20
Nov
Book Review: “Bridging Troubled Waters – Australia and asylum seekers”
“Bridging Troubled Waters – Australia and asylum seekers”, Tony Ward, Australian Scholarly Publishing Ltd, North Melbourne, 2017 Why has refugee policy been so haphazard over the years, and failure so common? Tony Ward utilises his economics and government background to assess Australia’s policies for their effectiveness (achievement of objectives) and efficiency (least-cost provision). His... Read More
10
Nov
South Africa and its current responses to combating human trafficking
Human trafficking is one of the most egregious human rights violations in the current era, bringing high earnings to traffickers through the acquisition and exploitation of human beings by improper means such as coercion, fraud or deception as it is defined in Article 3(a) of the 2000 United Nations (UN) Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish... Read More
2
Nov
‘Boat people’ and borders: changing political debate on asylum seekers
Since the arrival of the first Vietnamese refugees in the mid-1970s, Australia has maintained a curious fascination with ‘boat people’. Just under 70,000 people have sought asylum in Australia in this way since 1976. By comparison, over the ten-year period to 2015, Australia welcomed more than 80,000 recognised refugees, more than one million permanent migrants,... Read More
31
Oct
History suggests refugees on Manus and Nauru can be resettled in Australia without reviving boat arrivals
Last month 54 refugees departed Manus Island for resettlement in the US under an agreement between the Turnbull and Obama administrations. Curiously, the government has not expressed concern that this will increase asylum seeker boat traffic from Indonesia to Australia. For most refugees, the US is as attractive a destination as Australia. So why is... Read More
24
Oct
Negotiating Dehumanising Experiences of Asylum Seeker Policies in the Australian Community
As the number of refugees and asylum-seekers escalates worldwide, industrialised countries continue to apply increasingly restrictive measures to deter those seeking asylum from entering their borders. These include the use of immigration detention, tougher refugee determination procedures, and temporary forms of protection.[1] In Australia, a range of punitive policies and practices that target people... Read More
17
Oct
Australia’s Human Rights Council election comes with a challenge to improve its domestic record
Australia has been elected to a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. It will serve on the council from 2018 to 2020. The announcement overnight formalised an assumed result: Australia and Spain were the only two countries seeking election to the two available seats for the Western Europe and Others group. Most of... Read More
16
Oct
Processing centres in North Africa are not the answer for EU refugees
Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron invited his counterparts from Libya, Niger, Chad, Italy, Germany and Spain to Paris to discuss ways of stopping the flow of irregular migrants and refugees through transit countries. The leaders explored the possibility of establishing processing facilities in North Africa to identify refugees and turn back anyone who does... Read More
13
Oct
Courageous Quests: Keats, art and refugees
The great sensualist Romantic poet John Keats arrived in Rome in late 1820 with his friend, painter Joseph Severn. This was not to be a grand tour of Italy in the typical sense. Fortune did not smile on Keats’s lungs or his bank balance; one year later he was dead. Passionate letters from sweetheart Fanny... Read More
6
Oct
High Court challenge to offshore immigration detention power fails
In August, the High Court rejected a claim that the Australian government can only exercise its powers outside Australia for purposes that would be legal under the law of the relevant foreign country. This means the Australian government had and has the power to establish and maintain its offshore immigration detention facility in Papua New... Read More
13
Sep
Indonesian cities and regencies may be asked to shelter refugees – will they comply?
A presidential decree on refugees released last December finally acknowledges asylum seekers and refugees for what they are – people in need of protection. Prior to this, Indonesia categorised foreigners arriving in Indonesia seeking protection from wars or persecution in their home countries as “irregular” or even “illegal immigrants”, obstructing their search for effective protection.... Read More