The Role Of Refugees In Australia

Australia’s greatest aspects are its embracement of cultural diversity and the embracement of customs and cultural differences. But are we really an accepting country?

Throughout the world, there is an estimate of about 65.3 million refugees that have either been forced out of their homes or chose to willingly escape the violence or corruption they faced in their homeland. Of those millions of people, only a small percentage are given the status of refugee as many nations have strict requirements and only allow a specific amount each year. This leads to an increase in the amount of illegal immigration as many are desperate to risk their lives to for a better one then they had back home. Even as refugees are given asylum, many often face difficulties such as discrimination due to the racial stereotypes that exist as a result of negative depictions in the news and media. Although nations have generally become more open to receiving and providing aid for a significant amount of refugees seeking asylum, people’s ideology of race and the misrepresentation of the media towards immigrants prevent an even larger amount of refugees from being accepted into society.

A refugee is defined as a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war or persecution. Since the communist victory in Vietnam in 1975, Australia has become a desirable location for hundreds of thousands of refugees as a result of the pleasant lifestyle and an abundance of employment opportunities. The experiences of Indochinese refugees in the 1970’s and present day refugees contain both similar and contrasting elements. Refugees no longer flee from countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos instead they arrive to Australia from war-ravaged nations in the Middle East such as Iraq and Syria. Nevertheless, these countries are all victims of war and people continue to seek refuge as a consequence of conflict and fear

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.

The media holds great power when it comes to influencing the attitudes of the nation as it is the primary source if information for many Australians. The many forms of media, such as radio, television, and newspapers can also represent Australian values and the state of our society at the present time.

Australia has a legal obligation towards Asylum Seekers and Refugees as it is a signatory to the UN Human Rights and Refugee Conventions. Furthermore, Australia has a moral obligation based on its membership of the world community.

An asylum seeker is a person who has fled their own country and applied for protection as a refugee. As an asylum seeker their experience is extremely different to that of a Migrant. A Migrant chooses to leave their home country, and can choose where to go and when they might return to their home country, whereas, an asylum seeker or refugee are forced to flee their country for their own safety,

While it is common to hear about ‘migrants and refugees’, it is important to recognise that the two terms refer to very different groups of people. While both groups have effectively moved from one country to another, the circumstances leading up to that move are markedly different for each group.

This report examines that the impacts of immigration detention and violating of human rights with the mental health care of asylum seekers. In the recent years, increased number of illegal immigrants arriving by boat in Australia. This raises key issues concerning about mental health of asylum-seekers, especially for detained immigrants. Research shows that Australia currently own around 13,000 refugees per annum, under the Refugee Convention (1951), Australia has obligation to evaluate refugee claims, but it processes only 2.2% of them made to 44 industrialised countries (p.315).

In the last few years the Australian society are debating whether asylum seekers should be given asylum in Australia. Asylum seekers are people who have fled their home to find refuge in another as a political refugee. Asylum seekers are not committing any crimes when arriving to Australia and they greatly contribute to the Australian society. How it is expensive to support asylum seeker’s welfare and some asylum seekers and some asylum seekers can cause overpopulation in Australia.

Australia, among many places, has legal restrictions and conventions in reference to the captivity and treatment of asylum seekers. These are seen through the ‘1951 Refugee Convention’ and it’s 1967 protocol. Legal guidelines are also seen in significant human rights treaties.

Australia, one of the countries which drafted the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, has been criticized by its asylum seekers policies in recent years. This criticism comes from public medias and NGOs both inside and outside of the countries and exerts pressure for the Australian government and politicians. The discordant opinions toward Australia’s asylum seekers policies caused intense domestic as well as international relationship of Australia, and the medias play as an important inflammatory role during the recent process.

The fact that Australia is denying these people entry in Australia is an abuse on human rights. It states clearly in the declaration of Human Rights, that australia has signed, that “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” these people are not “illegals” as the 71% labels them. Nations for example Canada and New Zealand have no problem taking refugees in less than 2 days. In fact they don’t see any problems with that. So the main question here is why is the australian government keeping these people in offshore processing centres for months and years, wit the people having no idea what the future hold for them. Is there a problem if these people are trying to seek help for their families?

The term "migrant worker" has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations' definition is broad, including any people working outside of their home country. Some of these are called expatriates. Several countries have millions of foreign workers. Some have millions of illegal immigrants, most of them being workers also.