Asylum seekers

Do asylum seekers have rights?  Are they genuine?  How do we tell the difference between those who try to jump the queue in migration and those who are truly seeking refuge from something in their home country?  What is the rest of the world supposed to do with these asylum seekers?

An open forum was held on this topic, organised by the Golden Key International Honours Society.  It tried to address the issues from an Australian perspective.  Among the many points raised, I gleaned the following to be noteworthy:

• International law deems asylum seeking to be legal, and Australian policies as not legal.
  
• Normally, people need to present valid passport and travel papers at national borders; but the refugee convention understands that refugees need to be exempt from this.  This is because their situation is different enough.  Just like the law says that everybody needs to follow road rules, but makes exceptions for emergency vehicles.
  
• Standards are supposed to be the floor, not the ceiling.  People are allowed to do better than the standards, but not worse.
  
• Tax payers pay more for offshore detention compared to letting people just come in to Australia.
  
• The Australian government is spending the same amount of money to stop people from coming in to the country, compared to UNHCR who spends that much trying to make the lives of asylum seekers easier.
  
• Refugees 45 times less likely to commit crime cf normal Australian,
  
• There is a perception in Australia that refugees should end up in an UNHCR camp and wait for their turn to be processed.  Landing on Australian shores by boat is the wrong way. But why so?  Desperate people resort to desperate means.
  
• Case managers at refugee camps are not trained well for suicide, mental problems that detainees face.  They are only trained for dealing with journalists.
  
• Unlike detained criminals, refugees do not know how long they are detained for.  This stress leads to mental problems and suicide in some cases.
  
• Refugees perceive the detention center workers as their jailers, but that is not what the workers are there for.
  
• People choose to return to their persecution because they lose hope. People shouldn't come to Australia as asylum seekers, but they do because they see us as hope.
  
• Asylum seeking is a global crisis - the displacement globally at a 65 year high.
  
• Wealthy nations reduce access to asylum, whereas middle and low income nations taking in 86% - up from a previous 70%.
  
• Malaysia is taking in refugees, but do not provide them with school, etc.
  
• We have a conundrum.  Australia does not want to take in refugees and treat them nicely, but wants the Asian neighbours to.  In this, Australians are hypocrites.
  
• Australia would seek migrants to do certain jobs when they also have asylum seekers already there waiting to do the same jobs.  Why?  Many asylum seekers have skills and qualifications. Not all are the kind who have nothing to contribute.
  
• Resettlement not really the answer as nations regard themselves as the transit point, not the end point. Not returning people to harm is one issue, not giving them hope is another issue.
  
• Most refugees hope to return when the situations in their home countries improve. Those who don't have lost hope that their countries would improve.
  
• Australia argues for national sovereignty when it comes to choosing who would come to their country, but against it when they wish to tell other nations how to handle policies about customs, police, etc.  This is another hypocrisy.
  
• Terrorists can enter Australia as asylum seekers, but really, there are better ways to get to Australia as terrorist than by boat.

What do you think?  Do you believe what was presented at this forum?

What would you like the world to do for you, if you were an asylum seeker?  What would you do for asylum seekers if it were in your power to do anything?

How do we provide life and hope for asylum seekers?

Does God care?  What would God want us to do?