens around the world all the time. Many people live in a dangerous situation and suffered from violence. Hence, large amount of asylum seeker undertakes a huge perilous, try to cross the ocean and arrive Australia. To deal with this issue, Australian government enacted mandatory detention policy and offshore processing policy, these policies become highly contentious in the community with many arguments and criticisms. This report will focus on the nature and purpose of these immigration policies and the impact towards the asylum seeker as well as the criticism form international. To propose some advice about how the future policies should be framed.

During 2012-13 Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian program increased from 13,750 to 20,000 places divided between offshore resettlement and onshore protection. It resulted in 87% rise in the number of offshore resettlement visas granted. The alternatives include indefinite mandatory detention and mandatory detention. Asylum seekers who arrive without prior valid visas usually have to go through mandatory detention. They usually stay in detention for an average of 450 days. Community placement are another alternative. Many asylum seekers from immigration detentions centers are released are placed on bridging visas so they can live in community. Although

The term ‘illegal immigrants’ is a term used by the media to manipulate public opinion and thereby attempt to change or shape government policy. Asylum seekers are not terrorists wishing to corrupt the Australian way of life, but simply victims of western imperial aggression seeking safety in Australian

(Human Rights Law Centre, 2011). It is stated that immigration detention is not used to punish people, but instead it is administrative function whereby those people do not have a valid visa were detained and assessed and if proven to be legal they have a rights to stay and if not they will be immediately removed from the country. The concern is to reconcile what the requirements of the UN and those of the Migration Act.

This report is directly concerned with the Australian Government’s policies under ‘Operation Sovereign Borders,’ its ‘Regional Resettlement Arrangement’ with Papua New Guinea (PNG), and the ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ with the Republic of Nauru, which remove, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) irregular maritime arrivals to countries where their fundamental reason for seeking asylum – persecution on grounds relating to their sexual orientation and/or gender identity – is sufficient cause for further persecution, and even criminal sanction, in the recipient country. This report reveals that by transferring LGBTI asylum seekers to countries which intend to persecute them on the same grounds for which they originally sought asylum, Australia is breaching its international human rights obligations by directly undermining the principle of non-refoulement .

Gordon concludes and summarises his article by demonstrating how the government continues to commit to using mandatory detention and third-country processing to deal with the asylum seeker crisis. His tone during the later stages of the piece is informative, attacking and optimistic about changing how asylum seekers should be dealt with. Gordon offers a solution, that the Australian government can use the failure of the Malaysia deal to change its ideologies and “take a different path”. He asserts that even after ten years of consistent trouble with arriving boats and asylum seekers, the Australian government, both Liberal and Labor are missing the quality that has been ignored over the duration of the entire period, compassion. Their focus of policy is the illegal processing of people smuggling and the means of reaching Australia and Gordon demonstrates

Australia has arguably the most restrictive immigration control in the world and has very tough policies in place for asylum seekers who arrive by boat. Under Australia 's system of mandatory detention, all non-citizens who are in Australia without a valid visa must be detained, including children. In 2012, offshore processing of asylum seekers commenced and detention centres in Nauru and Manus Island (Papua New Guinea) were established. This new system enforced policies that transferred asylum seekers who arrive by boat without a valid visa to a third country. Once the processing of asylum seekers was completed, those found to be genuine refugees will be resettled in Papua New Guinea or Cambodia, not Australia. The Abbott Government stated that no immigrant who arrives in Australia by boat will be grated a visa, no matter the legitimacy of their claim. In April 2016, the Manus Island detention centre was closed after the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea found it to be illegal. Current immigration Peter Dutton has made it clear that asylum seekers on Manus Island are the responsibility of Papua New Guinea and would not come to Australia. As well as the hundreds of immigrants in offshore detention centres, there are hundreds more in community detention in Australia. There are currently over 26,800 visa applications from those who are awaiting the outcome of their refugee application whilst living on a bridging visa in Australia.

This article shows a video interview from psychologist Paul Stevenson, he talks about what really goes on and how Australia can’t see what is really going on at these detention centres. He mentions that the attitude that is expressed from the government perspective is that these people are really in detention centres and not on a holiday camp, meaning that they have to be behind 3 meter scrim fences, that people have to be housed in venal tents on dirt floors in 40 degree heat. It shows a video of a refugees saying “We need your help, 24 hours we didn’t get any food, any water. This video interview was very important in creating my view for my rationale and will be very useful as you can hear the pain in the refugee’s voice. It gives an insight into the way refugees are treated and that Australia needs to change how we treat them. The interview is very opinionated as it is from Paul Stevenson’s view on the detention centres.

The issue of Asylum seekers has been considered as one of the controversial issues in Australia due to the implementation of the Federal governments’ harsh and stringent policy against boat refugees, who flee from their countries because of violence or persecution. It is stated that this hard line approach aims to curb the influx of illegal immigrants thereby making Australian Immigration System credible and strong (Anderson & Iggulden 2016). According to Refugee Convention 1954, Australia, a signatory under United Nation(UN) Refugee Agency, is regarded as one of the generous country in dealing with the protection and rights of refugees and has created a meritorious history of accepting asylum seekers from all over the world (Refugee

International law under the 1951 Refugee Convention, permits the right to seek asylum and allocates a responsibility to provide protection for those who lie under the definition of refugee. Since then policies have been modified and used to suit the interests of the government. In particular, the Border Protection Legislation Amendment Act 1999. Authorised the removal of undocumented ships in Australian territory and proclaimed that anyone aboard the ship can be forcibly returned and denied application of asylum. Other legislation, such as the Migration Legislation Amendment Act 1999 makes it illegal for a person to carry people who are not citizens without valid documentation. These policies allow the government to portray itself as strong on border protection and terrorism. This plays well to its core constituencies but is rightly lambasted by human rights organisations and civil liberty groups. Refugees are undocumented people fleeing from their country of origin, so there isn’t a variety of travel options to escape to safety. The policy disclaiming that ‘everyone who lands by boat doesn’t get to stay’ is ignorant to the concept of why people are forced to leave. It’s not a choice to be removed from your country, it's a matter of survival and safety. The core principle of the Refugee convention is that people are not forced to return to a country where they face the threat of persecution or danger.