Beyond the boats: building asylum and refugee policy for the long term
Centre for Policy Development ; Australia21 ; Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, 2014
report
Zugriff:
Now that the acute phase of boat arrivals appears over, this paper urges all parties to use this opportunity to construct an overarching national asylum and refugee policy for the long term. Executive summary Forced migration is an age-old phenomenon. It cannotbe stopped or controlled by any country. The reasonsfor it are as varied and complex as the people who seekprotection from persecution, war, civil conflict andother harms. In its 2013 Global Trends report, UNHCR estimatedthere are over 51 million people displaced around theworld, the highest figure since World War II. Not all aredisplaced across international borders, and only a fractionof the world’s displaced seek Australia’s protection. Nevertheless, it is likely that global phenomena, such ascivil war, increased resource scarcity, and the impacts ofnatural disasters and climate change, will increase theimpetus for people to move in search of safety. Australiacannot ignore this continuing reality. Recently, the major political parties in Australia haveresponded to this state of affairs by treating thechallenge of forced migration primarily as a matter ofdomestic politics, rather than regional policy. Debateon asylum policy has become toxic. ‘Successful’ policyhas been defined as that which can ‘stop the boats’. On that measure, policies initiated by the previousLabor government, and strengthened by the Coalitiongovernment under the banner Operation SovereignBorders, have been successful in significantly reducingthe number of asylum seekers arriving in Australiaby boat. However, this approach does not deal with the complexnature of forced migration, its causes and humanconsequences, nor Australia’s responsibility withinthe international community to help to manage theseand related issues. This approach does not resemblea long-term asylum and refugee policy for Australia. To establish one, we must redefine our conception ofthe ‘problem’, reset our goals, review our strategy andrecalibrate our conception of ‘success’. The roundtable discussion concentrated ...
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Beyond the boats: building asylum and refugee policy for the long term
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Douglas, Bob ; Keski-Nummi, Arja ; McLeod, Travers ; McAdam, Jane ; Higgins, Claire |
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Veröffentlichung: | Centre for Policy Development ; Australia21 ; Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, 2014 |
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