How Australia Helps Refugees - Research Paper Example

? How Australia Helps Refugees Refugee policies living in Australia are quite sensitive. There are various resources that this paper will focus on. The paper involves utilizing the available data in books, journals and articles concerning the state of refugees in Australia, as well as interviews from the relevant departments dealing with refugees in finding out how Australia helps refugees. Background Information Refugees are persons outside their country of origin or country of habitual residence after suffering persecution on such accounts as race, political opinion, nationality, religion, or because of being a member of some persecuted 'social group (Leach & Mansoure, 2003) . In retro respect, Refugees seek asylum in other countries for purposes of escaping war or other non-peace related issues in their home countries. As of 31 December, 2005, the source country reported to be largest in terms of refugees are Palestinian Territories, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan. Among these countries, South Sudan is reported to be leading in terms of IDPs, with the figure of five million. By 2006, Azerbaijan, having 80,000 IDPs and refugees had per capital IDP population that was highest worldwide. In the recent years, the debate on Refugees has been the focus following a considerable public concern. For the case of Australia in particular, over 620, 000 refuges, as well as the displaced persons have been settled in the past fifty years. It has been noted that the post-war refugee program led to about 170,000 displaced people moving to Eastern and central Europe (Leach & Mansoure, 2003). These groups of refugees run away from fascist and the communist regimes. They were later followed by a wave of refugees’ emanating from Czechoslovakia in the year 1968 and Hungary in the year 1956. Beside the 1950s, and 1970s large scale economic migration, the number of refugees dropped considerably. However, the number of refugees went up again during the periods following late 1970s and 1980s. Most of these refugees were from Latin America and South East Asia. In 1990 and 1991, Vietnam and El Salvador were the key sources of refugees to Australia with Vietnam constituting 41 % of the associated refugees and 19 percent for El Salvador. Later, in 1992 and 1993, Yugoslavia (29%) was the main source of refuges to Australia. As far as the Australia research is concerned, refugees have for years been included in a wider study involving the immigrants. This, thus, implies that the refugees have not been distinguished from the voluntary migrants. This follows a definition of immigrants as persons born oversees, including refugees (Weiner, 2002). Clearly, it reflects the concern, as well as the availability of statistics defining different groups hence birthplace statistics have become readily available as opposed to those that are based upon the visa category. Generally, as immigrants are seen as persons who freely make a choice of leaving their countries of origin, refugees are those that are forced to flee. The distinction should be clear, however, sometimes that has not be clear. For instant, according to Steel (2003), both refugees having permanent residence and migrants show similar levels of pre-migration trauma. This, thus, imply that the migrants originating from this ethnic group can be considered as refugees. In this study, the term refugee would be limited to persons who arrive in Australia through the Government Humanitarian program. In this respect, refugees are distinguished from the asylum seekers who are generally, persons that seek protection as refugees though not yet been recognized officially as refugees. On a general scale, Australia like any other stable country is not spared in hosting refugees. Currently, Australia has 13,000 reservations for refugees. The country has two channels of ensuring safe and efficient refugee arrivals include offshore and onshore. Since the completion of World War II, the country has hosted more than 700,000 refugees in humanitarian camps (McMaster, 2001). This research paper seeks to find out various policies the Australian government has in place, to ensure the well-being of refugees. Aims and Objective. The overarching objective for this research would be examining and identify the various ways in which the Australian Government supports Refugees Program. The topic to be examined would be the ways in which Australian Government supports Refugees Program. Research Questions The research question is the main stem guiding the whole research, and it revolves around policies, as well as initiatives Australian government has in place, to protect refugees who flee into the country. There are three essential questions considered in this study. These questions can support research in its objective of achieving the possible answer to the thesis. The questions are listed below. • Who is a refugee in the context of the Australian government? • What are the policies and initiatives that the Australia government has put in place in ensuring the refugees fleeing into the country are protected? • What are the pros and cons of the diverse policies employed by the Australian government, to foster humanitarian commitment? Literature Review Studies contacted on the refugees in Australia are quite evident as would be seen in the literature. Indeed, this literature review contains results of many research projects that were contacted for a certain period of time. It is quite evident that the total number of such publications is quite overwhelming, although this does not mean that all the pertinent publication were reviewed, though none of those that were applicable and useful to this work were excluded intentionally. Difficulties that were encountered in review of literature are an attempt to develop the relationship between such studies and the thesis of this paper. Some studies like those for Batrourney and Williams (1998), Johnson (1991), Batrouney,(1995), and Lewicki (2007), focused on the poverty between cost and fabrication parameters and concluded that it was not an exclusive levels among the refugees in Australia noting that there is high unemployment rates, with lower earnings, as well as lower occupational attainment among the refugees as compared to the immigrants. Kunz (1971), while contacting a research on the post-war migrations did not centre his focus on refugees as a category. Johnson (2000), contacting a study on refugee settlers dealt with many refugee groups and failed to talk about how Australia helps refugees. In this study, he identified an occupation with the concerned immigrants leading to underplay of importance of refugees challenges that were quite crucial to the refugees. However, one key factor he noted was that refugees should be studies in a form of framework, consistent with the phenomenon. The difference he identified in this study included waves of the refugees’ arrival from various, scattered areas of their origin. As noted in his study, the major difference between other settlers and refugees was their experiences before their arrival in Australia. He further found out that most refugees have for years experienced imprisonment, murder of their lovely family members, as well as torture of themselves. In another study in relation to refugees, Pittaway (1991), found out that 73% of two hundred refugee women had either suffered a high or medium degree of torture and trauma before the emergence of Australia. Such kind of experience is not fully recognized during the service provision to refugees. It is noted that trauma, as well as torture counseling, had not been established effectively until in the years of late 1980s (Jupp 2003). However, on subsequent occasions, it had been included within the settlement refugees program even though it was always not available. In other related studies, Jupp (2003) noted that other aspects of refugees that entail pre-migration experiences cutting across their escape rather than their planned departures, staying in refugee camps having limited access to social amenities, along with long waits for purposes of receiving acceptance by Australia were among the key challenges that the refugees in Australia underwent. Jupp (2003), while reflecting upon the refugees experiences, noted that refugees in many societies, with Australia being part, do not settle just like the immigrants who are selected basing on skill or family criteria. Moreover, he noted that refugees often endure longer poverty, as well as unemployment challenges and have a higher degree of psychological damage. Jayasuriya et al (1992), in a similar study on refugees, noted that refugees and in particular those who are the torture and trauma survivors are at a risk of experiencing mental illness with this research showing diverse patterns in different refugees groups and the individual resilience. Other studies that were centered on post-arrival treatment of the refugees have shown that the post-arrival treatment extended to the seekers of asylum in Australia while in detention; alongside the impacts of the temporary protection on the proven refugees have additional effects upon their lives later in terms of mental health, integration and settlement. In this studies, it is also noted that the wider community’s attitude concerning a refuge group, whether hostile or welcoming, play a crucial role in settling refugees. According to the study conducted by Mansouri and Bagdas (2002), the aspect for the post-migration experiences likely to cause difficulties for refugees is the hostility existing among different refugees groups with a common origin. Kunz (1971), as well found out that conflicts are common among the refugee groups since refugees are never formed through blending of forces from poverty but because of the divisive political and war events. From the literature, it is evident that lack of detailed information on such issues as strategies the Australia government has put in place to safeguard the refugees interests, is wide spread in the literature. This in essence, shows that many researchers were inclined towards the other factors that affect refugees in Australia and failed to outline how Australia government fails to help refugees. A few general comments about the government support on refugees are possible from such research works. The most significant deficiency throughout in such literature, with the exception of a few, is the lacking detailed information considering the published reports. In most extreme cases, some studies barely consisted of a statement that the refugees’ plight is linked to government failure to address their issues. Fortunate enough, these particular statements are not always representative as more information is not always provided. Methodology In ensuring that the this study on how Australia helps refugees is well understood, the study involved a series of interviews involving twenty five the refugees and the migrants in Australia This, thus, necessitated the use of semi-structured interview. Semi-structured interviews are characterized by both the interviewer and correspondents engaging in a somewhat formal interview. In this respect, an interviewer has to come up with the interview guide that constitutes questions, as well as topics that should be covered in the conversation following a certain order. Occasionally, the interviewer is guided by the guide following a topical trajectory during the conversation process. According to Bernard (1988), semi-structured interviewing can be the best in cases where the researcher is informed that he/she cannot afford to get another chance to interview the participant. More specifically, it is appropriate in cases where the interviewer just sends out interviewers out to the fields for purposes of collecting data. The semi-structured interviews have various advantages that made them best suitable for collection of data in this study. It is worth noting that semi-structured interviews give clear instructions to interviewers, which ultimately provide qualitative data that is reliable and also comparable. More often than not, semi-structured interviews are preceded by informal unstructured interviewing, as well as observations. This is done to give allowance to the researchers to develop the understanding of the research topic of interest, which necessitates coming up with the relevant but meaningful questions that are semi-structured. By and large, the opportunity to include the open minded questions, as well as training interviewers helps the interviewers to stay on course during the interviewing process. It also provides better opportunities for identification of new ways through which to see and understand the topic that is at hand. There are other merits for the semi-structured interview that is worth mentioning. According to Bernard (1988), semi-structured interview, as always, are done with a fairly open framework. This gives room for a focused, conversational, as well as a two-way communication. In this respect, the semi-structured interview can be used to give and also receive information. As opposed to questionnaires, in which case, detailed questions are often formulated before the real research time, semi-structured interview begin with a somewhat more general topics. In line with this, initially, relevant topics are often identified alongside the possible relationship existing between the topics and other issues including expenses, and availability. This, therefore, makes effectiveness to become a basis upon which more specific questions that do not require prior preparedness to be explored. As if not enough, in a semi-structured interview, is often guided. In this case, some interview guide is prepared beforehand, which end up providing a framework for interviewing. Results and Discussion. Basing on the correspondents responses, 90 per cent of them said the Australia as a government has done a lot in so the issue of helping the refugees is concerned. According their responses, there are various ways through which Australia helps refugees. According to their responses, it was found that there are organizations within Australia that have been mandated by the country to extend help to refugees. Such organization partner with a community organization and other volunteers to help boost awareness, as well as develop robust community support networks geared towards supporting refugees. One such organization, as reported by these correspondents, is AMES. This organization works towards helping the new and recently arrived migrants and refugees to settle in Australia. AMES like other organization that have been given mandate to help refugees, works with both the new arrivals, as well as the government, community and businesses in helping develop effective, as well as sustainable settlement solutions for the refugees (AMES, 2012). Moreover, the correspondents noted that the Australia government has promoted partnership among real estates, Universities, TAFE’s, community organization, health and migrant resource centre, in an effort to take care of the welfare of the refugees. Basing on their responses, it became clear that the Australia government, as well has devised a system of dealing with refugees with the aim of empowering them. Confirming what was reported by the correspondents, the DIAC’s official map dealing with the organization of detention centers, Australia uses two systems of welcoming refugees. Offshore clients involve eligible people who get guaranteed the chance to apply for protection status in the country. If approved, the Australian state further awards permanent protection to the individuals, which include provision of visa. If the individuals play within the laws of Australia, they get accorded full citizenship a factor, which transforms refugees into citizens of Australia (McMaster 2001, pp 90). The maritime system, on the other hand, is for refugees who apply for protection from the Australian government after stepping on their soil. It involves irregular maritime apprehensions in the last several years as shown in detention centers such as Sydney, Perth, Christmas Island and Melbourne not forgetting Darwin. This study further found out that through Australia refugee policy that was stipulated on 24 may 1977 by Mr. Mackler, Australia outlined various principles guiding the humanitarian act. For instance, under the principles, the country recognizes refugees as people who need help and support, but at the same time hold the decision to help them within the government. Furthermore, one of the principles stipulates that assistance gets provided to refugees once they are designated plans for resettlement. Consequently, the country contributes to the United Nation Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It is indispensable to remember that the proponent policy got formulated at a time when Australia was facing a surge of refugees from the war of Vietnam (McMaster 2001, pp 89). Conclusion Clearly, Australia has done a considerable work as far as helping the refugees is concerned. This includes, various policies, which help to address the refugee issue in Australia. The one such policy includes the get up action for Australia policy to help refugees. This is has helped stare clear the misconceptions and myths surrounding refugees. In conclusion, the refugee council of Australia has done much in helping refugees. References AMES, 2012. Humanitatian Settlement Services (HSS). Retrieved on 23rd Oct 2012 from http://www.ames.net.au/settling-in-australia/humanitarian-settlement-services.html . Batrouney, T., 1998, Australia’s immigration policies: a loss of consensus, NIRA Review, Winter, National Institute for Research Advancement, Tokyo, pp.11-15. Batrouney, T., 1995, Kurdish immigration and settlement in Australia, Bureau of Immigration, Multicultural and population Research, AGPS, Canberra. Betts, K., 2003, Redistributing policy under the Howard Government, Australia Journal of Social Issues, vol.38,no.2,pp.169-192. Bernard, H., 1988. Properties of semi-structured interviews. Retrieved on 23rd August 2012 from http://www.semi-structur.com. Jayasuriya, L., Sang, D & Fielding, A 1992, Ethnicity, immigration and mental illness: a critical review of Australian Research, Bureau of Immigration Research, AGPS, Canberra. Johnson, D., 1991, The measurement and extent of poverty among immigrants, AGPS, Canberra. Johnson, J., 2000, The invisible Australians: community understandings of poverty, Brotherhood of St Laurence Melbourne. Jupp, J., 2003, There has to be a better way: a long-term refugee strategy, Arena, no 65, Blue book no.5, pp.BB1 – BB12. Kunz, E., 1971, Refugees and Easter in Europeans in Australia, in C price (ed)., Australian immigration: a bibliography and digest, no 2 (1970), Australian National University, Canberra. Leach, M., & Mansoure, F., 2003, Critical perspective on refugee policy in Australia, proceedings of the refugee Rights Symposium, 5 December 2002, Institute for Citezenship and Globalization, Deakin University, Geelong. McMaster, D., 2001, Asylum Seekers: Australia's Response to Refugees, Melbourne University Publishers, Sydney. Mansoure, F., & Bagdas, M., 2002, Politics of social exclusion: refugees on temporary protection Victoria, Deakin University, Geelong. Steel, F., 2003, The politics of exclusion and denial: the mental health costs of Austalia’s refugee policy. Paper presented at the 38th Congress of the Royal Austaralia and New Zealand College of psychiatrists, 12 -15 May, Horbat. Pittaway, E., 1991, Refugee women – still at risk in Australia, Bureau of Immigration Research, AGPS, Canberra. Weiner, M., 2002, Migration and Refugee Policies: An Overview, Continuum International Publishing Group, New York. Read More