Contemporary Social Issues
This essay will discuss the history of asylum seekers coming to Australia’s shores and explore most recent guidelines in relation to the issues surrounding new arrivals of asylum seekers. It will also provide an overview on the attitudes towards asylum seekers within Australia as part of encouraging integration of people from different cultures. This paper also will intend to address the issues asylum seekers and refugees are facing in Australia.
The policy on Asylum Seekers and Refugees remains one of the most argumentative topics in today’s Australia. Australians have witnessed numerous changes in this area over recent months. They are happening quite often and very quickly, which makes it really difficult to stay on top of the facts resulting in the community struggling most of the time to have a clear understanding of the human rights concerns rising from the situation facing by asylum seekers and refugees arriving in Australia by boat. As the complex issues surrounding asylum seekers in Australia are increasingly challenged, constant changes due to globalisation and population flow affect Australia’s political, economic and social attitude towards the people who are seeking asylum (Jupp, 2007).
“As at 31 December 2012, there were 45.2 million people in the world who had been forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of persecution, conflict, generalised violence and human rights violations – the highest number in 18 years.14 During 2012 an average of 23,000 people per day were forced to abandon their homes due to conflict and persecution” (UNHCR global trends, 2012, p.5)
“To understand the desperation faced by asylum seekers is hard, and we can only draw from media coverage or second-hand knowledge, if not personally experienced” (Suter, 2001). The Settlement Council of Australia (SOCA) defines refugee as a “victim of oppression who fits the description of a refugee as set out in the 1951 agreement
The policy on Asylum Seekers and Refugees remains one of the most argumentative topics in today’s Australia. Australians have witnessed numerous changes in this area over recent months. They are happening quite often and very quickly, which makes it really difficult to stay on top of the facts resulting in the community struggling most of the time to have a clear understanding of the human rights concerns rising from the situation facing by asylum seekers and refugees arriving in Australia by boat. As the complex issues surrounding asylum seekers in Australia are increasingly challenged, constant changes due to globalisation and population flow affect Australia’s political, economic and social attitude towards the people who are seeking asylum (Jupp, 2007).
“As at 31 December 2012, there were 45.2 million people in the world who had been forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of persecution, conflict, generalised violence and human rights violations – the highest number in 18 years.14 During 2012 an average of 23,000 people per day were forced to abandon their homes due to conflict and persecution” (UNHCR global trends, 2012, p.5)
“To understand the desperation faced by asylum seekers is hard, and we can only draw from media coverage or second-hand knowledge, if not personally experienced” (Suter, 2001). The Settlement Council of Australia (SOCA) defines refugee as a “victim of oppression who fits the description of a refugee as set out in the 1951 agreement