scholarly journals “Disturbing Practices”: Dehumanizing Asylum Seekers in the Refugee “Crisis” in Australia, 2001–2002

Refuge ◽  
2003 ◽  
pp. 25-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Leach
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Difference ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Parental Responsibility ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Boat People ◽  
Post September 11 ◽  
The Way

Throughout late 2001 and 2002, the Australian Government, seeking re-election, campaigned on a tough line against so-called “illegal” immigrants. Represented as “queue jumpers,” “boat people,” and “illegals,” most of these asylum seekers came from Middle Eastern countries, and, in the main, from Afghanistan and Iraq. This paper explores the way particular representations of cultural difference were entwined in media and government attacks upon asylum seekers. In particular, it analyzes the way key government figures articulated a negative understanding of asylum seekers’ family units – representing these as “foreign” or “other” to contemporary Australian standards of decency and parental responsibility. This representational regime also drew upon post-September 11 representations of Middle Eastern people, and was employed to call into question the validity of asylum-seekers’ claims for refugee status. Manufactured primarily through the now notorious “children overboard” incident, these images became a central motif of the 2001 election campaign. This paper concludes by examining the way these representations of refugees as “undeserving” were paralleled by new Temporary Protection Visa regulations in Australia.

scholarly journals Interrogating the efficiency paradigm : a study of language analysis as evidence in refugee status determination

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Colleen Pease
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
News Media ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Language Analysis ◽  
The Subject

In 1993, Sweden commenced the unprecedented practice of using Language Analysis (LA) as evidence in refugee status determination. Since that time, Western governments trying to cope with the perceived refugee crisis have similarly adopted the tool to corroborate and undermine the nationality claims of asylum seekers crossing borders without identity documents. During this same period, language professionals, lawyers, various news media, and others across the globe have proceeded to fuel international controversy on the subject, largely challenging the linguistic integrity of the tool, while investing less energy addressing the political context of use, as well as the implications for violations of refugee rights. In 2007, Canada reflected prioritized concerns for efficiency when it made public a pilot project to address the value of this language tool in aiding status decision-making. This paper interrogates the Canadian efficiency paradigm through the Australian lens of LA in practice. In exposing the ethical and legal sites of likely disengagement should Canada proceed with implementation, this paper cautions against LA becoming the most recent assault on a Canadian protection regime already under siege.

scholarly journals Canada - A Long Way To Go: The Designated Country of Origin Policy and Refugee Protection

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-16
Author(s):  
Rejean Ghanem
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Refugee Protection ◽  
Political Response ◽  
Determination Process ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Of Canada

The Designated Country of Origin (DCO) policy was a political response to unwanted migration in Canada. Adapted from Europe, Harper took a liking to the EU’s SCO policy after Canada received a large influx of Middle Eastern and Balkan refugees seeking asylum. He adapted it in Canada, renaming it Designated Country of Origin (DCO). Under the DCO, the government of Canada would decide if a refugee's country of origin was dangerous enough to be considered for asylum. If the asylum seekers country is determined as safe, that person would be disregarded and sent back to their country of origin. Many refugees who had already settled in Canada had their files reopened and were told to return to their country of origin. The DCO policy became an integral part of the refugee status determination process in Canada to which some regarded as faulty, inefficient, and unjust. In 2019, the SCO was deemed unconstitutional and violated The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, wanted to create an asylum system that was considered fair and efficient. While it is important for an asylum seeker to prove they are truthful about the facts of their case, the DCO policy represents a climate of hostility towards migrants in Canada. In this piece, it will be argued that the DCO policy is a discriminatory migration tool used to “weed out” what the government deems as fake migrants. This policy could deny international protection to those who are genuinely in need. The DCO proves that the nation has a misleading reputation of being welcoming to all who come. The DCO threatened the human rights of asylum seekers who sought refuge in Canada. 

scholarly journals Interrogating the efficiency paradigm : a study of language analysis as evidence in refugee status determination

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Colleen Pease
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
News Media ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Language Analysis ◽  
The Subject

In 1993, Sweden commenced the unprecedented practice of using Language Analysis (LA) as evidence in refugee status determination. Since that time, Western governments trying to cope with the perceived refugee crisis have similarly adopted the tool to corroborate and undermine the nationality claims of asylum seekers crossing borders without identity documents. During this same period, language professionals, lawyers, various news media, and others across the globe have proceeded to fuel international controversy on the subject, largely challenging the linguistic integrity of the tool, while investing less energy addressing the political context of use, as well as the implications for violations of refugee rights. In 2007, Canada reflected prioritized concerns for efficiency when it made public a pilot project to address the value of this language tool in aiding status decision-making. This paper interrogates the Canadian efficiency paradigm through the Australian lens of LA in practice. In exposing the ethical and legal sites of likely disengagement should Canada proceed with implementation, this paper cautions against LA becoming the most recent assault on a Canadian protection regime already under siege.

Remembering the SIEV X: Who Cares for the Bodies of the Stateless, Lost at Sea?

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Gibbings
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Illegal Immigrants ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Fishing Vessel ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Temporary Protection ◽  
National Capital ◽  
Women And Children

Abstract The SIEV X was a tiny fishing vessel traveling from Indonesia to Australia in 2001, carrying around four hundred people seeking asylum after fleeing from the warfare and persecution predominantly in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many were women and children trying to enter Australia to join fathers and husbands already granted refugee status but not allowed to bring in family members because of new Australian laws on “Temporary Protection Visas.” Of these, 353 drowned when the boat sank in international waters. The conservative Australian government denied responsibility, using the event in an election campaign to play on fears about illegal entry and border defense in the Islamophobic climate in the aftermath of 9/11. Yet many everyday Australians eventually became involved in a collaborative design process to create a memorial to those asylum seekers. This article discusses the debates around memorials for those lost at sea, and particularly for those who might be portrayed as enemies or “illegal immigrants” whose coming threatens national borders. It identifies the conditions under which the campaign to commemorate those who died on the SIEV X moved from being a minority interest to become a cause so widely supported by Australians across the country that the memorial was eventually erected in the heart of the national capital.

scholarly journals Asylum seekers in the global context of xenophobia: Introduction to the special issue

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Poynting ◽  
Linda Briskman
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Syrian Crisis ◽  
Nation States ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
At Home

In 2015 the global media fixated on the ‘Syrian crisis’ that became the ‘refugee crisis’ for Europe. This construction of crisis was Eurocentric, temporally narrow and presented as problem for European nation states. We view the ‘problem’ rather as the nationalism and racism of receiving countries with a resurgence of a discourse of ethno-nationalist European identity sharpened by the global financial crisis and neoliberal austerity. Despite disparate national histories, we discern: a ‘blame-the-victim’ tendency to view those most harmed by the ‘refugee crisis’ as the ‘problems’ that constitute it; a state-centred perspective that requires the ‘problem’ to be addressed by nation states; a ‘charity starts at home’ ideology, usually from those sectors of society that are least willing to extend compassion ‘at home’; a systemically cruel state disposition towards asylum seekers as part of a regime of deterrence from seeking asylum in that state; a racialised and gender-blinkered regime of determination of refugee status; a politically opportunist populism that deploys ethno-nationalist ‘othering’ or scapegoating in times of economic distress and political instability; a wilful and convenient blindness to the histories of the contemporary conflicts as the legacies of colonialism; a globalised Islamophobia, casting Muslim asylum seekers as a potential security threat and undermining of national (or ‘western’, or civilisational) values; a gender-inflected racialisation that demonises the asylum-seeking other as hyper-patriarchal and occludes or minimises the patriarchy of the ‘civilised’ west. *repeats six paras on*

scholarly journals Prospects for Australian-Led Regional Cooperation On Asylum Seeker and Refugee Issues

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
Sian Troath
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Demand ◽  
Refugee Issues

The nomination of former Refugee High Commissioner Antonio Guterres for Secretary-General, the ongoing and intensifying condemnations of Australia’s offshore detention centres on human rights grounds, and the ruling of the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court regarding detention centres on Manus Island, indicate that the Australian government needs a new policy on asylum-seekers. The domestic political demand for a deterrence-based, “no advantage”, tough on borders approach means that the only way to achieve this would be through regional cooperation, which would be impossible without the cooperation of Indonesia. Analysing why there is such strong involvement of domestic politics on this issue, even to the detriment of the bilateral relationship with Indonesia, is vital to understanding how to improve the relationship and foster regional cooperation on asylum seekers. While reaching a broad cooperative agreement on asylum seekers in general would be far too difficult, the Rohingya refugee crisis presents a specific case on which regional cooperation could be built. If successful, this would serve as a building-block for deeper and more sustained regional cooperation on asylum seekers

scholarly journals Suaka dan Hukum Pengungsi Internasional

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya I Notoprayitno
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Law

Asylum and Law for International Refugee. Some criteria have been determined for individual to have refugee status, and the country which grant the asylum would give the status based on social and humanity considerations. Therefore, the issue of granting asylum and refugee status can be seen not only political perspectives but also from juridical perspectives since it has been governed by international law, specifically the law of International Refugee. This article would focus on some cases on how asylum seekers got their refugee status, especially on the case of some Papuans who have obtained their refugee status and temporary visa from the Australian government in 2006. DOI: 10.15408/jch.v1i1.2983

Making a Path for the Return of Immigrant Detention, 1973–1980

2018 ◽  
pp. 12-32
Author(s):  
Carl Lindskoog
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Boat People ◽  
The Government ◽  
Immigrant Detention ◽  
The U.S ◽  
The Way

Chapter 1 examines the U.S. government’s response to the Haitian “boat people” from 1973 to 1980, finding that the government immediately met them with a policy of denial of asylum, implementing a set of practices, including detention, meant to deter Haitians from seeking asylum on American shores. This first chapter also chronicles the earliest resistance to detention by detained refugees and their allies and the advocacy campaign for Haitian refugees that developed in the 1970s that included political mobilization and legal resistance. The most notable achievement of the resistance came in the landmark case Haitian Refugee v. Civiletti, striking a lethal blow to the government’s Haitian Program which involved the detention and expedited removal of Haitians. Despite this victory for the refugees, the government’s efforts to exclude and deter Haitian asylum seekers during the 1970s cleared the way for the return of immigrant detention in the following years.

The refugee crisis and fear

2004 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 321-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Gale
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Media Representations ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Boat People ◽  
Refugees And Asylum Seekers

Representations of asylum seekers, commonly referred to as ‘boat people’, became a central issue during the 2001 election campaign amidst claims that Australia was at risk of a flood of refugees. This article explores the intersection between populist politics and media discourse through analysis of media representations of refugees and asylum seekers.

scholarly journals Mental health and legal representation for asylum seekers in the ‘legacy caseload’

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Anne Kenny ◽  
Nicholas Procter ◽  
Carol Grech
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Legal Assistance ◽  
Emotional Trauma ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Legal Representation ◽  
Determination Process ◽  
Legal Challenges ◽  
The Way

This article examines the legal challenges asylum seekers arriving by boat to Australia experience when seeking assistance with their claims and its impact on their mental health. The authors outline the experiences of asylum seekers in the “legacy caseload” group who have been waiting up to four years to have their protection claims assessed. The complex interplay between legal assistance to support refugee claims and the way those making claims inevitably struggle to understand, engage and participate in the process is analysed. It is argued that provision of legal assistance for this group will be essential to ensuring that the refugee status determination process is fair and allows asylum seekers to understand and participate more fully in the process. Recent changes to the assessment of claims combined with a reduction in funding for legal assistance create significant hurdles and combine to compound existing stress and emotional trauma leading to detrimental outcomes on the mental health of asylum seekers.

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