Tragedy of refugee Australia sent back
Mary-Anne Toy; 21/6/08
Bill Zhang, a school teacher who became a dissident after being swept up in the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests, killed himself last Saturday night. He threw himself off the sixth or seventh floor of a friend’s housing estate in the southern province of Guangdong because he had lost the will to keep fighting to return to Australia. Mr Zhang (not his real name) lived in Sydney for eight years, driving a bottle recycling truck in Botany, while he kept applying for a protection visa. He was refused six times - the refugee tribunal doubted his story - and ended up in Villawood detention centre before being deported last year.
See: http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/tragedy-of-refugee-australia-sent-back/2008/06/20/1213770924667.html
Refugee reunions come at cost
Brendan Nicholson; 21/6/08
Thousands of refugees are living in poverty in Australia because of a system that obliges them to pay air fares for family members to follow them here. Research conducted in Victoria for the Refugee Council of Australia says many are suffering from malnutrition and living in overcrowded and stressful conditions as they battle to raise the money for air fares. Some are homeless. The council says up to 7000 of the more than 13,000 refugees who come to Australia under the special humanitarian program are sponsored or “proposed” by someone here who pays their air fare and helps them settle.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/national/refugee-reunions-come-at-cost-20080620-2u8z.html
Torture threat ignored as government sends people home, advocates claim
Brendan Nicholson; 21/6/08
People threatened with torture and abuse are being sent back to their home countries after years in Australia’s detention centres because they do not fit the technical definition of a “refugee”. A new report by Oxfam and A Just Australia, Playing God with Sanctuary: A study of Australia’s approach to complementary protection obligations beyond the Refugee Convention, says there is a dangerous gap in Australia’s refugee policy. This gap was identified by Senator Chris Evans soon after he became Immigration Minister when he said he found himself having to “play God” by deciding whether individuals who did not fit the formal definition of a refugee should stay or be sent home.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/national/torture-threat-ignored-as-government-sends-people-home-advocates-claim-20080620-2u92.html
Australia a sanctuary for 13,500
21/6/08; http://www.theage.com.au/national/australia-a-sanctuary-for-13500-20080620-2u93.html
Australia will take 13,500 refugees from Asia, Africa and the Middle East over the coming year. Just under a third of them will come from each region, and 1% of the total refugee intake will be kept for “contingencies”. The refugees are from such countries as Sudan, Liberia and Burundi, Burma and Nepal. An additional 500 places have been set aside specifically for Iraqi refugees. Immigration Minister Chris Evans said that people in crisis numbers were fleeing to neighbouring countries, especially Syria and Jordan. Senator Evans said the priorities were based on the views of the Australian community, non-government organisations and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The refugee system is still badly broken
David Manne; 21/6/08
Our attention in Refugee Week has been sadly and starkly drawn to the awesome powers and profound consequences of decisions by government in the refugee area — and to fundamental fault lines in the system that still need to be fixed. The case of Mr Zhang, who took his own life after the Australian Government refused him a protection visa and deported him, against his will to China, serves as an acute reminder that the stakes in this terrain are often about no less than life, death and liberty. Without presuming the merits of Mr Zhang’s bid for protection, his suicide, after alleged torture by Chinese authorities, underscores how crucial it is to have a system that functions fairly, contains proper checks and is capable of consistently reaching the right decisions. With recent political change after a decade of degeneration in Australia’s record on refugee protection, there have been some notable reforms by the new Government, including the end of the Pacific Solution and temporary protection visas.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/the-refugee-system-is-still-badly-broken-20080620-2u4i.html
Tags: Australia, China, Hidden Costs, Human Rights, Refugees & Migrants, Torture