Australia tops miser ranking on refugees

John Tobin

August 6, 2010

Our mean-spirited and shameful policies make a mockery of our values.

Last week I received an email from a former student who is working with refugee children in Kampala, Uganda. He wrote of how he met a young boy and his brother who had witnessed the murder of their father, a military leader, and their mother. The father had his eyes plucked out and tongue cut off before being boiled alive in oil. The mother, seven months pregnant, was cut open to ensure that the unborn child she was carrying was also killed. The young boy and his brother arrived in Kampala in January 2009 and, unfortunately, his story since arriving in the Ugandan capital is almost as horrific.

He spent months sleeping on the street, was attacked and beaten repeatedly by civilians and police (resulting in severe health complications) and his brother was kidnapped by rebels and had been missing for three months.

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Our Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, says she understands the anxieties of those Australians who fear the arrival of more refugees, and wants an open discussion about the issue.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, being the man of action that he is, wants less talk and boasts that he’ll turn the boats back and protect Australia’s borders. So we have the option of a leader who doesn’t want to lead the debate, or a leader who doesn’t have time for a debate. Neither is prepared to tell the true story about refugees to the Australian people.

So let’s begin with some basic facts. First, refugees such as the young boy in Kampala, are real people fleeing real persecution. They fear for their lives and are seeking refuge.

Second, we are not being overrun by refugees and the anxieties of so many Australians are based on false fears. The Department of Immigration website indicates that as at June 26, there were 4116 people in immigration detention. By contrast, at the end of 2009, Pakistan was hosting 1,740,700 refugees; Iran 1,070,500; Syria 1,054,500; Germany 593,000; Jordan 450,000; Kenya 358,900; Chad 338,600; and China 301,000.

In terms of global rankings, Australia comes in at 68th in terms of refugees per 1000 inhabitants and 77th in terms of refugees per gross domestic product per capita. In real terms, this is 1.1 refugee per 1000 inhabitants and 0.6 refugees per GDP per capita.

By contrast, Pakistan has 745 refugees per GDP per capita and 9.6 refugees to every 1000 inhabitants.

As a nation, we pride ourselves on our competitiveness and seek a top-five finish in the Olympics, the title of best cricketing nation and the prize of the Rugby World Cup. But when it comes to compassion, we appear determined to push the bar as low as possible.

Of course, we are not alone among other developed countries in letting the poorest nations in the world care for the most vulnerable. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, four-fifths of the world’s refugees are hosted by countries with the least capacity to do so. Mind you, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Britain and the US all enjoy a higher ranking of refugees to GDP per capita than Australia.

In other words, in terms of relative capacity, we are one of the most miserly nations in the world when it comes to supporting refugees. Now that’s something to be proud of, isn’t it?

And the irony doesn’t stop there. As another of my students reminded me, when our great nation decides to bestow the privilege of a visa on a refugee, we make them sign a statement of Australian values, which is defined to include a ”spirit of egalitarianism that embraces mutual respect, tolerance, fair play and compassion for those in need and pursuit of the public good”.

Now my anxiety levels are rising (not that Gillard or Abbott are likely to care). But do they really expect me to look my four children in the eyes and tell them that their country embraces fair play and compassion for those in need, when our leaders consciously abdicate our global responsibility to take our fair share of the burden in caring for the world’s 15 million refugees?

You’ll probably have gathered that the email from my student working in Kampala shocked, humbled and angered me all at the same time. But it also provided a source of inspiration, because the young boy who lost his family in the most brutal of ways remained curiously optimistic and wanted two simple things – the chance to have an education and the opportunity to be listened to.

Both our leaders would be well served if they were to listen to the words penned by another child just before her life came to an end in a detention centre: ”It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder

I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because, in spite of everything, I believe that people are truly good at heart.”

The time has now come for the leaders of this nation, indeed the people of Australia, to honour the faith that Anne Frank had in the human capacity for compassion.

John Tobin is an associate professor in the Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/australia-tops-miser-ranking-on-refugees-20100805-11kml.html