Speaker
Rachel Waters, legal specialist from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
Issues facing asylum seekers.
The timing could hardly have been more propitious than to have as our speaker this week Rachel Waters, legal specialist from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. The ASRC is Australia’s leading asylum seeker organisation – working to assist some of the most severely disadvantaged people in our community. From humble beginnings in a Footscray shopfront in 2001, ASRC now delivers services to over 1,200 asylum seekers at any one time through programs which include material aid, health, legal counselling, casework as well as a foodbank which is able to provide food for a family of four for just $25 a week. The 28 full time staff and more than 800 volunteers achieve all of this without any Federal Government funding and with more than 95% of funding coming solely from the community and from philanthropy.
Rachel has been a volunteer at ASRC since August 2009 – initially within the legal section and in particular the Family Reunification Program. More recently she has been part of the Community Speakers Program. Rachel reminded us that asylum seekers are persons in well-founded fear of persecution in their own countries because of their political opinions, religion, race, nationality or social group. Asylum seekers and refugees are one and the same people: asylum seekers are applicants for Protection Visas wheras refugees in Australia have Protection Visas and are safe. In Australia persons with refugee status have all the same rights as other permanent residents.
The key legal document for people seeking protection is the United Nations Convention & Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. This was drafted in 1951, consolidating numerous previous conventions and setting a minimum standard for the treatment of refugees. It was originally adopted to protect European refugees and displaced persons in the aftermath of World War 2 but in 1967 extended the provisions to all refugees. Australia became a signatory to this Convention in 1954 and it was implemented into law by way of the 1958 Migration Act.
Rachel stressed that no-one chooses to be an asylum seeker and that it is not illegal to seek asylum in Australia even if arriving by boat. For many asylum seekers Australia is the closest country that is a signatory to the United Nations Convention. Indonesia is not one of the signatories. Detention centres can only be justified on administrative and not punitive grounds i.e. persons are detained for identity security and health checks and to prevent them from absconding whilst their legal status is being resolved. They are however expensive both financially and in terms of the mental and emotional trauma caused by lengthy detainment. As Rachel asked; how would you feel if you were labelled a cheat, a criminal or illegal after taking extraordinary measures to escape persecution in the hope of saving your life and then told that you weren’t wanted?
The President of the Law Institute of Victoria, Reynah Tang, asserted on 5th July 2013 that denying asylum seekers the right to work is a violation of Australia’s international human rights obligations and urges the Federal Government to immediately overturn this ban. Exclusion from employment is also contrary to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which recognises the right to work as a fundamental human right. Further, it is contrary to Australia’s obligations under the Refugee Convention to facilitate the assimilation of refugees. It is also strongly linked to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety with long term implications for Australia’s welfare system.
The ASRC challenges the notion that Australia, with only .23% of the number of refugees in the world, even has a genuine asylum seeker problem. Visa overstays of up to 52,000 a year far outweigh the number of those seeking refuge each year. What can we do on a practical level to assist in this growing international crisis?
In summary: The ASRC is a place which puts people first. No asylum seeker is ever turned away and the organisation exists to ensure that they get a fair go. The more vulnerable or marginalised a person is, the more important the ASRC considers they deserve support. The ASRC can be contacted at admin@asrc.org or 9326 6066 and we thank Rachel for her thoughtful and timely presentation. It is interesting to note that the four pre-eminent patrons of the ASRC are The Right Hon. Malcolm Fraser, The Hon. Michael Kirby, Eva Cox and Mr Julian Burnside QC.
Diane Penkethman
Editors Note.
Many thanks to Diane for her excellent summary of what has now become a front page issue for the World. This was 2 years ago and the problem has only grown bigger.
Australia stopped the Boats, but at the cost of $1 Billion per year paid to a private security firm, and treating anybody the way we treat our refugees trapped in those camps is clearly unacceptable. Except that because of Political Pride we have not been able to come up with any alternate. And yes nobody is drowning.
There are 10 Million refugees in our area. Our population is a bit over 20 Million, so it would be impossible to take them all. But some of those people, with special skills and young families would fit in to our society, in the same way as the Vietnamese and Europeans before them.
Why have we not selected the best from our region, and instead committed to receiving unknowns from Syria, which is not in our region?
Jim Phillips
PS: and lets not forget the incredible job Gazza does in finding such excellent speakers
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