Category: Australia

Australian media calls it the “stay the bloody hell away” campaign

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We have reported on many previous occasions (see our category on Australia, here) about the problems that country is having with asylum seekers attempting to reach the shores of Australia with the help of human traffickers.  Now comes word, that the Rudd government considered friendly to refugees, or more so than the Howard government was, has a media campaign to discourage potential asylum seekers from Sri Lanka.

From Australia’s 9News:

The Rudd government has employed advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi to help scare off potential asylum seekers to Australia.

The taxpayer-funded campaign will be shown in Sri Lanka, where street theatre and local actors will help spread the message that coming to Australia illegally is dangerous, according to news.com.au.

Civil war in northern Sri Lanka has created a massive refugee problem, with more than 250,000 displaced persons in that region alone.

Saatchi & Saatchi’s Ronald Peiris said the campaign would use “street drama” to take its message directly to the people.

Actors will play people smugglers, and warn locals their efforts to escape from Sri Lanka will end in disappointment.

All I can say is it’s a novel approach.

Muslim Brotherhood member seeking asylum in Australia

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If asylum is granted to a man who claims he will be persecuted in his home country of Egypt for being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood—considered a terrorist group in many countries including Egypt—one would have to conclude that Australia has reached the beginning of the end.

From Australian Jewish News:

SHADOW Minister for Immigration Sharman Stone has asked immigration officials to reconsider their recommendation that an Egyptian with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood be allowed entry to Australia.

The Refugee Review Tribunal recommended a protection visa for the man – described as an “active supporter” of the radical Islamic group, Muslim Brotherhood – after he successfully argued he would face persecution for his political beliefs if forced to return to Egypt.

The group, which has called for the destruction of Israel, is banned in several countries, including Egypt. Other splinter members of the group include Hamas in Gaza and the Islamic Action Front in Jordan.

The group, however, is not listed as a terrorist organisation by the Australian governent.

Don’t you just see a flood of asylum applicants from radical Islamists wanting to get into Australia if they open this door?

Shadow Immigration Minister Dr Sharman Stone said she has written to Immigration Minister Senator Chris Evans asking for the decision to be overturned.

“This person should be sent home to Egypt,” she said. “Here we have a situation where an individual is using his membership of the Muslim Brotherhood to seek asylum. The tribunal found there was no evidence of him ever having being threatened or harmed in Egypt, yet he is using his membership of the group to claim asylum and hence permanent residency in Australia.”

Jeremy Jones, director of international affairs with the Australia-Israel Jewish Affairs Council, had this to say:

“The Muslim Brotherhood has many different manifestations in many different countries, but overall it’s been banned in many countries for many sound reasons. They’re dedicated to replacing existing regimes with theirs. You would not think that Australia would want to be a haven for people advocating extremist political doctrine which, in this case, is masquerading as a religious doctrine.”

Of course we already have the Muslim Brotherhood active in the US as this 2004 Chicago Tribune investigation tells us.

Iraqis protest : We demand to go to Australia!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is the whole short article from the Jakarta Post.  Thirty Iraqis say they have lousy conditions in Indonesia and hear their friends have it great in Australia. 

A group of Iraqi refugees being held in Makassar staged a rally Saturday to demand they immediately be sent to Australia.

The rally was held at the representative office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in the South-Sulawesi capital.

The refugees claim they have been living in poor conditions ever since their arrival in Indonesia earlier this year. The IOM has provided housing for them, but the refugees refused the offer because one house must be shared by seven people.

“Ever since we arrived here we have received poor treatment. Therefore we ask the IOM-UNHCR to send us to Australia,” one of the refugees, Ali Nazim Abdul, said in Indonesian.

He said two of his fellow refugees had fallen ill due to a lack of treatment.

“We want to leave for Australia as soon as possible. Three of our friends who have reached Australia told us they enjoyed decent treatment as refugees,” he said.

Thirty Iraqi refugees were relocated to Makassar after being stranded in Dompu in West Nusa Tenggara. They left Iraq to flee the war and seek asylum in Australia.

An IOM staff member declined to comment on the protest, but said the two international organizations were taking care of the Iraqis.

Keep in mind these Iraqis arrived as illegal aliens in Indonesia.  Legitimate asylum seekers are to ask for asylum in the first country in which they land.

Australian report: 13,507 refugees to Australia this past year, 100 are Rohingya

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a report from the Australian government about its refugee resettlement record this just-ending fiscal year.

Refugees from Iraq and Burma comprised about 40 per cent of the 13 507 refugees and other people in greatest humanitarian need who were granted visas to start a new life in Australia in 2008-09, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans, said today.

[….]

Iraqis were the largest group in the 2008-09 humanitarian program with 2874 visas granted – including 500 additional refugee places that were reserved for this group last program year in recognition of their critical resettlement needs,’ Senator Evans said.

Australia now joins Canada and some European countries (including Ireland) in resettling Rohingya Muslims.  So far the US has officially not resettled Rohingya, but I bet that will soon change.  And, as a matter of fact, some may have already come in with the Burmese Karen Christians.

The second-largest group resettled were Burmese, most of whom had been living in camps along the Thai-Burma border for more than 20 years. This group also included more than 100 Burmese Rohingya who have been living in the Cox’s Bazaar region of Bangladesh since 1992.

See my first post on Rohingya and Cox’s Bazaar here.  Our whole Rohingya category is here (this is the 80th post on the subject!).

Wanting to be sure to be good humanitarians, the Australian government says they will take even more refugees this coming fiscal year.

The minister said Australia remained a world leader in humanitarian resettlement, both in terms of numbers resettled and the services provided to help them rebuild their lives.

‘The program will continue to grow in the year ahead, with an increase of 250 places building on the 2008-09 increase, to bring the total program to 13 750 for 2009-10,’ Senator Evans said. ‘Our ongoing efforts to help vulnerable populations are a clear demonstration of our nation’s compassion for those in need.’

For information on Australia’s problems with refugees, visit our category for that country, here.

High percentage of refugees entering Australia are sick

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is not news to us.  Although it’s been awhile since we have posted on the issue of refugees entering the US with major diseases (see our Health issues category for lots of those stories) I suspect that refugees with communicable diseases like TB and HIV Aids are coming into the US daily.

So, for our Australian readers you might want to check out this story about a new report on the high numbers of sick, mostly Africans, entering Australia.

There is a high prevalence of treatable but asymptomatic diseases in African refugee children arriving to Australia, and few are screened despite having already had contact with primary care, new Australian research suggests.

A study of 240 newly arrived refugee children by Sydney’s Children Hospital at Westmead found a high prevalence of asymptomatic TB, schistosomiasis, malaria and hepatitis B.

Disease prevalence was highest in refugees from Africa, who now comprise three-quarters of Australia’s annual humanitarian resettlement, the study in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health (online 20 August) found.

[…..] 

In 2006, 40% of the 12,700 refugees granted resettlement visas in Australia settled in the Sydney metropolitan area, but it is estimated that only one in five access specialised refugee health services.

Note that the concern is not about how many are sick and possibly should be turned away, its just how many are not identified before entering the country.