Australian refugee intro

An Australian Refugee Story

Australia has a long history of accepting refugees for resettlement and over 700 000 refugees and displaced persons, including

thousands during and immediately after World War II, have settled in Australia since 1945.

• As a party to the 1951 Refugee

Convention, Australia has agreed to ensure that people who meet the definition of refugee under the Convention are not sent back to a country where their life or freedom would be threatened. This is known as the principle of non-refoulement.

So what’s been in the news?

Situation in Malaysia• In Malaysia, UNHCR strives to meet the challenges inherent

in delivering protection in an environment of mixed migration, without a legal framework for dealing with refugees.

• There is a lacking of access to public services, a risk of arrest, detention and deportation.

• Malaysia has not signed the 1951 Convention• UNHCR are the primary provider of protection to refugees• UNHCR will continue to register, determine refugee status,

provide documentation and intervene on behalf of individuals in the event of arrests. The Office will strengthen efforts to provide social services and encourage self-reliance among refugee communities.

• UNHCR will continue to engage with the Malaysian Government to advocate for a more favourable protection environment for refugees in the country.

High Court Injunction• On August 31 2011, trhe High Court of Australia

imposed a permanent injunction against deporting asylum seekers to Malaysia.

• In a 6:1 ruling it declared the Immigration Minister Chris Bowen cannot validly declare a country (as one to which asylum seekers can be taken for processing) unless that country is legally bound by international law or its own domestic law, to provide asylum seekers with effective procedures for assessing their protection needs; protect the asylum seekers until their refugee claims are determined and also protect them until they return voluntarily to their homeland or are resettled in another country.

Australia's ImmigrationDetention Policy and Practice

Australian law requires the detention of all non-citizens who are in Australia without a valid visa (unlawful non-citizens). This means that immigration officials have no choice but to detain persons who arrive without a visa (unauthorised arrivals), or persons who arrive with a visa and subsequently become unlawful because their visa has expired or been cancelled (authorised arrivals). Australian law makes no distinction between the detention of adults and children.

Australia Humanitarian Program categories

Onshore protectionThe onshore component of the Humanitarian Program aims to provide options for people who wish to apply for protection (or asylum) after arrival in Australia.

Special Humanitarian Program (SHP)for people outside their home country who are subject to substantial discrimination amounting to gross violation of human rights in their home country, and immediate family of persons who have been granted protection in Australia.

RefugeePeople who are subject to persecution in their home country, who are typically outside their home country, and are in need of resettlement. The majority of applicants who are considered under this category are identified and referred by the UNHCR to Australia for resettlement.

Humanitarian Program grants by category 2004–05 to 2009–10

Category 2004–05

2005–06

2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10

Refugee 5511 6022 6003 6004 64992 6003

Special Humanitarian (offshore)

6585 6736 5183 4795 4511 3233

Onshore 1065 1372 1793 2131 2492 4534

Total 13 17814

14413

017 13 014 13 507 13 770

2009–10 offshore visa grants Australia by top ten countries

of birthCountries Number of visas granted

Burma 1959

Iraq 1688

Bhutan 1144

Afghanistan 951

Congo (DRC) 584

Ethiopia 392

Somalia 317

Sudan 298

Liberia 258

Sierra Leone 237

Boat arrivals by financial year

since 1989

Year Number of

boats

Number of people

1989–90

3 224

1990–91

5 158

1991–92

3 78

1992–93

4 194

1993–94

6 194

1994–95

21 1071

1995–96

14 589

1996–97

13 365

1997–98

13 157

1998–99

42 921

1999–00

75 4175

2000–01

54 4137

2001–02

19 3039

Year Number of boats

Number of people

2003–04 3 82

2004–05 0 0

2005–06 8 61

2006–07 4 133

2007–08 3 25

Year Number of boats

Number of people

(includes crew)

2008–09 23 1033*

2009–10 118 5609*

2010–11 89 4940**

People’s responses

Ipsos Mackay Report 2011

This report researched Australian community attitudes to

asylum seekers and identified

four main attitudinal

groups!. Describe in your own words, the four

attitudes and the relating percentages in this pie graph, in four separate sentences