Myths, Facts and Solutions 1 resource centre www.asrc.org.au

Asylum seekers and myths facts + solutions 2 Myths, Facts and Solutions

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre 12 Batman Street West Melbourne, Vic. 3003 Telephone +61 3 9326 6066 www.asrc.org.au Design zirka&wolf. www.zirkawolf.com Myths, Facts and Solutions 3

Myths and facts

Myth 1 Asylum seekers are ‘illegal immigrants’...... 4

Myth 2 People who arrive by boat are not ‘genuine refugees’...... 5

Myth 3 Asylum seekers have only themselves to blame for lengthy detention because they lodge endless appeals...... 7

Myth 4 when asylum seekers destroy their documentation they are cheating the system ...... 8

Myth 5 Boat arrivals might be terrorists or pose other security risks...... 9

Myth 6 Boat people are queue jumpers; they take the place of refugees patiently waiting in overseas camps...... 11

Myth 7 Asylum seekers don’t use the proper channels — they come via ‘the back door’...... 13

Myth 8 Asylum seekers are ‘country shoppers’; they could have stopped at safe places along the way...... 15

Myth 9 Asylum seekers are ‘cashed up’ and ‘choose’ to come here...... 16

Myth 10 People smugglers are ‘evil’ and the ‘vilest form of human life’...... 17

Myth 11 is losing control over its borders...... 19

Myth 12 If we are too ‘soft’ there will be a flood of asylum seekers...... 21

Myth 13 offshore processing is the solution to boat arrivals...... 23

Myth 14 onshore asylum seekers only need temporary protection visas...... 24

Myth 15 charity begins at home; we can’t priviledge asylum seekers over ‘our own’ disadvantaged. . . . . 26

Myth 16 refugees will strain our economy and threaten ‘our way of life’...... 28

Solutions

Solution 1 end mandatory detention...... 30

Solution 2 Adopt community processing as the norm...... 31

Solution 3 Equitably share the internationl burden...... 33

Solution 4 Invest in a serious regional protection framework...... 34

Solution 5 Provide alternative legal pathways to seek asylum...... 35

Solution 6 Take serious action to prevent deaths at sea...... 36

Solution 7 Recognise there is no final ‘solution’...... 38

Further reading

References 4 Myths, Facts and Solutions myth 1 Asylum seekers are 'illegal immigrants'

Asylum seekers are not immigrants. Immigrants leave The Government’s policy of detaining unauthorised by choice and are able to return home at any time. asylum seekers is not evidence of criminality: detention Asylum seekers leave because they are forced to for is justified on administrative and not punitive grounds.6 fear of persecution and cannot return due to that In other words, asylum seekers who arrive without a fear. Historically, the majority of asylum seekers arrive visa are detained for identity, security and health checks in Australia by plane holding a valid tourist, work or and to prevent absconding while their legal status is study visa.1 resolved, rather than as a punishment for breaking the law. However, the conditions endured by asylum Yet, even those asylum seekers who enter Australia seekers during long-term detention have been proven without a valid visa by sea or plane are not illegal. to cause a great deal of physical and mental anguish They are permitted to enter without prior authorisation which is tantamount to punishment. This is unjustifiable, because this right is protected by Article 31 of the 1951 especially since it is unnecessary and counterproductive Refugee Convention which recognises they have good and there are viable cheaper arrangements available 2 cause for entering without a visa. Like a speeding (see Solution 2). ambulance, asylum seekers are exempt from the usual application of the law because they are in an There is nothing wrong in doing whatever you can emergency situation. Furthermore, no offence under to secure freedom and there is nothing illegal about Australian law criminalises the act of arriving in Australia seeking asylum. without a valid visa for the purposes of seeking asylum.3 This is true even if asylum seekers travel through a transit country before reaching Australia as UNHCR’s Geneva Expert Roundtable long ago clarified.4

The phrase ‘illegal immigrant’ is therefore highly misleading. Given this, the Australian Press Council, responsible for promoting good standards of media practice, released a set of advisory guidelines for media reporting on asylum seekers which state that,

“great care must be taken to avoid describing people who arrived by boat without a visa in terms that are likely to be inaccurate or unfair... if the terms can reasonably be interpreted as implying criminality or other serious misbehaviour... terms such as ‘illegal immigrants’ or ‘illegals’ may constitute a breach of the Council’s Standards of Practice... The risk of breach can usually be avoided by using a term such as ‘asylum seekers’.”5 Myths, Facts and Solutions 5 myth 2 ‘Boat people’ are not 'genuine refugees'

There is no such thing as a ‘genuine’ or ‘non-genuine’ The refugee status determination process includes refugee. Either you are a refugee with the legal right of not just a primary assessment with DIAC but also protection or you are not a refugee at all. In any case, a secondary review process with a relatively more the allegation that boat arrivals are not genuine in their independent tribunal, followed by the possibility for appeals for protection from persecution is untrue. In any appeal to the Federal Court and also the Minister of one year since the late 1990s, between 70 and 97 per Immigration. As mentioned above, history indicates that cent of asylum seekers arriving by boat have been found at the end of the refugee status determination process, to be refugees and granted protection. The average in including appeals, the vast majority of boat arrivals are recent years is closer to 90 per cent.7 found to be in need of protection.

The most recent immigration data shows that 88 per The most recent statistics from DIAC reinforce this cent of asylum seekers who arrived by boat in the fact. In financial year 2010–2011, 74 per cent of failed 2009–2010 financial year, including those initially rejected protection visa applicants at the primary stage were at the primary stage, are now deemed refugees (see overturned upon independent review. In the last quarter Figure 1). 68 per cent of those arriving in 2010–2011 have of 2011, the overturn rate increased to 79.3 per cent, also been found to be genuinely fleeing persecution. including a 74.2 per cent overturn rate for Iranians (see Half of this later group is still awaiting a review of their Figure 3). These figures do not include further appeals decision and, given the high overturn rate, the final to the Federal Court or the Minister of Immigration percentage is likely to be much higher (see Figure 2). which could result in even higher final overturn rates. High rejection rates at the primary level are not unusual. From time to time, the media quotes high rejection For example, in 2001–2002, the Department’s error rate rates of boat arrivals at the primary stage to give the was 62% when assessing Afghan claims and 87% for impression that asylum seekers are not ‘genuine’. In 2011, Iraqi claims.10 there was much media attention around the fact that 50% of Afghan asylum seekers had been rejected by Given the lack of integrity in the refugee status the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).8 determination process (see Myth 3), the biggest concern In 2012, the focus has shifted to Iranians who have now is not that some asylum seekers might slip through the overtaken Afghans as the largest cohort of maritime system illegitimately but the risk that those who are arrivals.9 There are many reasons why higher than usual genuine in their claims could be denied protection. In rejection rates appear from time to time at the primary the past Australia has deported asylum seekers back stage, largely resulting from the fact that DIAC is not an to dangerous situations where they have subsequently independent body (see myth 3). In any case, the focus on been killed – including children.11 the primary rejection rate is misleading. 6 Myths, Facts and Solutions

Figure 1: Status of boat arrivals who arrived in 2009-10

% of post primary Final caseload Number Primary Primary Primary Final Refusals Overhand granted (post review Citizenship of IMSa Grants refusals Grant Rate Grants outcome) (review) visas 2968 1600 1354 54.2% 2598 220 71 89.9% 835 469 270 62.0% 517 91 22 82.1% Stateless 601 341 256 57.1% 530 52 10 89.5% Iraq 345 176 168 51.2% 287 53 2 83.9% 329 132 182 42.0% 254 33 15 84.1% Other 149 83 58 58.9% 105 24 8 77.8% Total 5227 2801 2296 55% 4291 473 128 87.8%

Figure 2: Status of boat arrivals who arrived in 2010-11

% of post primary Final caseload Number Primary Primary Primary Final Refusals Overhand granted (post review Citizenship of IMSa Grants refusals Grant Rate Grants outcome) (review) visas Afghanistan 1312 738 526 58.4% 995 14 194 82.7% Sri Lanka 245 3 105 2.8% 3 2 88 3.2% Stateless 798 365 368 49.8% 476 56 170 67.8% Iraq 463 217 203 51.7% 268 21 105 68% Iran 1590 649 748 46.4% 772 68 434 60.6% Other 257 95 94 50.3% 104 2 74 57.8% Total 4665 2067 2045 50.3% 2618 163 1065 68.1%

Figure 3: Overturn rate by country of citizenship

Citizenship 2009–10 2010–11 Sep Qtr 2011–12 Dec Qtr 2011–12 Afghanistan 75% 78.7% 87.5% 84.8% Sri Lanka 18.6% 52.2% 81.5% 84.6% Stateless 88.2% 73.2% 77.4% 81.4% Iraq 67.9% 69.7% 63.6% 75.0% Iran 87.5% 77.9% 73.5% 74.2% Total 46.8% 74% 80.3% 79.3%

Source: Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), ‘Asylum Statistics-Australia: Quarterly tables-December Quarter 2011,’ available from, http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/asylum/_files/asylum-stats-december-quarter-2011.pdf. Myths, Facts and Solutions 7 myth 3 ASYLUM SEEKERS HAVE ONLY THEMSELVES TO BLAME FOR LENGTHY DETENTION BECAUSE THEY LODGE ENDLESS APPEALS

Given that a negative decision can literally be a life It is largely because of this flawed refugee status and death matter for an asylum seeker, an independent determination process and the strains it places on the review process is essential for ensuring the correct review mechanisms that there are so many asylum assessment is made. This is all the more important given seekers facing long-term detention. In October 2011, it that the initial assessment of asylum claims is undertaken was revealed by the Department of Immigration’s Chief by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Lawyer, Ms Jenny Hardy, that it took asylum seekers (DIAC) which is susceptible to political interference between 18 months and two years in order to undergo and the ills of the bureaucracy. the entire review process.18 At the end of January 2012, there were 2047 asylum seekers, or 32% of all detainees, A damning senate inquiry in 2005, led by former held in detention for over 12 months.19 As of February Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Palmer, 2012, the longest time an asylum seeker had been held found a culture within DIAC “that ignores criticism and in detention was 831 days.20 is unduly defensive, process motivated and unwilling to question itself.”12 The result of this incompetence Further delays are incurred by ASIO’s security checks. led to no fewer than 201 cases of unlawful arrest and In early 2011, more than 1000 asylum seekers who were detention between July 2000 and April 2005. The most already found to be refugees were stuck in detention for famous case was that of Ms Solon-Alvarez, an Australian up to a year awaiting ASIO clearance.21 This bottleneck citizen who had not only been unlawfully detained but led the government to introduce a ‘fast track’ process also removed from Australia.13 but by the beginning of 2012, 463 people still remained in detention awaiting clearance from ASIO.22 Unfortunately, for asylum seekers, little has changed since that review. On occasion and with little The consequences of these delays can be deadly. justification, DIAC will engage in extraordinarily high On 25 October 2011, Shooty Vikadan committed rejection rates of asylum seekers from certain countries suicide after learning that his request to be placed which are inconsistent with country information. These on day release to celebrate a Hindu festival had been decisions are routinely overturned upon independent rejected by Immigration. He had already been found review. In October 2010, it was revealed that one of to be a refugee but was still awaiting ASIO clearance. the key sources used by DIAC to reject Afghan asylum He had been detained for two years.23 seekers was deeply flawed. Astonishingly, this source stated that ethnic Hazaras from Afghanistan were living There is no justification in blaming asylum seekers in a “golden age,” contrary to the bulk of evidence and for long delays they are forced to endure in detention expert academic advice that pointed to a deteriorating because of a flawed refugee status determination situation in that war-torn country.14 process and the nature of mandatory detention which is arbitrary and without a time limit. Even the ‘independent’ review process is troublesome. There have been numerous instances in which the various review mechanisms for asylum seekers have been found to be bias. In one case in 2009, a Federal Court judge found the Refugee Review Tribunal “twisted facts and ignored evidence” and was “guilty of bias” in its treatment of a gay Bangladeshi couple.15 More recently, in November 2011, the Federal Magistrates Court ruled that a reviewer, who rejected the claims of many Afghan boat arrivals, took a “sausage machine” approach and concluded he likely held a bias against Hazaras fleeing persecution which “infected” his decisions.16 A second magistrate reached the same verdict about this reviewer in February of 2012 but DIAC still failed to take any action against him.17 8 Myths, Facts and Solutions myth 4 WHEN ASYLUM SEEKERS DESTROY THEIR DOCUMENTATION THEY ARE CHEATING THE SYSTEM

It is recognised by both the Refugee Convention and The fact that many asylum seekers who arrive by boat the that asylum seekers are are without documentation does not preclude adequate not to be punished for their ‘illegal’ entry or irregular security checks from being undertaken. Appearing travel because they have good cause (see Myth 1). This is before the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s because asylum seekers will often have to flee quickly Network, David Taylor Irvine, and are unable to obtain the necessary documentation Director-General of ASIO, reported that “we have other before leaving; especially if that requires approaching intelligence means of finding out information about their home government who may be the source of their people... it is not solely dependent on identity.” Irvine persecution. At other times, asylum seekers will destroy goes on to state that despite the lack of documentation their documentation because they fear being sent back for the majority of boat arrivals, “by the end of the home or are forced to do so by people smugglers who process where we are issuing an adverse assessment want to ensure there is no paper trail that might lead we have a very clear idea of who the person is and what authorities to their eventual arrest. that person’s past has been.”25

The point is that the vast majority of asylum seekers In any case, the concerns about undocumented asylum do not arrive without documentation in an attempt to seekers should be seen in its proper context. Consider cheat the system. This is further evidenced by the fact that at any given moment in Australia, there are that not only are the vast majority of boat arrivals found approximately 60 000 tourists and temporary migrants to be refugees – historically between 70–97 per cent who have overstayed their visa.26 Many wilfully avoid – but arriving without documentation only delays the being detected and so remain unlawful while living resolution of their legal status and prolongs their stay in Australia. Asylum seekers, on the other hand, will in detention. If you are an asylum seeker in genuine approach authorities in order to apply for permanent need of protection, the majority of whom are, there protection because they want to regularise their status. is no advantage in arriving undocumented. The tens of thousands of visa overstayers raises no concern in the media and amongst the general public. It is often assumed that boat arrivals to Australia The same measured response should be applied to fears originally held a valid passport and visa in order to fly about asylum seekers whose numbers are far smaller. into . Such asylum seekers, it is argued, must destroy this documentation in order to intentionally deceive Australian authorities. This disregards the fact that many asylum seekers obtain false documentation in order to gain entry into Indonesia by plane and, unable to seek adequate protection there, later escape to Australia by boat.

Furthermore, many asylum seekers first arrive in Malaysia which does not require visas from entrants from other Muslim countries. They then make their way to Indonesia before getting on a boat to Australia. Non-Muslims, such as asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, are forced to bribe Malaysian immigration officials in order to gain entry into the country and – if they can escape detection and incarceration by authorities – will then attempt to make the dangerous journey to Australia by boat via Indonesia.24 Myths, Facts and Solutions 9 myth 5 BOAT ARRIVALS MIGHT BE TERRORISTS OR POSE OTHER SECURITY RISKS

No terrorist has ever gained entry into Australia by boat. ASIO has been found guilty of such practices in the Boat arrivals are subject to the most scrutinised security past. In 2004, ASIO was forced to pay approximately checks of all arrivals. The very act of arriving without $200,000 in compensation to a refugee it falsely documentation alerts authorities to undertake rigorous classified a national security risk, causing him to be security checks. As counter-terrorism expert Dr Michael locked up for two years. At the time, ASIO refused McKinley has previously stated, the chance of terrorists to release any details or say which overseas agency arriving by boat is “infinitesimally small.”27 Far from being provided them with the information used to make afraid, it is safer for us if any potential terrorist intent on their assessment. It was later revealed that the agency gaining access to Australia attempts to do so by boat had relied solely on information provided by the because they’re more likely to get caught or drown same secret police who had persecuted the asylum along the way. seeker in question, and from a country with a dubious human rights record.33 In another case in 2005, two Historically, the number of adverse security assessments asylum seekers were forced to spend five years issued for boat arrivals has been miniscule. During the each in detention after receiving an adverse security peak periods of boat arrivals over the decade from assessment that was later found to be mistaken.34 2000–2009, ASIO conducted 7181 security checks, yet they issued just one adverse assessment.28 Since To make matters worse, while there exists an appeals that time, out of the nearly 7000 security assessments process for Australian citizens, refugees cannot undertaken in 2010 and 2011, 54 refugees, mostly Sri challenge ASIO decisions because the basis for these Lankan Tamils, have been blocked from permanent visas decisions are considered classified. They or their because ASIO has labeled them a security risk.29 lawyers have no idea what adverse information is being relied on and so they have no reasonable means While that represents just 0.8 per cent of all checks of defending themselves or proving otherwise. Yet in the last two years, these adverse assessments have because they cannot be sent home (due to proof of come under severe criticism. The negative assessments persecution) refugees, including children, are being are most likely due to associations with the Tamil Tigers imprisoned indefinitely. (LTTE), a political separatist organisation who fought for an independent state in Sri Lanka. However, as Just before Christmas in 2011, a suicidal teenager, locked terrorism expert Professor Clive Williams has stated, up for a year and repeatedly hospitalised – including many of these associations are likely to be innocuous after trying to hang himself from a double bunk bed and therefore pose no risk to Australia’s security: – was the first minor deemed a security risk by SA IO. It is very likely that the boy, who arrived by boat as an “You know, many Tamils were involved in some way unaccompanied 16 year old, will never be released under or other with the LTTE. Now, it might be different if the current policy.35 In May 2012, a Sri Lankan women someone was involved in a hit squad, for example named Ranjini, along with her children aged 6 and 8, and was responsible for a number of murders or for were separated from their husband and father and injuring people, but if the person had been simply a fellow traveller for the LTTE I can’t really see a taken into detention after receiving an adverse security reason for giving a negative assessment.”30 assessment from ASIO. Ranjini, who is also pregnant, cannot return to Sri Lanka because she has been found The Australian office of the United Nations High to be a refugee and so must remain in detention, with Commissioner for Refugees says it simply does not her children, indefinitely.36 There are over 50 refugees believe the ASIO decisions are warranted, and its own who are in the same situation and face the prospect assessment has found the refugees don’t reach “that of remaining in detention for life. serious level of threshold” that would exclude a person from refugee protection on security grounds under By denying natural justice to refugees, ASIO’s decisions the Refugee Convention.31 Serious questions have are undermining the very freedoms they are sworn to been raised about the integrity of ASIO’s assessments, protect. A recent government inquiry into Australia’s including by a former Australian diplomat to Sri Lanka, immigration detention network made this point with allegations that ASIO has sought back-channel unequivocally clear: advice from Sri Lankan military intelligence to assess “the Committee resolutely rejects the indefinite the claims of asylum seekers who were victims of Sri detention of people without any right of appeal. Lanka’s crimes.32 Such detention, effectively condemning refugees who have not been charged with any crime to detention for the term of their natural life, runs counter to the basic principles of justice underpinning Australian society.”37 10 Myths, Facts and Solutions

David Taylor Irvine, Director-General of ASIO, stated In 2004, the House of Lords in the UK came to a similar before the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s conclusion when it struck down a law which provided Immigration Detention Network in November 2011 that for indefinite detention of refugees who were suspected ASIO would be prepared to work with a review process of being terrorists. In the final decision, Lord Hoffmann should the government introduce it into law. Dr Vivienne declared, Thom, Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security “In my opinion, such a power in any form is not also stated before the Joint Select Committee that he compatible with our constitution. The real threat to believes it is appropriate to re-examine the proposal the life of the nation, in the sense of a people living for introducing legislation to provide a determinative in accordance with its traditional laws and political review process for refugee applicants.40 values, comes not from terrorism but from laws such as these”.38

In January 2012, the UNHCR urged the federal government to introduce some oversight to ASIO’s decisions on refugees. It has provided details on how New Zealand, Canada and Britain allow a court or special advocate to review security assessments and give the subject a summary of the case against them. Richard Towle, the UNHCR’s regional representative, says this is a basic fairness, that can be balanced with national security and the need to protect classified information.39 Myths, Facts and Solutions 11 myth 6 BOAT PEOPLE ARE QUEUE JUMPERS; THEY TAKE THE PLACE OF REFUGEES PATIENTLY WAITING IN OVERSEAS CAMPS

There is no just and orderly queue. Only a tiny fraction To begin with, it is unreasonable to expect asylum of the world’s refugees have access to resettlement seekers to wait patiently in countries of first asylum options. In any case, the number of places allocated given the conditions. Many asylum seekers who in our migration intake to refugees overseas awaiting arrive by boat to Australia do so after escaping from resettlement does not reduce when visas are granted Malaysia and/or Indonesia. Neither of these countries to refugees who arrive in Australia by boat or plane. have signed the Refugee Convention which means The Australian government sets the number of refugees that asylum seekers have no formal legal status in the to be resettled from overseas each year (typically 6000) country – they are actually illegal – unlike in Australia. and this does not change, irrespective of how many Consequently, they are forced to wait with no formal people arrive by boat or plane. rights until they are resettled to a third country. Tragically, the wait is long. Because demand far exceeds Australia also allocates a certain number of places each supply, it takes five years to get on the resettlement year (typically 7500) under its Special Humanitarian list for those who UNHCR have already found to be a Program (SHP) for two further groups of people. refugee.45 At the end of 2009, six refugees had been The first group is for non-immediate family members waiting in Indonesia for eight or nine years.46 (siblings and cousins) of refugees who have been resettled from overseas. The second group is for During this excruciating wait, asylum seekers may people who are overseas and subject to ‘substantial be detained and denied basic human rights such as discrimination’ – a lower threshold than persecution – adequate health care, the right to work and the right but who do not fit the description of a refugee.41 to education. Even worse, asylum seekers face the possibility of persecution equal to that which they For each boat arrival that is granted a visa, one place originally fled. in its report, is deducted from this Special Humanitarian Program Malaysia: Abused and Abandoned: Refugees denied not the refugee resettlement program which remains rights in Malaysia, describes how refugees are “abused, the same. The bottom line is that the hundreds of exploited, arrested... detained in squalid conditions, thousands of refugees overseas who have been referred tortured and otherwise ill-treated, including by by UNHCR and who are waiting for resettlement are not caning.”47 Amnesty reports that 6000 refugees are negatively impacted by the number of boat or plane caned in Malaysia every year and are also at risk of 42 arrivals in Australia. being returned to a country where they may be killed.48 The linking of onshore arrivals with the Special Indonesia is also unsafe for asylum seekers. In early Humanitarian Program is, of course, still problematic 2012, it was revealed that a 28 year old Afghan asylum because it pits the needs of two vulnerable groups seeker was bound, tortured and beaten to death with 49 against each other: special humanitarian entrants versus a blunt object by security guards while in detention. those seeking protection onshore. However, it is not It is also important to understand that resettlement boat or plane arrivals but government policy that is is only an option for a very small percentage of all directly responsible for this unjust outcome. No other refugees in the world. In 2011, 7 million refugees were country in the world links its onshore and offshore found to be in protracted situations where the average 43 program in this way. wait was 20 years.50 In 2012, governments will offer only 51 The policy could easily be changed so that Australia 80 000 places for resettlement. Ultimately, there is no accepts all successful onshore applicants in addition just and orderly queue for asylum seekers to wait in. to the fixed number of special humanitarian places already allocated. This would not result in unsustainable numbers. In 2010–2011 (a peak year for onshore arrivals) Australia granted 2717 visas to boat arrivals and 2101 visas to plane arrivals. That would have constituted an increase of 2.9 per cent to Australia’s permanent migration program over the same period which was, by comparison, 168,685.44

It is also false to assert that boat or plane arrivals ‘jump the queue’. 12 Myths, Facts and Solutions

1 2

3 4 & 5

Would you wait for years in this queue?

1, & 2: Asylum seekers beaten by guards at Surabaya detention centre in Indonesia. 3. Kalidares Qaratina detention centre in West Jakarta, Indonesia. 4. Man being caned in Malaysia. Asylum seekers face up to six strokes of the cane. 5. Poor conditions and overcrowding at a Malaysian detention centre.

Sources: Jessie Taylor, ‘Behind Australian Doors: Examining the Conditions of Detention of Asylum Seekers in Indonesia,’3 November 2009, http://www.law. monash.edu.au/castancentre/news/behind-australian-doors-report.pdf; Gavin Fang, ‘Malaysia asylum crackdown violates rights, says Amnesty,’ ABC News, 11 Feb 2011, http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/201102/3136437.htm; Mat Brown, ‘Asylum seeker beaten to death in detention,’ ABC Lateline, 1 March 2012, http:// www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-01/asylum-seeker-beaten-to-death-in-detention/3863582. Myths, Facts and Solutions 13 myth 7 ASYLUM SEEKERS DON’T USE THE PROPER CHANNELS – THEY COME VIA ‘THE BACK DOOR’

Those who seek asylum onshore in Australia are in In comparison, just 79,784 refugees were accepted by fact applying via the ‘front door.’ By definition, you governments through the resettlement program in 2011, cannot be a refugee unless you are outside of your or what is erroneously called the ‘proper channels’.55 home country.52 That means all asylum seekers must The United States took 51,458 or nearly two-thirds of cross an international border to seek asylum. You the total (64.5%). Canada took a further 12,929 or 16.2% cannot apply for refugee status if you are inside your and Australia took 9,226 or 11.5%. 19 countries took the own country. Applying for asylum after you have remaining 8%. In other words, the ‘front door’ is open entered another country – not lining up in a ‘queue’ to just a fraction of the world’s refugees and is clearly to be resettled elsewhere – is the standard way to not a practical solution. Indeed, the UNHCR stresses seek asylum. It is how the vast majority of the world’s that the global resettlement of registered refugees asylum seekers find protection. is a complement and not a substitute for onshore protection of asylum seekers.56 It is also the only path protected in . Australia is obligated by its commitments to the UN The reality is that irregular people movements are Refugee Convention to provide protection to refugees – as the name suggests – inherently disorderly. Refugees who arrive on its shores or via its airports. It has no must often flee their homes spontaneously or else suffer obligation to resettle refugees waiting in overseas persecution. They have to go somewhere and fast. camps. That is a voluntary program undertaken by Consequently, the vast majority of asylum seekers, some Australia because it recognises that it receives so few 75–95%, cross a neighbouring border and stay there.57 asylum seekers onshore and has a responsibility to Because most asylum seekers originate from countries share more of the international burden. in the developing world, crossing a neighbouring border means entering another developing nation. To understand just how small Australia’s international burden is, consider that in 2011, there were 1.7 million Effectively, this means that those with the least capacity new claims for asylum across the world. Liberia received to assist refugees shoulder the burden of protecting the the highest number with 199,810 new applications. vast majority of them. These developing countries do Kenya received (178,340), Tunisia (154,505), Ethiopia not have the luxury of an orderly migration program (132,003) and (106,904). Together, the top for refugees. They MUST accept the millions of refugees five receiving countries accounted for 46 per cent of all who spontaneously cross their borders without prior asylum claims. Australia received just 15,441 or 0.92 per authorisation or else they place those asylum seekers cent of the global total.53 at risk of imminent persecution or death.

As for the established refugee population, of the 10.4 Given these facts, it would be hypocritical for Australia million refugees under UNHCR’s mandate as of 2011, to unilaterally end its practice of providing protection the largest numbers were being hosted by to onshore arrivals and force them to wait in overseas (1,702,700), Iran (886,468), Syria (755,445), Germany camps while it knows that most other countries cannot. (571,685), Kenya (566,487) and Jordan (451,009). Such a policy would not create equitable outcomes for These six major refugee-hosting countries accounted all refugees but succeed only in transferring the costs for nearly half (47 per cent) of people deemed refugees of reception and processing back to the developing by UNHCR. They were followed by Chad (366,494), world which is where our rejected asylum seekers China (301,018), Ethiopia (288,844), United states will ultimately be made to wait. This would also mean (264,763), Bangladesh (229,669) and Yemen (214,740). forcing asylum seekers to wait for years in intolerable Australia was ranked 47th, hosting just 0.2 per cent of situations where their basic rights are not protected. the global total. Taking into account relative population size, Australia’s rank drops to 71st. Compared to our An “orderly migration program” is a code word for national wealth, Australia ranked 89th in the world, shifting Australia’s responsibilities to developing hosting just 0.6 refugees per 1 USD.54 countries who already shoulder the greatest burden for what is an international problem. Australia needs to accept the reality that as long as there is war, poverty and political unrest there will be refugees looking for protection. Ultimately though, those who arrive spontaneously by boat or plane do not undermine Australia’s orderly migration program as they are still processed by authorities and undergo the same identity, health and security checks as offshore entrants. 14 Myths, Facts and Solutions How Australia Compares (Refugees)

Australia’s World Ranking (2011) By total number of refugees 47th Compared to our population size (per capita) 71st Compared to our national wealth GDP (PPP) per capita 89th

Australia’s Ranking of 44 Industrialised Countries (2011) Compared to Australia’s population size (per capita) 21st Compared to Australia’s national wealth GDP (PPP) 18th

Australia's Share Category Global Total Australia Total and Rank Refugees under UNHCR 10,404,806 23,434 0.23% (47th) mandate Refugees resettled from 79,784 9,226 11.56% (3rd) other countries

How Australia Compares (Asylum Seekers)

Australia’s World Ranking (2011) By total number of asylum claims 23rd Compared to our population size (per capita) 32nd Compared to our national wealth GDP (PPP) per capita 60th

Australia’s Ranking of 44 Industrialised Countries (2011) Compared to our population size (per capita) 15th Compared to our national wealth GDP (PPP) per capita 20th

Australia's Share Category Global Total Australia Total and Rank Asylum applications 1,669,725 15,441 0.92% (23rd) received in 2011 Asylum seekers recognised 1,018,719 5,726 0.56% (24th) as refugees in 2011

Source: Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA), ‘Poorer Nations Show Leadership on Refugee Protection,’ 18 June 2012, http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/n/media/120618-Global-Trends.pdf Myths, Facts and Solutions 15 myth 8 ASYLUM SEEKERS ARE ‘COUNTRY SHOPPERS’; THEY COULD HAVE STOPPED AT SAFE PLACES ALONG THE WAY

Many of the asylum seekers who arrive onshore in After having hosted the largest refugee population Australia are not secondary movers. Consider those in the world (around 6 million) for more than two who originate from our region of the world such as decades and with little assistance from the international China, Sri Lanka, Mynamar (Burma), Timor Leste (East community, Pakistan and Iran grew tired of having Timor) and West Papua. Nonetheless, it is true that many to deal with the ‘problem’ of Afghan refugees largely asylum seekers who arrive from Africa, the Middle East on their own. In the 1990s they stopped recognising and South Asia travel through intermediary countries new refugees, resorted to mass forced returns and before arriving in Australia. However, there is nothing destroyed many refugees’ homes.61 Still hosting millions unjust or deceiving in their attempt to do so. of refugees today, the financial and social strain on these developing economies has resulted in a failure This is because the so called ‘safe places’ along the to provide basic care for vast numbers of people. way to Australia are either not safe, not signatories to The same is true for refugees in many parts of the the Refugee Convention or do not have the capacity developing world. or the will to deal humanely with the large numbers of refugees they receive. As UNHCR’s Geneva Expert Despite the lack of adequate care provided by Iran to its Roundtable long ago clarified, asylum seekers are under refugee population, it continues to spend approximately no obligation to remain in a country that cannot provide USD 2 billion per year on its Afghan refugee population, effective protection.58 mostly for transport, health, fuel and education.62 The equivalent per capita financial burden on Australia Consider that around two-thirds of the world’s 10.5 would be USD 7.5 billion per year. Similarly, both Syria million or so refugees are in protracted situations where and Jordan have spent USD 1 billion per year each on their basic rights and essential economic, social and their mainly Iraqi refugee populations since the invasion psychological needs remain unfulfilled after years in of Iraq in 2003.63 The equivalent per capita burden on 59 exile. The average stay in such conditions is 20 years. Australia would be USD 8.8 billion and USD 7.6 billion per Many refugees in these countries still face protection year respectively.64 These are massive costs for countries issues that equal those they originally fled. Sexual that have severe developmental problems of their own. and physical violence is common. The majority of asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat have UNHCR notes that since the 1990s it has experienced come through Indonesia and Malaysia where they budget shortfalls as donor countries have become have no legal status and are at risk of being arrested, less willing to share the refugee burden assumed by exploited, tortured or returned to a country where they host countries in the developing world.65 In 2011, UN may be killed (see Myth 6). Under such conditions, it is High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, only natural that asylum seekers will attempt to look reiterated this fundamental problem: elsewhere for adequate protection. “The world is failing these people, leaving them Secondary movements arise primarily because the to wait out the instability back home and put their disproportionate burden of protecting refugees falls lives on hold indefinitely. Developing countries on countries least able to assume them. Take the cannot continue to bear this burden alone and the developing nations of Pakistan and Iran. Both these industrialised world must address this imbalance.”66 nations generously opened their borders to millions Until that time when Australia (and the rest of the of Afghan refugees after the Soviet invasion of international community) pull their weight to lift the Afghanistan in 1979. The Iranian government offered burden from the countries of first asylum, we have refugees access to free education, health services, no moral grounds for refusing to accept the trickle employment and subsidies on basic amenities with of refugees who escape such conditions and present almost no international support.60 themselves to us for help. 16 Myths, Facts and Solutions myth 9 ASYLUM SEEKERS ARE ‘CASHED UP’ AND ‘CHOOSE’ TO COME HERE

Economic status does not preclude you from needing Furthermore, many of the countries in our region are to seek asylum. In other words, you can be wealthy and not signatories to the Refugee Convention, including still be tortured or otherwise persecuted. In fact, in some Indonesia and Malaysia, where most boat arrivals countries it might be more likely for authorities to target to Australia come from. Even those countries that the well educated (and therefore more wealthy) because are signatories do not necessarily provide effective they’re often the greatest threat to an authoritarian protection. For example, China has not implemented the regime. In any case, an expensive boat or plane trip does Refugee Convention into its national law and Cambodia not necessarily indicate that those who take such a path was recently implicated in the forcible deportation are affluent. of asylum seekers to China (a gross contravention of international refugee law).68 While the cost of a journey may appear to suggest that those paying are ‘cashed up’, the opposite is often More importantly, Australia and New Zealand are by far true. Many asylum seekers will sell their life savings and the only countries in the region with the resources to turn to family and friends for help in raising the money provide effective protection see( Figure 4 ). Would it be necessary for escape. Many are unable to afford to fair if asylum seekers were to ‘choose’ to go to Timor- bring their families with them. Subsequently, a single Leste (East Timor) or Papua New Guinea who face member of the family (usually the male) must make severe developmental problems of their own? the decision to leave his wife and children behind in often dangerous circumstances in the hope of finding Ultimately, it is hypocritical to persist in stigmatising protection. That people are prepared to pay so much those refugees who flee to come to Australia and other for a journey known to be extremely unsafe provides developed countries simply because they have the additional evidence of the level of desperation driving means and choose to take the risk. As Professor James people from their home countries. Hathaway points out,

As for asylum seekers ‘choosing’ Australia, it is “Because we know that there is, in fact, no ‘protection’ important to remember that, in the first instance, worthy of the name being provided in most of the less developed world today, it is dishonest to stigmatise asylum seekers are running from and not to. No as ‘less needy’ those refugees who either have the one chooses to be an asylum seeker. Contrary to resources, or who mortgage their future to smugglers, popular opinion, asylum seekers don’t want to come to seek protection in a place where they believe they to Australia, or go anywhere else for that matter. will be treated fairly, where their children can learn, According to UNHCR, “the great majority of today’s and where they are free to think and speak as they refugees would themselves prefer to return home wish. Which one of us, confronted with the need to 67 once the situation stabilises.” flee, would not make the same choice?”69

Figure 4: 2011 Human Development Index of signatories to Refugee Convention (Asia-Pacific)

GNI per Country HDI (of 187) capita (PPP) Australia 2 $34,431

New Zealand 5 $23,737

China 101 $7,476

The Philippines 112 $3,478

Timor–Leste 147 $3,005

Laos 138 $2,242

Cambodia 139 $1,848

Papua New Guinea 153 $2,227

Source: United Nations Development Program (UNDP), ‘Human Development Reports (2011),’ http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/ Myths, Facts and Solutions 17

MYTH 10 PEOPLE SMUGGLERS ARE ‘EVIL’ AND THE ‘VILEST FORM OF HUMAN LIFE’

The harsh policies and demonising of people smugglers In her doctoral thesis, Boats to Burn, Dr Natasha Stacey is both misleading and unjust. Many people smugglers points out that Australia has long denied Indonesian are in fact motivated for altruistic reasons. While callous fisherman their traditional right to access areas they had and exploitative people smugglers do exist and deserve previously fished for centuries, depriving them of their to be brought to justice for their crimes, Australia’s livelihoods and forcing them into illegal activities. The ‘border security’ policies largely capture innocent and Australian government insists on confiscating and then impoverished Indonesian fisherman who are often under- burning these poor fisherman’s boats, trapping them age. In reality, it is Australia’s draconian ‘border security’ further in the poverty cycle. Some of these deprived policies that contribute to the creation of a people fisherman turn to people smuggling in order to survive. smuggler’s market and the very evils they are supposed to be preventing. In 2009, an Indonesian fisherman by the name of Muslimin was charged and had his boat destroyed by History is full of revered people smugglers who took Australian authorities for illegally fishing in Australian great personal risks in order to save the lives of others. waters. The High Court found he had in fact been Such notables include individuals like Oskar Schindler wrongfully convicted and sent him back to Indonesia and Dietrich Bonhoeffer who together saved countless without charge. With his fishing boat destroyed, he Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust. Australia too was deprived of his only means to feed his family and has produced praiseworthy people smugglers. Former send his kids to school. In such dire circumstances, he Australian diplomat, Bruce Haigh, smuggled numerous was driven to accept a deal from a people smuggler victims out of Apartheid South Africa in the 1970s. to crew a boat of asylum seekers to Australia. Muslimin’s Under current Australian law, they would all have been wife agreed that it was worth the five-year jail term jailed for similar actions today. While many people risk: “How can you live happily with your husband if smuggling organisers operating out of Indonesia in you can't eat? If we live long enough, we will be able recent times have been ruthless, this is not true of all of to meet again.” them. Iraqi refugee, Ali Al Jenabi, described as the ‘Oskar Schindler or Asia’, was driven largely by humanitarian Ako Lani was 15 years old when captured by Australian concerns when he smuggled over 500 asylum seekers authorities on charges of people smuggling in 2010. on seven boats to Australia in the early 2000s. Ako, along with his cousin, Ose Lani, and their 16 year-old friend, John Ndollu, were tricked by people The vast majority of people who are prosecuted on smuggling organisers into being cooks on an asylum people smuggling charges in Australia are not the seeker boat bound for Australia (see Figure 5). Ako lived ‘vilest form of human life’ who should ‘rot in hell’, as on a wage of just $25 per month. Both of Ose’s parents former Prime Minister Rudd famously said. Nor are died when he was very young while his older brother they profiteering millionaires as Shadow Minister for had recently died leaving him in a desperate situation. Immigration Scott Morrison implied. As the Australian They all came from a village where there is no electricity Federal Police have conceded, of the 493 individuals and people often have just one meal a day. arrested in Australia on people-smuggling charges during 2009, 2010 and 2011, 483 were simply working The boys were offered the equivalent of two years as crew on boats leaving from Indonesian ports. Only wages for the job but they had no idea they were ten individuals were organisers. smuggling asylum seekers or that they were even headed for Australia. After just 24 hours, they were Almost all of these crew members are poor Indonesian captured by the Australian navy and eventually sent fishermen – including many children – who have been to an adult prison in Brisbane. They cried every night. misled by people smuggling ringleaders into doing no Children thought to be as young as 13 years have been more than cooking rice on a boat without truly knowing arrested, sentenced and imprisoned in maximum- what they were doing. A number of these children have security adult jails in Australia for similar ‘people been imprisoned by the Australian government on smuggling’ activities. people smuggling charges for up to three years. These mandatory sentencing laws imposed by legislation The ringleaders and profiteers of people smuggling have come under severe criticism, including from ten operations must certainly be brought to justice for Australian judges as well as legal and human rights their crimes. However, the vast majority of those who bodies, who argue they target the wrong people and bear the brunt of Australia’s ‘border security’ policies impose incredible hardship on those imprisoned and are not these criminals. They are innocent victims of their families. their own destitution and draconian Australian ‘border protection’ laws. 18 Myths, Facts and Solutions

Figure 5: People smuggler millionaires? The ‘vilest form of human life?’

1. Ako and Ose Lani’s family. The photo was taken while the young boys were both in jail in Australia. 2. Mother of John Ndollu. She is carrying rice through the village to her home. 3. The home of Ako Lani on Rote Island in Indonesia.

Source: Hagar Cohen and Rebecca Henschke, ‘Causalities in the war on people smuggling,’ Radio National Background Briefing, 30 October 2011, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/casualties-in-the-war-on-people-smuggling/3601454#transcript. Myths, Facts and Solutions 19

MYTH 11 AUSTRALIA IS LOSING CONTROL OVER ITS BORDERS

No country in the world has greater control over its Taking all these facts into consideration, out of almost borders than Australia. While most countries share all of the nations on earth, Australia has the least to at least one border with another country and usually fear about losing control over its borders.and a durable many more, Australia is an island continent with vast solution remains. amounts of surrounding sea. These natural barriers make it difficult for irregular migration to occur. In the United A real solution to all of these problems would involve States, it is estimated that there are approximately 11.2 an increase in Australia’s resettlement intake from million illegal migrants living inside the country. In the Indonesia. This would not only provide a durable European Union, the number is somewhere between solution for refugees seeking protection but also 3 to 6 million. The UK alone has between 310,000 and remove the backlog of asylum seekers waiting in 570,000 illegal migrants. The numbers are even greater inhumane conditions which drive them to attempt the in parts of the developing world.81 perilous journey to Australia. While there were 2567 asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia at the end In comparison, Australia has only around 60,000 people of 2009,39 Australia resettled only 33 in 2005, 30 in unlawfully in the country at any one time, mostly tourists 2006, 86 in 2007, 35 in 2008 and 29 in 2009.40 and temporary migrants who have overstayed their visas. As for asylum seekers, there were 4565 unauthorised Clearly, we could do more. boat arrivals in 2011. Clearly, Australia is not losing control This fact was implicitly recognised by the government of its borders. in 2010 when it secretly decided to increase Australia’s Boat arrivals in Australia are also small compared to yearly resettlement intake from Indonesia to 500. This the number of irregular maritime arrivals internationally. was welcome news. Unfortunately, two weeks before Consider that 103,000 refugees, asylum seekers and the end of the year deadline, fewer than 100 had come 41 migrants arrived by boat in Yemen from the Horn of to Australia. At the very same time, at least 30 asylum Africa in 2011.82 The year before saw 53,000 people seekers escaping from Indonesia perished on a sunken 42 make the same journey across the Gulf of Aden and boat off . There could not be greater 78,000 people again took to the seas in 2009. In 2011, urgency for the government to fulfil and expand upon over 58,000 boats arrived in Europe from North Africa, its promise. with 56,000 landing in Italy alone. Tragically, more than 1500 people drowned or went missing while attempting the journey.83

Even when removing Australia from the international context, the number of boat arrivals is relatively small. While 4565 asylum seekers arrived in Australia by boat in 2011, at the same time, 168,685 people permanently migrated to Australia.84 That is, boat arrivals constituted less than 3 per cent of the total permanent intake into Australia in 2011 (See Figure 6). At that rate it would take 21.9 years to fill the MCG.

Finally, asylum seekers who do arrive unauthorised by boat do not attempt to avoid authorities in order to live unlawfully in the country as the majority of the 60,000 visa over-stayers do. They want to regularise their status and are processed upon arrival where identity, security and health checks are performed. Australian authorities always remain in total control. SOLUTIONS

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0 1991–92 1997–98 1994–95 1990–91 1996–97 1992–93 1993–94 1995–96 1998–99 1989–90 1988–00 2001–02 2009–10 2007–08 2004–05 2000–01 2002–03 2006–07 2003–04 2005–06 2008–09

Figure 6

Total Migration Humanitarian Program Boat Arrivals Myths, Facts and Solutions 21 myth 12 IF WE ARE TOO ‘SOFT’ THERE WILL BE A FLOOD OF ASYLUM SEEKERS

Refugees flee their homes because they are unsafe. The reason for the reduction of boat arrivals after This is often due to war, poverty and political unrest 2002 is explained by the unique set of events that which are sometimes referred to as ‘push factors’. They transpired around that time including the sinking of are the driving forces behind refugee movements. To the the SIEV X with the deaths of 353 asylum seekers degree that ‘pull factors’ have an impact, it is geography and the overthrow of the Taliban which resulted in the and family links, not the specific domestic policy of any repatriation of over 2 million refugees to Afghanistan. one nation, that determine the final destination of asylum Together these events, along with the forced return seekers. The evidence for this is overwhelming. of boats (which is no longer feasible and was never desirable) resulted in only a very small number of UNHCR’s most recent study of detention found that there people arriving by boat after 2002. is no evidence that the threat of being placed in detention discourages persons from seeking asylum.85 These Even if a more humane and compassionate approach findings are corroborated by a joint research project to asylum seekers were to cause an increase in asylum conducted by the International Detention Coalition and seekers to Australia, there is no reason to suggest the La Trobe Refugee Research Centre.86 As reported in the numbers would become large or unsustainable. this study, existing evidence and government statements Consider that there are 10.5 million refugees in the from around the world suggest a policy of detention is world. Despite this, over the last 20 years, no matter not effective in deterring asylum seekers, refugees and which party was in power or what border protection irregular migrants. Instead, this report and numerous policy was in place, Australia has consistently received others demonstrate that: a relatively small number of asylum seekers in any one year. Why then, haven’t we experienced millions or even • The principal aim of asylum seekers and refugees tens of thousands asylum seekers racing to get here? is to reach a place of safety. • Asylum seekers have a very limited understanding The most significant reason why Australia receives so of the migration policies of destination countries few asylum seekers onshore is because Australia is before arrival. relatively isolated. There is only one country in the world – Pakistan – which hosts more than one million refugees. • Asylum seekers are often reliant on people smugglers The high number of refugees there is largely the result to choose their destination. of prolonged conflict in Afghanistan. Worldwide, the • Those asylum seekers who are aware of detention most common way that refugees travel to a country of believe it is an unavoidable part of the journey. asylum is overland, not on planes or boats. Overland arrivals are impossible in Australia because, being an The factors that most impact on the choice of island, it has no land borders with any other country. destination are: Furthermore, there are many countries between • The prospect of being reunited with family or friends. Australia and most of the world’s largest refugee • Safety, tolerance and democracy. producing regions. This complicates the process • Historical links with their country of origin. of those needing to get here. Asylum seekers must • Familiarity with the language. navigate their way through countries that have not signed the Refugee Convention by living in the shadows No matter what action the government takes, including in order to avoid detection by authorities. Many get ending mandatory detention, it will not have a significant caught, are incarcerated and are forced to endure impact on asylum seeker flows. Even the Department inhumane conditions. of Immigration recognises this. As Andrew Metcalfe, Secretary of the Department of Immigration, has This reality is acknowledged by the Australian unequivocally stated: government. As Garry Fleming, First Assistant Secretary for Border Security in the Department “Detaining people for years has not deterred anyone of Immigration and Citizenship stated before the from coming... Will moving away from detaining Senate Estimates Committee, people for very long periods of time serve as an attraction for more people to come? My view is no... “The overwhelming majority of forcibly displaced The views I have expressed are not simply my views. persons do not actually seek asylum in an They are the views of people like me who have over industrialised country, and Australia’s number is 30 years experience in the portfolio.”87 small for a number of reasons, including our physical distance and the difficulty in getting to us”.88 There is also the persistent myth that the ’s combination of Temporary Protection So while there might be more refugees seeking Visas (TPVs) and the introduction of the Australia as their final destination if Australia were together stopped the boats. This is clearly not the case to adopt a more compassionate and humane policy as boat arrivals increased after the introduction of TPVs towards asylum seekers, there’s no reason to suggest in 1999 and continued to arrive after the establishment we will be ‘flooded’ or that it wouldn’t be manageable. of the detention centre on Nauru in September 2001 (see Myth 13 and Myth 14). 22 Myths, Facts and Solutions

Out of control?

> Much of the media grossly exaggerates the danger from what is a relatively small number of boats. Myths, Facts and Solutions 23 myth 13 OFFSHORE PROCESSING IS THE SOLUTION TO BOAT ARRIVALS

Like other detention centres, asylum seekers sent to 2007. 483 returned ‘voluntarily’ while the remaining 1153 offshore locations such as Nauru and Manus Island people were resettled to third countries, including 1106 suffered from a history of suicide attempts and self- people, or 96 per cent of those resettled, to Australia harm. By locating these centres far from the Australian and New Zealand.96 mainland, however, the government was able to hinder public scrutiny of the dire living conditions and protests As Andrew Metcalfe, Secretary of the Department of from the asylum seekers detained there. The Human Immigration confirms, Nauru was ineffective in deterring Rights Commission was denied access to investigate asylum seekers from leaving Indonesia for Australia. the conditions of children in Nauru while it took over This, he says, is “not just a view of my department; it three years for the first journalist, Michael Gordon, to be is the collective view of agencies involved in providing granted unrestricted access to the detention compounds. advice in this area.” Metcalfe goes on to cite why the What he found when he got there was asylum seekers, evidence of this is clear: including children, full of despair, highly medicated and “We all know what happened with the people who 89 suffering from severe mental health conditions. were taken to Nauru [the majority were eventually resettled in Australia or New Zealand]. We know Under the harsh conditions on Nauru, the Australian that Nauru filled up very quickly.W e know that the Government was able to secure the ‘voluntary’ return of government needed to establish new facilities at many asylum seekers by a “mixture of inducements and Manus because people kept coming. In fact, 1,700 threats” even though it was not safe to return. In 2004 people came after the Tampa arrived.”97 and 2006, the Edmund Rice Centre tracked a number of returned asylum seekers from Nauru and found that The Labor party’s ‘Malaysia solution’ is equally as many were living in perilous conditions and several had inhumane as the Liberal party’s pacific solution. Malaysia been killed, including children.90 The ERC returned in is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention and there is 2012 to find another three had been killed while the vast no guarantee that asylum seekers processed there would majority of the rest were living in “extreme danger”.91 be safe. Amnesty International reports that refugees A decade after the arrival of the Tampa, The Age spent and asylum seekers in Malaysia are abused, exploited, six months tracking those who were sent back to arrested and locked up – in effect, treated like criminals.98 Afghanistan from Nauru and found that many, 6000 asylum seekers and refugees are caned annually in Malaysia and once in detention commonly face “have simply disappeared: walked to work one day overcrowding, malnutrition, and disease.99 and never come back. Others have fled again, to Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, on to Europe or back to Australia. It is for these reasons that the High Court of Australia Some – it has been reported as many as 20 – have struck down the government’s proposal and confirmed been killed by the Taliban in their homes and villages. that deporting asylum seekers to Malaysia, or even 92 Others have died trying to escape again.” Nauru or Manus Island, would breach our obligations Apart from the severe health consequences, the cost under both the international Refugee Convention and 100 of offshore processing is excessive. The last remaining our own Migration Act. The fact that Nauru has asylum seeker on Manus Island was Aladdin Maysara signed the Refugee Convention does not mean they Salem Sisalem who spent more than 18 months in are an appropriate place to process asylum seekers. detention (the last 10 months alone) before he was The High Court was clear that if a country signs the eventually resettled to Australia. In the first six months Convention but is unable or unwilling to live up to it of Mr Sisalem’s solitary detention, the Australian then that’s not acceptable. government spent more than 1.3 million accommodating Both the Labor and Liberal parties want to change and feeding him, or $216,666 a month. The overall costs Australia’s Migration Act to get around the High Court 93 of his detention came to $4 million. An infrastructure ruling but even if they succeed, they will still be in report released by the Department of Immigration clear breach of Australia’s international human rights found that in would cost nearly $2 billion over four obligations. Practically, financially, legally and, most years to resume the processing of asylum seekers in important of all, ethically, offshore processing is not 94 Nauru. Meanwhile, the Christmas Island detention an acceptable solution. centre is costing the government almost 1 billion dollars over five years to 2013–2014.95

The whole purpose the Howard government’s Pacific Solution was to deter boat arrivals in the aftermath of the arrival of the Norwegian freighter the MV Tampa which was carrying 438 rescued asylum seekers. The majority of those who were sent to Manus Island or Nauru, however, were found to be refugees and resettled to Australia. There were 1637 asylum seekers sent to Nauru and Manus Island between 2001 and 24 Myths, Facts and Solutions myth 14 ONSHORE ASYLUM SEEKERS ONLY NEED TEMPORARY PROTECTION VISAS

UNHCR’s governing body stresses that temporary “Can you imagine what temporary entry would protection should be used only in exceptional mean for them? It would mean that people would circumstances where a sudden and large influx of never know whether they were able to remain refugees means that it is not immediately practicable to here. There would be uncertainty, particularly in grant permanent protection. Australia’s previous use of terms of the attention given to learning English, temporary protection visas (TPVs) had no international and in addressing the torture and trauma so they precedent and was condemned by numerous human are healed from some of the tremendous physical rights organisations such as Amnesty International and and psychological wounds they have suffered. So, Human Rights Watch.101 I regard One Nation’s approach as being highly unconscionable in a way that most thinking people There are a number of reasons why TPVs are not suitable would clearly reject”.105 as a standard procedure for asylum seekers. The first In October 1999, one year after these prescient critical is that vast numbers of asylum seekers, including the observations, Ruddock under the Howard government majority that arrive in Australia by boat, come from proceeded to introduce the temporary protection visa countries where there are protracted situations of regime. conflict or political upheaval and therefore long periods of time pass before it is safe to return. For example, the Even worse than One Nation’s proposal, refugees on Hazara population has been persecuted in Afghanistan TPVs under the Howard government’s regime were also for so long that many refugees have spent decades in denied family reunion rights. The prospect of not being neighbouring Pakistan and Iran. able to see their spouse or children without forfeiting the right to protection consumed refugees with guilt and This fact was demonstrated during Australia’s TPV worry about their families. Furthermore, rather than deter program under the Howard government when 90% arrivals, it was because TPVs denied the right of family of those who were initially given a TPV were eventually reunion that pushed the wives and children of asylum granted a permanent visa as it was still not safe to seekers onto boats in an attempt to be reunited with go home many years after they had arrived.102 The their families. While less than a thousand ‘unauthorised Secretary of the Department of Immigration puts the arrivals’ applied for humanitarian protection in 1999 when number at 8,000 or so who were eventually allowed TPVs were introduced, the number rose to more than to stay in Australia permanently.103 Temporary visas 4,000 in 2001.106 are just not practical for refugees who come from protracted situations. This fact was tragically realised in the SIEVX disaster of October 2001 when 353 asylum seekers drowned Secondly, the disastrous mental health effects suffered on their way to Australia. Most of the 288 women and by refugees on TPVs have been well documented children aboard the SIEV X were family members of by medical experts in various studies.104 Research by TPV holders already in Australia. They risked and lost the University of NSW found that refugees on TPVs their lives on the perilous journey because there was were highly traumatised, at risk of ongoing mental no other way for their families to be reunited. As Ghazi illness and had a 700 per cent increase in the risk Al-Ghazi, a former TPV holder describes: for developing depression and post-traumatic stress disorder compared to refugees with permanent “If they allowed us to bring our families this would protection. Refugees on TPVs experienced many of the not have happened... I had no other choice, that was same mental health effects as those in detention such my last option after it became obvious that I had as self-harm and suicidal ideation. This was caused lost hope of seeing my children because of the cruel by their prolonged situation of limbo which created condition of TPV. There was no other way but the an overwhelming sense of insecurity, uncertainty and sea to bring my wife and four children”.107 exclusion from society. Al-Ghazi lost 14 members of his family who drowned in Temporary protection was a concept first proposed by the destroyed ship. He lost his wife and his four children Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party in 1998. The then (ages 10 years, 8 years, 7 years, and 4 years) along with Minister for Immigration, Phillip Ruddock, responded to his wife’s sister and her children, and her brother and the proposal with fierce criticism, accurately predicting his children. Because of restrictions on his TPV, Al-Ghazi the mental anguish and experience of social exclusion was forbidden to go to Indonesia to bury his dead that eventually came to pass: family members else he risk never being allowed to return to Australia. Myths, Facts and Solutions 25

Temporary Protection Visas leave vulnerable refugees in limbo

> “[Temporary Protection Visas are] highly unconscionable in a way that most thinking people would clearly reject.” – Former Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock

Image Source: Flickr Creative Commons 26 Myths, Facts and Solutions

MYTH 15 CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME; WE CAN’T PRIVILEDGE ASYLUM SEEKERS OVER ‘OUR OWN’ DISADVANTAGED

Australia has an overwhelming capacity to deal both bridging visa as described above. Asylum seekers in with the disadvantaged at home and those who arrive detention who are deemed ‘most vulnerable’, such seeking protection from overseas. The two problems as unaccompanied minors and children with families, have no correlation. There is no reason to expect that can be placed into community detention at the if the numbers of asylum seekers were to reduce so government’s discretion. A decision to expand this would the number of homeless and disadvantaged in program was made in 2010 as the number of children Australia. Yet even if resources were stretched, a humane detained – over 1000 – reached record breaking levels. refugee policy is more cost effective than mandatory In particular, grave concerns were expressed for the detention and offshore processing see( Solution 2). So the health of children who were being subject to prolonged best way to conserve resources to deal with Australia’s and indefinite detention. disadvantaged groups is to adopt a more humane approach to asylum seekers. Asylum seekers in community detention are provided with accommodation as well an allowance of $171 It is often assumed (largely due to inaccuracies in the per week because they are not allowed to work and media) that asylum seekers receive greater benefits therefore unable to support themselves. The allowance than ordinary Australians in need of assistance. Nothing is used to cover all day-to-day expenses such as could be further from the truth. Asylum seekers and food, transport costs, utility bills, school books etc. refugees in detention receive no monetary payments The standard of accommodation is basic, not luxury. from the government. Those living in the community According to Kate Pope, First Assistant Secretary of have no access to Centrelink benefits. DIAC, it is equivalent to what a “poor university student” might live in. These asylum seekers are transitioned Asylum seekers living in the community who are into the community and onto a bridging visa when the vulnerable and assessed as 'unfit to work' are eligible government assesses that it is beneficial to do so or to receive a payment of $217 p/w through either after they are found to be refugees. the Asylum Seeker Assistance Scheme (ASAS) or the Community Assistance Scheme (CAS) which Once asylum seekers are granted refugee status, they is distributed by the Red Cross and funded by the are entitled to the same rights and incur the same Department of Immigration. This is equal to 89% of responsibilities as other Australians. No more, no less. the Newstart allowance. Those on CAS are also eligible While there have been a number of concerns raised for an additional $53 p/w rental assistance. As of June within parts of the Australian community that more 2012, only 29 per cent of clients at the Asylum Seeker assistance is provided to refugee entrants than to other Resource Centre were eligible for either ASAS or CAS. Australians such as pensioners or the homeless, as the The remainder receive no financial assistance from Department of Immigration clearly states on its website, the government whatsoever. In comparison, a single “there is no truth to these claims.” unemployed or low income Australian is eligible to receive $305 p/w ($245 + $60 rent assistance). The Moreover, it is those who work tirelessly to face the aged pension for a single Australian adult is $438 p/w horrors of poverty everyday that hold some of the including rent assistance and the pension supplement. most compassionate views on the plight of asylum This places asylum seekers who are eligible for income seekers. Organisations like the Salvation Army, St assistance well below the poverty line (see Figure 7). Vincent de Paul Society, Anglicare, Brotherhood of St Laurence and numerous others who work endlessly to Asylum seekers living in the community also have no eradicate poverty in Australia have long advocated for access to a healthcare card while others are prevented a more humane refugee policy. In 2012, for example, from accessing Medicare. They have no access to the St Vincent de Paul Society called for an increase public housing. With barely enough money to acquire in Australia’s resettlement intake and the end of accommodation in the private rental market, many mandatory detention and offshore processing. In a asylum seekers are reliant upon the charity and recent report on homelessness, the Salvation Army goodwill of the community to supplement their income specifically mention asylum seekers as constituting one for day to day expenses such as housing, food, travel of the most alienated and persecuted disadvantaged and health costs. As a consequence, many are forced groups in Australia. The report goes onto highlight below the poverty line and constantly move in and that the biggest obstacles to eradicating poverty are out of homelessness. Coupled with past experiences structural such as housing, an unfair and outdated social of torture and trauma, this insecurity only compounds security system, discrimination and the lack of political their mental health issues. will. Nowhere in their report do they mention asylum seekers as contributing to the problem. It would seem The government also has a process of community that those who call upon Australia to ‘help our own first’ detention for a select group of asylum seekers which are not the ones who are doing the helping. We should differs from those who live in the community on a listen to those that are. Myths, Facts and Solutions 27

$500

$438

$400

$305 $308 $300 $270

$200

$100

Asylum Seeker* Adult (single) Pension

Figure 7: Australian Welfare Entitlements vs Community-based Asylum Seeker Assistance (per week)

Income Support Rent Assistance Income Support Poverty LIne**

* Denotes asylum seekers living under community-based processing and with access to income support. Note that only a minority of these asylum seekers receive any income assistance at all. As of June 2012, only 29% of the 1253 clients at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre were eligible for any type of income support from the Department of Immigration.

**Poverty line accurate as of December 2011 ‘Poverty Lines: Australia (December Quarter 2011)’, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, http://melbourneinstitute.com/downloads/publications/Poverty%20Lines/Poverty-Lines-Australia-Dec-2011.pdf; Centrelink payments accurate as of 20 March 2012, see http://www.centrelink.gov.au. 28 Myths, Facts and Solutions

MYTH 16 REFUGEES WILL STRAIN OUR ECONOMY AND THREATEN ‘OUR WAY OF LIFE’

Fears about refugees threatening our way of life are In particular, the research found that humanitarian vastly exaggerated when you consider the numbers. entrants have a higher rate of setting up a new business, There were 168,685 people who permanently migrated filling niches in the labour market and, for those between to Australia last financial year (2010–2011). Boat and 15 and 25, higher levels of educational participation plane arrivals together constituted 4,818 or 2.9 per than for other migrants and the Australian born cent of visas granted. Even the entire refugee and population. Professor Hugo writes that humanitarian humanitarian program was only 13,799 or 8% of the migration in particular is “selective of risk takers, people entire permanent migration program. A drop in the who question the status quo, recognise and take up ocean. Nonetheless, numerous studies conducted opportunities... humanitarian migrants have made, and over the decades have consistently demonstrated continue to make, a distinct contribution through their that each new wave of refugee arrivals have made role as entrepreneurs.” With a small investment to begin an invaluable contribution to the economic and cultural with, humanitarian entrants eventually result in a net life of Australia. contribution to Australian economic, social and civic life.

Refugees bring unique skills and economic It is natural to expect in the early years of resettlement opportunities to Australia. Vietnamese refugees who that humanitarian entrants will experience higher arrived during the 1970’s and 1980’s brought with levels of unemployment and lower levels of workforce them myriad business and cultural knowledge and skills participation than other migrants. This is because those which have developed into vital trade links with much who come from refugee backgrounds face far greater of South-East Asia, undoubtedly boosting our economy obstacles than other migrants for a variety of reasons, and improving our wealth. The same is true for more not least of which is recovery needs from experiences recent arrivals. A study conducted in 2003 revealed that of torture and trauma. However, as Professor Hugh’s Afghan refugees within Australia worked extremely hard research points out, these levels of employment in labour-intensive jobs, the outcome of which generated converge towards the rest of the Australian born greater income for the businesses that employed them, population with increased residence. Eventually, and the tax benefits attributed to the government as a especially within the second generation, humanitarian result were substantial. entrants match and in many cases exceed Australian- born levels of economic and social contribution. Contrary to common belief, various waves of refugee resettlement in Australia have not led to a drain on Much anxiety about refugees ‘threatening our way of the economy. In 2011, Professor Graeme Hugo from life’ has been directed at fears about Muslim migration the University of Adelaide, on behalf of the Department overwhelming Australia, however, the numbers have been of Immigration and Citizenship, undertook an extensive vastly exaggerated. Consider that Muslim Australians study into the ways in which each of the various waves make up less than 2 per cent of our population (only of humanitarian arrivals – eastern Europeans post- a fraction of which are refugees) while over 80 per cent World War II, Southeast Asians in the 1980s and 1990s speak English proficiently and over a third are Australian and recent arrivals from Africa and the Middle East – born. More importantly, unfounded fears about recent have contributed to Australian society. waves of migrants being unable to successfully integrate into ‘Australian culture’ are not new. Social researcher and director of Ipsos Mackay Research, Dr Rebecca Huntley, made the following insights after investigating Australia’s historical documents on previous waves of migration:

“There isn’t a thing that people said about Italians, negative things, that people don’t say now about new migrants: they’re criminal, they’re going to come and take our jobs, they work too hard, they’re going to just sit on welfare and do nothing, they form enclaves, they refuse to learn the English language, they treat their women badly, they come from a culture that doesn’t share our same values, they’re going to swamp and overtake us”. Myths, Facts and Solutions 29

Refugees, fighting for survival and overcoming great traumas, have risked it all to make it to Australia. They express immense gratitude to their adoptive nations. While it is a natural human response to fear social change, lessons from our own history illustrate that, if managed properly under effective government leadership, this change can be undertaken successfully. After a remarkable reversal of the White Australia Policy, Australia led the world in its multicultural transformation under the National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia in 1989. Unfortunately, with a decline of government leadership since that time, Australia’s embrace of multiculturalism has lost strength, credibility and depth.

While it’s clear that refugees are not threatening ‘our way of life’, the harsh and exaggerated response to their arrival is threatening Australia’s international reputation. As a visiting forced migration expert from the UK, Dr Khalid Koser, has pointed out, the international community is “amazed that Australia has reached almost an hysterical fervour pitch over still a relatively small number of people arriving by boat.” Europeans and others around the world are “perplexed” and “frustrated” that Australians are allowing “party politics to stand in the way of finding a solution to a humanitarian crisis”. Dr Koser observes that it’s “incredible to many people from the outside world”, who experience far greater numbers of asylum seekers, that Australia hasn’t come up with a “firm, fair and fast” processing system for asylum seekers “rather than leave them in detention.”

In 2010, the peak national body, the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA), along with 100 other key individuals and organisations across Australia, launched the campaign ‘reclaim multiculturalism!’ and called for Australia to work towards restoring our position as the most successfully diverse nation on earth. Learning to overcome our fears about asylum seekers and refugees is a good place to start. 30 Myths, Facts and Solutions solution 1 END MANDATORY DETENTION

The majority of asylum seekers in Australia are found to detained under any circumstances. All of these changes be refugees fleeing persecution. They have committed must be incorporated into the law to ensure they are no crime by coming to Australia yet they are forced free from political interference.129 to endure mandatory detention. The catastrophic mental health consequences associated with long-term Such policy recommendations are in line with UNHCR’s detention have been confirmed by multiple international detention guidelines for asylum seekers which state studies. As UNSW clinical psychologist Dr Zachary that “as a general principle asylum seekers should not Steel explains, “there is something about taking people be detained” except under exceptional circumstances who have committed no criminal offence and keeping where it must be “subject to judicial or administrative 130 them confined and under the control of other people review to ensure that it continues to be necessary.” that eventually breaks them.”125 Experiences of torture Australia is an exception within the international and trauma, worry and guilt about family back home community when it comes to its use of mandatory 131 and the threat of return to a country where your life is detention. If many other nations manage to treat in danger all compound to progressively break asylum asylum seekers humanely without the need for seekers down. draconian detention policies, surely Australia can too.

Being locked up inside an over-crowded detention While there is a need to conduct health, identity and centre creates the sense of being treated like an object, security checks of all asylum seekers, there is no like a number, not like a human being. The length of reason why this should result in long-term detention. time taken to process asylum seeker applications only In its annual report to parliament, Australia’s Security fuels the frustration among the detainees who feel like Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) confirmed that: no one understands and no one is listening. Then there “It is not a requirement under the Australian Security is the interminable boredom. It is no wonder that there Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 that irregular are occasional outbursts of rooftop protests and rioting maritime arrivals (IMAs) remain in detention during inside detention centres.126 It is a desperate call for help. the security assessment process. The detention of IMAs is managed by the DIAC, in accordance with Yet because few are listening, many asylum seekers turn Australian Government policy”132 to harming themselves. The most recent parliamentary investigation into the mental health of asylum seekers Every year, more than four million non-citizens enter found that almost 90 per cent of detainees suffer Australia on a temporary basis. They do so after from clinically significant depression, half have been undertaking a brief health and security check. If, at a diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and a later time, they apply for permanent residency while in quarter report suicidal thoughts.127 Self-harming rates Australia, including a protection visa, they are required in detention are a constant crisis and numerous asylum to obtain a full security clearance by ASIO and are free seekers have taken their own lives as the depression to remain in the community whilst doing so. There is no becomes too great to bear.128 reason why this system couldn’t be implemented for all asylum seekers also. Asylum seekers initially arrive in Australia hopeful to start a better life for themselves and their families, but In fact, such a system is already in place for some of they soon reach despair and helplessness as the time those who arrive by boat. Currently, a select number they spend in detention grows. While asylum seekers of vulnerable asylum seekers are permitted by the escape some of the most brutal regimes in the world, Department of Immigration to be released from after losing all hope, some fail to survive Australia’s detention and onto a temporary bridging visa in the detention regime. Far from ‘living in paradise’ as some community. Before being released, they are required to media reporting would have us believe, detention undertake preliminary health and security checks which destroys hopes and dreams and leaves asylum seekers usually take 24 hours. These checks are brief because as ghosts of their former selves. the security concerns of an individual on a temporary visa are very different to those who are applying to Given these facts, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre remain permanently. Once found to be refugees, they advocates that mandatory detention of asylum seekers, are referred for a full ASIO security check before being regardless of their mode of entry, should be abolished. granted permanent residency. Instead, the decision to detain should be assessed on an individual basis and not as a blanket policy for all By establishing this process upon the immediate arrival unauthorised arrivals. If the Department of Immigration of all asylum seekers by boat, instead of months or years deem detention necessary for a particular individual after being detained, the government could effectively because of security or other relatable concerns, such end the practice of mandatory detention without a decision should be subject to judicial review after compromising national security. There is no obstacle, 28 days and every seven days thereafter. Asylum practical or otherwise, preventing them from doing so. seekers, like other permanent residents, should have the right to challenge the merits of any adverse security assessment. Children, on the other hand, should not be Myths, Facts and Solutions 31 solution 2 ADOPT COMMUNITY PROCESING AS THE NORM

Community processing is an existing, workable after people are released. He conservatively judged alternative to processing asylum seekers in detention that trauma sufferers who have experienced prolonged centres. In fact, the majority of asylum seekers who detention will have lifetime mental health costs 50 per arrive in Australia today are permitted to live freely in the cent more than the average Australian – amounting community while their claims are assessed. Those who to an extra $25,000 per person.138 claim asylum after entering the country on a valid visa, such as a tourist or student/work visa, are not taken into Community arrangements are far more cost effective detention. They are provided with bridging visas after because they do not require purpose built detention their existing visa expires to permit them to live in the facilities which have to be staffed, maintained and community while their claims are processed. While the operated with security guards 24 hours a day. This fact existing community processing system is inadequate in is widely recognised. An international survey by UNHCR many ways (See Myth 15), with the right support services, found that “almost any alternative measure will prove 139 it can easily be transformed into an ideal system for cheaper than detention.” Even the Department of processing asylum seekers. Immigration recognises this reality. The head of DIAC, Andrew Metcalfe, states categorically that community The same system of community processing for those processing is far more cost effective: who arrive by plane can be adopted for those who arrive by sea. It is unjust to discriminate against asylum “Can we confidently assume that not keeping seekers simply because they arrive by boat without a people in high security detention centres is more expensive than having people on bridging visas? visa. They have justifiable reasons for doing so and it is The answer is, yes, there is a good evidence-based their legal right under the Refugee Convention (See Myth reason for those costs to be different”.140 1). Furthermore, a select number of boat arrivals are already permitted to be released from detention and More specifically, Jackie Wilson, Deputy Secretary onto a bridging visa by the Department of Immigration. of DIAC, revealed in senate estimates that the shift It is simply the case of making this the rule rather than to move 30 per cent of the detention population into the exception. community processing in 2012–2013 is expected to result in savings of $400 million in the federal budget.141 Community based alternatives are more cost effective than mandatory detention. An international survey While the financial costs of locking up asylum by UNHCR found that “almost any alternative measure seekers behind razor wire are immense, the human will prove cheaper than detention.”133 In Australia, costs are incalculable. Clinical psychologists are estimates vary depending on the number of people still treating children and parents today from the in detention and the length of their stay. The operating trauma they suffered in detention over a decade ago.142 costs of detention centres for 5622 asylum seekers Unfortunately, history is repeating itself. As the President in 2010/2011 was $772 million or $137,317 per detainee.134 of the Australian Medical Association in the Northern In comparison, the total cost of the government’s Territory, Dr Paul Bauret, said in response to long-term community detention program over the same period detention in 2012: “once again, it looks as though we’re was $15.7 million. The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre producing a cohort of Australian citizens who can be provided 23 programs for 1076 asylum seekers at permanently damaged because of what a cost of just $2 million in 2010/2011. we are doing to them.”143

Offshore processing is even more expensive than Finally, asylum seekers who are free from detention are detention on the mainland because of the increased more likely to successfully integrate into the Australian cost of delivering services to remote locations. A report community. As Kate Pope, First Assistant Secretary by Oxfam and A Just Australia put the cost of the of DIAC explains, this is because asylum seekers in Pacific Solution, which saw asylum seekers detained the community: on Manus Island and Nauru, at more than $1 billion over five years, or $500,000 per person.135 An infrastructure “have more responsibility for managing their own report released by the Department of Immigration lives, can be expected to experience better mental found that it would cost nearly $2 billion over four years health because they are living and operating as a to resume the processing of asylum seekers in Nauru.136 person normally would. Improved family relationships are a consequence as well. Clients also have the Meanwhile, the Christmas Island detention centre opportunity to regain some of the living skills is costing the government almost 1 billion dollars that they would have lost in the journey and in, over five years to 2013/2014.137 potentially, their time in Indonesia, in detention and The cost to tax payers of the detention system extends so on… a better understanding of life in Australia beyond the exuberant establishment and management and opportunities to learn some English, make costs to operate these facilities. In a report by the connections in the community and so on, should enhance their settlement prospects”.144 Yarra Institute released in 2011, economist Dr Tony Ward demonstrates how the effects of prolonged detention result in significant additional mental health costs 32 Myths, Facts and Solutions

Step 1 Presume detention is not necessary. Step 2 Screen and CAP operates on the Step 3 basis of a presumption assess each case against detention, and individually. Assess the Step 4 is a safeguard against community context. Understanding arbitrary detention and population's subject Apply conditions to ensures that detention Assessment of the Step 5 to or at risk of realise if necessary. is applied only as a last community context in immigration detention resort. This includes a order to understand the Further conditions Detain only as through individual presumption against individual's placement such as reporting the best resort in screening and detention, detention in the community and requirements or exceptional cases. assessment assists in as a last resort and a to identify any support supervision may the identification of If conditions are shown mandate to explore mechanisms needed so be introduced to needs, strengths, risks to be inadequate in alternatives. that the person remains strengthen the and vulnerabilities in the individual case, engaged in immigration community setting each case. Screening detention in line with proceedings. This and mitigate identified includes legal internationsl standards includes ability to concerns. This includes obligations, identify, including judicial review meet basic needs, legal individual undertakings, health and security and limited duration advice, documentation monitoring, checks, vulnerability may be the last resort. and case management. supervision, intensive and individual case case resolution and factors, including negative consequences community ties. for non-compliance.

% World Refugees Hosted By Australia

6.0%

5.0%

4.0%

3.0%

2.0%

1.0%

0 1981 1978 2011 1991 1987 1979 1997 1983 1985 1982 1988 1984 1995 1989 1992 1998 1986 1993 1994 1980 1999 1996 2001 2010 1990 2007 2005 2003 2002 2008 2004 2009 2006 2000 There are alternatives

In 2011, the International Detention Coalition (IDC) In five clear steps, the Community Assessment and published a comprehensive handbook on alternatives Placement (CAP) model provides a workable approach to detention. Drawing on over two years of research to both upholding the individual rights and dignity and a number of international examples, the handbook of asylum seekers while at the same time addressing describes a range of pragmatic mechanisms the legitimate migration management concerns of governments can take to prevent unnecessary detention. governments. The handbook can be downloaded from http://idcoalition.org/cap/.

Source: UNHCR, ‘Total Refugee Population by Country of Asylum,’ excel tables, http://www.unhcr.org/statistics/Ref_1960_2010.zip Myths, Facts and Solutions 33

SOLUTION 3 EQUITIBLY SHARE THE INTERNATIONL REFUGEE BURDEN

Australia partakes in a refugee resettlement program Australia too played an important part under the Fraser with countries of first asylum in order to help share the government in responding to the crisis in Southeast Asia. international refugee burden. However, this program is With bi-partisan support, Australia resettled 150,000 miniscule compared to the burden held by most of the refugees from Indochina along with another 90,000 developed and developing world. In particular, Australia’s family members who followed.147 With the cooperation resettlement from Indonesia and Malaysia, where almost of regional countries, nearly two million refugees were all asylum seekers transit before arriving in Australia by resettled from Southeast Asia by developed nations in boat, is very poor. the years that followed under the ‘Comprehensive Plan of Action’.148 Australia resettled only 532 refugees from Indonesia between 2001 and 2009. As a result of increased The world has demonstrated in the past that by pressure, the government increased this number slightly working together vast numbers of people in need can in 2010 and 2011 when 148 and 424 refugees were be accommodated. The problem today isn’t the large resettled respectively. However, as of May 2012, just 61 numbers of refugees in the world but the lack of political refugees had been resettled to Australia from a pool of will to implement a solution. As forced migration experts, 5732. The numbers are even more stark when it comes Gil Loescher and James Milner, point out, to Malaysia. Of the some 90,000 refugees and asylum seekers who reside there, Australia granted just 340 “The contemporary response to protracted visas in financial year 2009–2010 and 490 visas in refugee situations stands in stark contrast with the 2010-11.145 Clearly we could do more. international response to long-standing refugee populations during the Cold War, when the geo- By significantly increasing our resettlement program, political interests of the West led to large-scale Australia can reduce the pressures that cause asylum engagement with prolonged refugee crises... The seekers to flee such countries in the first place. international community was able to resolve refugee Furthermore, when Australia demonstrates that it is situations as complex as those of displaced people willing to meet its own obligations to the international remaining in Europe long after the Second World refugee burden, it places itself in a position to pressure War, of millions of Indo-Chinese refugees and of the 149 other nations in the region to do more. By shirking our Central American refugee situation of the 1980s.” own responsibilities, Australia undermines the entire Australia has shown the political will in the past to international and regional refugee protection agenda. address this issue, it can do so again today. The international response to the in Indochina in the late 1970s provides a model for what can be achieved. Governments around the world collectively responded to the crisis by more than doubling resettlement pledges and monetary donations to the UNHCR, while regional countries gave assurances to temporarily host millions of refugees as ‘countries of first asylum.’146 34 Myths, Facts and Solutions

SOLUTION 4 INVEST IN A SERIOUS REGIONAL PROTECTION FRAMEWORK

Instead of investing in a regional protection framework The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) recommends to raise human rights standards in the region, Australia that Australia support short-term reforms in these spends tens of millions of dollars on strengthening countries including the granting of legal status to refugees punitive measures against asylum seekers. Detention and asylum seekers, affording right of stay, protection centres in Indonesia are funded by Australia despite against arrest, detention and deportation, permission to regular reports of asylum seekers and refugees being work and access to educational opportunities and basic maltreated. For example, in 2009, Australia funded the health services. The CEO of the RCOA, Paul Power, states $8 million refurbishment of the Tanjung Pinang detention that “these initial measures could provide a stepping centre, where Australian trained guards have previously stone to more comprehensive, longer-term reforms such used electric weapons, tasers and stun guns on asylum as developing domestic asylum laws and procedures for seekers.150 refugee status determination.”154

In Malaysia, a country where asylum seekers and refugees By investing in capacity building, Australia could are caned and generally maltreated, Australia has also take the lead in developing genuine burden sharing spent millions of dollars to help beef up ‘border security’. arrangements in the region, ensuring that asylum seeker In October 2010, for example, Australia provided $1 million flows are managed equitably within a human rights worth of hardware, including patrol boats and night vision framework. equipment to Malaysia’s maritime enforcement agency to help crack down on the people smuggling trade.151 Malaysian human rights campaigner, Irene Fernandez, says this support implicates the Australian government in Malaysia’s maltreatment of asylum seekers. Australia, she says, “is pushing its problem further away from itself.”152

As Human Rights Watch have suggested, instead of a “continued emphasis on punitive crackdowns on people smuggling... Australia should be doing more to protect and promote the rights of people in Southeast Asia.”153 We should be investing in these countries to encourage them to pursue better human rights standards in their treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Improving these standards would remove a large part of the incentive for asylum seekers to board dangerous boats to Australia. Myths, Facts and Solutions 35

SOLUTION 5 PROVIDE ALTERNATIVE LEGAL PATHWAYS TO SEEK ASYLUM

It has been long-standing Australian government policy If Australia were serious about addressing people to prevent any person from travelling to Australia in order smuggling and held genuine concerns for the lives to lodge a claim for refugee status. This is true whether of the asylum seekers on board, the government they attempt to enter authorised or unauthorised, by would begin by providing alternative safe and legal boat or by plane. By shutting down legal pathways of pathways for those who need to get to Australia to entry, Australia drives asylum seekers into the hands of lodge an application for protection. As Professor people smugglers. James Hathaway, one of the world’s leading experts in international refugee law, has previously stated, Australia is not alone in this respect. Many of the wealthiest countries in the world have erected migration “This whole human-smuggling thing is a false issue. walls around their territories, which inevitably drive We created the market for human smuggling. If you asylum seekers into the hands of people smugglers, could lawfully come to Australia and make a refugee although none is as radical or ‘successful’ as Australia’s.155 claim without the need of sneaking in with a boat, people would do it. But we make it illegal and create Australia has put in place a number of offshore the market that smugglers thrive on”.161 immigration restriction processes that include interceptions, interdictions and airport turnarounds that With only 1 per cent of the world’s refugees having effectively create an offshore border for Australia.156 access to resettlement, Australia’s ‘migration wall’ Whilst ostensibly implemented to improve Australia’s has driven asylum seekers into the hands of people border security and management, they also make it very smugglers who offer the only alternative to navigating difficult for anyone fleeing persecution from gaining entry these barriers to entry. to Australia in order to lodge a protection application. While every country has a right to ensure its borders For example, Airline Liaison Officers (ALOs) are placed are protected and to control immigration flows, as at various international airports to prevent those a signatory to the Refugee Convention Australia with irregular documentation from flying to Australia. acknowledges it has a responsibility to provide adequate Asylum seekers are also caught up in this process, even access for asylum seekers to find effective and durable though the Refugee Convention expressly allows them protection. Increasing Australia’s resettlement intake and to travel to our shores without prior permission. Even investing in a genuine regional protection framework, as for those who hold a valid visa, Australia will not permit described in Solutions 3 and 4 above, would go a long declared asylum seekers to board a flight on route way in ensuring this responsibility is fulfilled. to Australia. As former Immigration Minister, Phillip Ruddock, bluntly stated, “if you tell us you are going to make a claim then we won’t put you on the plane.”157 People from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Sri Lanka are routinely denied visas that would enable them to arrive in Australia legitimately by air because they may be in need of Australia’s protection obligations.158

Perhaps the most egregious demonstration of Australia’s punitive response to shutting down escape routes for asylum seekers is its repeated attempts at ‘disruption activities’ to prevent boats carrying asylum seekers to Australia. In 1977, Immigration officer Greg Humphries admitted to boring holes in the bottom of asylum seeker boats to prevent them from leaving Malaysia. At the time, the sinking of boats and deliberate sabotage was an Immigration Department strategy.159 The Howard government also engaged the Australian Federal Police in ‘disruption activities’ off the coast of Indonesia. There are many unanswered questions as to whether these activities were responsible for the deaths of 353 mostly women and children asylum seekers aboard the SIEV X on 19 October 2001.160 36 Myths, Facts and Solutions

SOLUTION 6 TAKE SERIOUS ACTION TO PREVENT DEATHS AT SEA

Australia must take serious action to prevent further The government should provide alternatives so that asylum seeker deaths at sea. By one estimate, asylum seekers are not left to make the harrowing approximately 1000 people have died in the last ten decision between remaining in dire circumstances in years attempting the boat journey to Australia.162 That is countries of first asylum or risking their lives at sea a tragedy of horrific proportions that must be addressed. in the hope of finding an adequate solution. Current However, simply ‘turning back the boats’ is not a solution. measures aimed solely at stopping the boats fails to While solely stopping the boats might prevent further address the inhumane conditions asylum seekers are deaths at sea, it does nothing to address the legitimate forced to endure while waiting in countries that are not protection needs of those on board and only serves to signatories to the Refugee Convention such as Malaysia shirk Australia’s international legal obligations and other and Indonesia (See Figure 8). responsibilities to our neighbouring countries. There are solutions to both these issues should the government Implementing the solutions described above, namely, choose to shoulder its regional responsibilities equitably. increasing Australia’s refugee resettlement intake and investing in a serious regional protection framework The specific policy of turning boats back is not a viable would go a long way in providing an alternative, safe policy option. As Andrew Metcalfe, Secretary Head and legal pathway for asylum seekers to find protection. of the Department of Immigration has said, “I do not Taken together, these alterative solutions would believe that tow-backs are operationally feasible... demonstrate Australia is both committed to fulfilling Indonesia has indicated at, I think, senior government its international and regional responsibilities and serious officials level that it would not regard tow-backs as about doing everything it can to prevent further loss being an act of a friendly neighbour.”163 Chief of the of life at sea. Navy, Admiral Ray Griggs, who has been in charge of several tow-backs in the past, concurs with Metcalfe. So There are other, more immediate actions the too does the Australian Customs and Border Protection government could also take to help prevent further Service whose advice to the government is that turning deaths at sea. One is to remove its harsh people back asylum seeker boats is “illegal, costly and would smuggling sentencing laws along with the policy expose Australian naval personnel to harm.”164 of confiscating asylum seeker boats. These policies only incentivise people smugglers to utilise vessels Apart from the danger and impracticality of forced that are unseaworthy, overcrowded and manned by returns, the policy is illegal under international law. inexperienced, uninformed and often desperate and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, underage Indonesians, altogether increasing the risk Antonio Guterres, has stated that ‘pushbacks’ are ‘clearly of a tragedy at sea. a violation in relation to the [Refugee] Convention.’165 The European Court of Human Rights ruled in early The other is to improve Australia’s search and rescue 2012 that pushing back asylum seekers at sea breached procedures. When the SIEX X sunk in 2001, resulting international law.166 in the deaths of 353 mostly women and children, it was later revealed through a senate inquiry that the federal While both major political parties claim that the need to police had withheld critical information about the boat ‘stop the boats’ is driven by a concern for asylum seeker being overdue for four hours to protect the classified deaths at sea, this is clearly not their prime concern. source who provided the information. Unfortunately, If it were, Australia would be focussing its attention almost a decade after the tragic sinking of the SIEV X, on ensuring asylum seekers arrive here safely, not that the same mistakes are being made. On the 3 October they cease to arrive here at all. In any case, as Professor 2009, authorities became aware that an asylum seeker James Hathaway argues, allegedly humanitarian steps boat was in distress and taking on water. Yet, once taken to shut down escape routes for asylum seekers again, the federal police and customs waited four hours are not only unlawful but paternalistic. In the absence before passing on that information to maritime safety to of a viable alternative, Hathaway points out that, “It is mount a rescue so that they could protect their source. the refugee’s right – not the prerogative of any state The 105 asylum seekers on board all perished.169 or humanitarian agency – to decide when the risks of staying put are greater than the risks of setting sail.”167 When a boat capsized in June 2012, the Australian authorities left the Indonesian search and rescue agency In any case, as Professor William Maley has noted, in charge without adequate information and even successfully deterring boat arrivals is nothing to though they were hopelessly under-equipped to mount celebrate as it will not put an end to the loss of life at a rescue. Vice-Marshal Daryatmo, head of Indonesia’s sea, it will only force asylum seekers to take perilous search and rescue agency, said his organisation was voyages elsewhere: “hopelessly under-equipped for ocean rescue and needed help from Australia if it were to save asylum “What is more likely to happen is that Afghan seekers at sea.”170 Ninety asylum seekers drowned. refugees, instead of heading eastward towards Australia, will head westward, only to risk drowning Even over a decade since the SIEV X disaster and in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Only the multiple governmental inquiries, mistakes continue most cynical politician could take pleasure in such to be repeated time and again. It is time Australia got 168 an outcome.” its priorities straight regarding the safety and wellbeing of asylum seekers. Myths, Facts and Solutions 37

Figure 8 > Turn back boats to where? Most of Parties only to 1951 Convention the countries in Australia’s region are Parties only to 1967 Protocol not parties to the refugee convention. Parties to both Convention and Protocol Non-signatories 38 Myths, Facts and Solutions

SOLUTION 7 RECOGNISE THERE IS NO SIMPLE ‘SOLUTION’

Australia must recognise that asylum seekers and “Australia should leverage this position in the region refugees are an inevitable part of a world where war and and use every opportunity to raise human rights oppression exist. In such a global environment, there are concerns, sensitively and constructively, as part no final ‘solutions’, only effective and ineffective methods of its bilateral and multilateral relations, as well as of managing what is an ongoing problem. Greater showing by example that it fully respects the human attention on the endemic issues of war and oppression rights of all, including migrants and indigenous 171 in refugee producing countries must be a part of this people in Australia.” effective management strategy, particularly in those parts If Australia is not willing to implement the solutions of the world where Australia has a direct involvement. outlined here and shoulder its international and regional The invasion of Iraq, of which Australia was a responsibilities, we should at least bear our onshore participant, resulted in 4.7 million Iraqis being uprooted, protection obligations gracefully and with compassion. forcing the poor surrounding nations to bear the brunt Especially given that Australia is in no position to plead of this massive humanitarian crisis. Australia bears hardship when the number of asylum seekers we receive special responsibility for dealing with the aftermath of is miniscule compared to other developing countries. this invasion. So too with the protracted security and By complaining about the relatively small number of human rights situation for Afghans, the largest source asylum seekers we receive, Australia is developing a of refugees from any one nation. After having been reputation throughout Asia as an intolerant and selfish militarily involved in Afghanistan for over 10 years, nation. According to Richard Woolcott, an esteemed Australia must ensure the freedom and human rights diplomat and former secretary of the Department of of ordinary Afghans, and not just Australia’s security Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia’s refusal to take or U.S. alliance obligations, are a prime concern when responsibility for asylum seekers that reach our shore formulating its foreign policy goals. is contributing to our poor image in the region. After Australia also has special regional responsibilities in returning from a tour of Asia in 2011, Woolcott reported Southeast Asia where a lack of human rights standards that in contrast to their own densely populated countries, has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee the view of Australia is one of a large continent with a from persecution. In a recent letter to Australia’s small population. Why, they ask, are you trying to push 172 Foreign Minister, Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticised them back to us? Australia for placing economic interests ahead of As for the people smugglers, if Australia continues to human rights concerns and pointed out that “trade fail to provide alternative legal pathways, we should alone will not bring the necessary improvements recognise that people smuggling is both inevitable and, to people in the region who are denied their basic sadly, critical to ensuring the right of refugees to seek freedoms.” Instead, HRW called Australia to use its out durable protection in any way they can. Which one unique position as a long-standing democracy with of us, if confronted with a desperate need to flee but close economic partnerships in the region to advocate facing seemingly impossible barriers, would want the for an improvement in human rights standards: only avenue for escape to be permanently shut down? Myths, Facts and Solutions 39 40 Myths, Facts and Solutions

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For Masters by research thesis, Edith Cowan University, remaining figures for both Indonesia and Malaysia 2011, p. 59, http://www.safecom.org.au/m-socsc- see, Elibritt Karlsen, ‘Refugee resettlement to thesis.htm. Australia: what are the facts?’ Parliamentary Library Background Note, p. 13, http://parlinfo.aph.gov. 160. For a wealth of information about the sinking au/parlInfo/download/library/prspub/1276913/ of SIEVX and possible Australian government upload_binary/1276913.pdf. culpability, see www.sievx.com. 146. W. Courtland Robinson, ‘The Comprehensive 161. Interview with Professor James Hathaway on Plan of Action for Indochinese Refugees, 1989-1997: ABC Radio National Breakfast, 20 September 2011, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre 12 Batman Street West Melbourne, Vic. 3003 Telephone +61 3 9326 6066 www.asrc.org.au