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Speech delivered by David Bitel, to the Refugee Week Conference at
the St Vincent de Paul Society Conference on Immigration and Refugees on
19 October 1997.
The continuum of history teaches the cyclic nature of human experience:
both its tragic moments and those moving experiences which rouse our
compassion and provide us with that further impetus to keep on trying to
achieve the goals which we all espouse.
Those of us who have both the fortune and misfortune to deal with the
plight of refugees experience these sentiments on a daily basis. We all
hold dear fundamental principles of the Rights of Man as expressed in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights on which the United Nations is founded,
and the 50th Anniversary of which we will celebrate next year, and which
is underpinned in the human rights Covenants which have been ratified by
that Body and endorsed by Australia. Let us never lose sight of the fact
that almost invariably refugees are victims of the failure of governments
both individually and collectively to uphold these principles and the rule
of law. We in Australia are fortunate in that in recent years we have
never been the cause of an outpouring of humanity. On the contrary, this
country has a proud record of opening its arms to those who have been in
no other position than to seek our compassionate support.
Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi, Bosnia and former Yugoslavia, Guatemala,
Chechnya, East Timor, Tibet, Afghanistan. Each of these distant countries
which almost none of us would have visited is now etched on our brains by
the tragic sights seen on television of their dispossessed peoples.
Formerly quiet backwaters, safe havens, they have become nightmares for
their inhabitants and yet another challenge to the humanity of the
international community. As we sit in our armchairs watching the suffering
which seems never-ending, we must always remember that each refugee from
these and other countries is an individual, a person like all of us who
breathes, eats, has relationships, feelings, hopes for themselves and
their offspring. We must resolve never to succumb to that most idious of
late twentieth century sentiments, compassion fatigue. Let us always
remember the remark of John Bradford on watching people being let to their
execution in the sixteenth century: "there but for the grace of God
go I".
There are now more refugees and internally displaced people in the
world than at any time in human history. The UNHCR estimates there are
approaching 50 million people of concern to it including 26 million
refugees. The number is not falling.
We in Australia have a unique geographical location, so isolated from
the rest of the world and immune from its natural and man made disasters.
Our press daily exaggerates the so called "boat people threat".
The reality is that in the last 10 years about 2,750 people only have
arrived unvisaed to claim refugee status in Australia. Not tens of
thousands a year as the prophets of doom and racial prejudice would have
us believe. Compare this to the 250,000 Burmese who flooded Bangladesh in
the early 1990's, the 4 million Afghans in neighbouring countries, the
millions in Africa and the hundreds of thousands applying in Germany. Do
we really have a problem?
Australia's benefit however carries important responsibilities. We are
a nation of small population, a nation of wealth, and a nation rooted in a
commitment to democratic principles. We must use these assets not only for
the well being of those fortunate enough to have been born or allowed
entry permanently to this country, but also for the benefit of our fellow
human beings. We must not retreat into a fortress of selfishness.
Non Indigenous Australia is a country of immigrants, a large number of
whom came as refugees. Those lucky enough to be born here often forget the
problems of their forefathers. Remember the words of Leviticus 19: 33 and
34:
33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex
him.
34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one
born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers
in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Whilst we should not dwell on our history, nor live in the past, we
must learn from the experience of our history to assist others in need who
now share the problems that we as a community have experienced in the
past. In a speech entitled: "Seven Lessons from Hobart"
delivered on 28 June 1997 his Honour Justice Michael Kirby mused on
lessons to be learnt from the battle fought by a few to achieve homosexual
law reform in Tasmania. His Honour noted:
The fifth lesson is that those who have been involved in this reform
process should keep their minds alert to new challenges to human rights.
It is often disappointing to see the insularity of people committed to a
particular cause. Women concerned only with gender discrimination.
Indigenous people and their supporters attentive only to discrimination
on the ground of race. Homosexuals concerned only with gay law reform. It
is important always to see these and other grounds of discrimination in a
larger context: disadvantaging people upon preconceived notions without
regard to their individual qualities.
Especially given the political climate of Australia today there are
massive misconceptions in relation to refugees. It is important to bear in
mind that the United Nation's definition of a refugee contained in the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as:
A person who:-
'owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of:
* race
* religion
* nationality
* membership of particular social group; or
* Political opinion'
and
'is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing
to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that
country; or
who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his
former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling
to return to it'.
Australia as a signatory to the Convention has accepted the legal
obligation not to refoule (involuntarily return) persons who are found
following our very strict selection process to be refugees as defined.
The Refugee Council of Australia was established in the late 1970's as
a peak organisation with some 100 organisational and individual members
with the primary aim of promoting the adoption of flexible humane and
constructive policies towards refugees, asylum seekers and displaced
persons by the Australian and other governments and their communities.
Some of the organisational members of the Council include Australian
Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office, Australian Council of Trade Unions,
Australian Jewish Welfare Society, Australian Lutheran World Service,
Australian Red Cross, National Council of Churches in Australia, Overseas
Service Bureau, Jesuit Refugee Service, International Commission of
Jurists - Australian Section, Ethnic Affairs Commission of New South
Wales, Salvation Army, Society of St Vincent de Paul, United Nations
Association of Australia, Safe the Children Fund Australia, and the Young
Womens' Christian Association of Australia. Many of our other
organisational members represent ethnic communities comprising large
numbers of former refugees.
To achieve this aim, the Council engages in a number of activities
including research, policy development, advocacy and community education.
The Council provides advice for member agencies and others working in the
area.
The Council does not presently contain a service provision arm.
However, the Council was instrumental in the establishment of the Refugee
Advice and Casework Service which it operated for approximately 7 years.
In the early 1990s the Council auspiced a legal team which gave advice to
asylum seekers in the Port Hedland Detention Centre. Through the Council
was also created the Australian National Council on Refugee Women (ANCORW)
which is now an independent body, and currently oversees the National
Network on Refugee Women's Issues. The Council has also been instrumental
in the creation throughout Australia of specialist services to provide
assistance to survivors of torture and trauma.
Members of the Council elect a Board of which I have the honour to be
President. We have an Executive Director, Margaret Piper who may be known
to many here present. Project staff are employed in accordance with
various grants that the Council receives to undertake specific projects.
The Council has a special relationship with Austcare, Australia's peak
refugee support agency and co-ordinator of Refugee Week. Austcare is the
principal non-government funding provider to the Council. The tasks
undertaken by the Council are frankly enormous and constantly stretch our
resources to the extreme. Our achievements depend on the inexhaustible
energy of our Executive Director and the assistance of our supporters.
Principal activities of the Council in the annual calendar are:
(a) Compilation of a major intake submission prepared after
consultation with a large number of community organisations and
individuals which is presented to the government as part of the annual
intake consultation. The Council's recommendations are usually given
serious weight by the government in planning for the size and composition
of the annual refugee and humanitarian program.
(b) In October each year the United Nations High Commission for
Refugees holds its annual Executive Committee meeting in Geneva bringing
together governments and NGOs from around the world. The Council plays an
active role in this process.
(c) Throughout the year there are regular consultations with
government, NGOs and international agencies, notably the UNHCR on refugee
issues which the Council attends.
(d) Specific reports have been undertaken in recent years on
particular issues. Important works have been prepared on the refugee
crisis in Bosnia and problems associated with the Chinese take over of
Hong Kong.
(e) The Council is regularly called upon to provide advice to
government and has organised and participated in training programs of
Departmental staff.
(f) Given the frequency of legislative change and parliamentary
inquiries, the Council is regularly making and presenting submission to
such inquiries.
This year the theme of Refugee Week is: "More than half the
world's refugees are children". The Council has been involved in
highlighting the problems of refugee children and their special needs in
refugee determination process and with regard to settlement issues
generally. The mandatory detention of unvisaed asylum seekers has caused
the Council great concern and in consultation with other interested
community groups an Alternative Detention Model has been prepared and
presented to government. The Council this year has played an active role
in urging government to move away from the mandatory detention machine,
and convened the successful public meeting in Granville and public vigil
outside the Marybrynong Detention Centre in Melbourne in the middle of
this year, both designed to highlight community concern. The Council's
Executive Director is a member of the government's Refugee Resettlement
Advisory Council.
Community education, we consider, is fundamental to provide support for
refugees and their plight and to balance the negative rhetoric that
emanates from members of the community who regrettably do not understand
the issues or propagate the misconceptions. Addressing this problem, the
Council has published a set of fact sheets. These plain English and
reproducable fact sheets cover issues such as "Who are
refugees?", "Australia's response to refugees",
"Refugee status determination", and significantly "Myths
about refugees". The Council also publishes Updates to explain issues
and to suggest possible action by our members. Topics covered include the
Federal Budget, the 13 June announcement of a new temporary visa class,
and the importance of independent merits review for refugee applicants.
The Council also publishes a regular newsletter which is circulated widely
in Australia and overseas which compliments the more elaborate and
externally funded newsletter which has been published by the National
Network of Refugee Women. The Executive Director has also been involved in
projects designed to influence community attitudes through the media and
the school education system.
Clearly the agenda is full but unfortunately much remains still to be
done. For this there is a continuing urgent need for the support of all
those sympathetic to the plight of refugees. Refugees almost by definition
are amongst the most vulnerable in the community and because of their
particular circumstances need the support of mainstream advocacy groups
within the community.
Most importantly, there is a moral reason why we should support the
Council and the refugee cause. I don't pretend to be a religious scholar,
but I do believe, we must maintain understanding and support for the most
vulnerable in our community and support for principles of justice and
human rights, the absence of which in society are the fundamental root
cause of refugee outflows . These principles demand our support, if not
eternal vigilance.
If history teaches us anything it is that it is cyclic. We can and must
empathise with refugees from whatever background. If we don't lead by
example who will?
"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out-
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the communists and I did not speak out -
because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out -
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for
me."
Attributed to Pastor Nlemoeller (victim of the Nazis).
It is not a question of self interest. Rather it is an issue of doing
the correct thing because it is correct to do so.
Given my previous comments I hesitate to raise this as a justification,
but none of us must ever be complacent in our apathy. The recent Hanson
phenomenon highlights the vulnerability of the fragile Australian
multicultural society. Who will be targeted next?
We who live permanently in Australia are largely fortunate to be
happily assimilated into this country. We have learnt from our past
traumas and we have a responsibility to assist those persons and
communities who are now undergoing traumas and who arrive in Australia
dispossessed and homeless, powerless and vulnerable. They deserve our help
and support, not contempt or hostility.
Community education is of course fundamental and we must all play a
role in the education of our community, participating in broader cross
community activities such as the annual Refugee Week. Only with our
support will the evils which cause the refugee outpourings be removed.
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