Refugee kiddies in Nauru make a video "Get us out of here, please, I'm begging you!"

That would be the Minjerribah. In Nunukul lingo it means Island in the Sun or Sun Island. People lived there for about 20,000 years before we turned up in our boats.

 

Indonesia is probably looking pretty good right about now.

 

This is a very emotive description, really makes you think twice about your position.
They could probably turn this into a positive.
It would make a good advertisement targeted at potential illegal immigrants.

 

As has been said a million times here already; we all want to help them, we are helping them, and whilst their situation is not ideal; it is better than the alternatives, and they are free to go whenever they like if they feel we are being less than kind.

Or; stay here, and wait for the processing to be completed, and be thankful of the opportunity to escape death, persecution etc - assuming they are in fact a legitimate refugee.

If I was a legitimate refugee, this would be the attitude I would be adopting.

You folks can twist it and play the race card etc on this as much as you like, but at the end of the day; we are helping these folks who need it, and the alternatives for them are far worse.

Give it a rest.

 

A human rights group has described Nauru as "a human rights catastrophe ... a toxic mix of uncertainty, unlawful detention and inhumane conditions". So for those who think it's simply a 'camp stay', think again.

Workers at Nauru have written a letter stating that the government has known about sexual assaults committed against women and children, but have done nothing. It is shameful for a government to stand by whilst innocent women and children are raped. The government cared not a jot when Abyan pleaded for an abortion.

The Moss review found that guards had traded marijuana to rape minors. The government knows but still does nothing.

 

Just wanted to clear up a few misconceptions.


Its generally not possible to apply for most people to apply for refugee status off shore. Although, australia and Canada are unique for picking a few refugee camps they will select refugees from (which is where we source our sudanese refugees and maybe some syrians).


But the usual way is to turn up and apply once you are in the country. Thats the legal way to do it. Asylum seekers are not expected to have tourist visas. Perfectly legal to turn up with no i.d docs and no visa if you are genuine.

generally the gov is very picky who they give tourist/work/student/family visas to. An afghani generally wpuld never be granted a holiday visa. which is why people pay thousands to get a boat because they airlines wont take them without a visa. Its also why you always get athletes applying for refugee status after things like the olympics or commonwealth games - they got in on a special visa and used the opportunity to apply for asylum.

If most asylum seekers were found to be not genuine the gov could just process them and post them back. The prob for the gov is that once processed 90-95% of boat arrivals are found to be genuine. Thats why the gov is paying smugglers to take them back or towing them back to indonesia themselves because once they are in australia their legal rights kick in and they will most likely be found to be genuine.

Which brings them to the next problem. The current gov policy is offshore resettlement. Which means that even genuine refugees will never get to australia. Thats why they are cutting themselves in camps because they are in limbo. No one wants them. That's why theyve been there years. They are never getting to the Australian mainland. This policy is designed to deter genuine refugees from arriving.

 

That's what happens when you stack the bureaucracy that decides such matters with people who are refugee advocates. They will always find them genuine despite no evidence proving such claims. The irony is, their means of travels proves categorically they are not genuine. Genuine refugees can not pay US $10000 for boat trips across half the world.

Likewise for Europe where 4 out of 5 refugees are not from Syria: Four out of five migrants are NOT from Syria

 

The problem is the gov is sending/transferring another 72 children from mainland detention to Nauru.
And this is not a hit against the current govt...I don't care if the gubb is labor, liberal, green, yellow or sex for pistols...

950 Academics Beg Malcolm Turnbull Not To Send Kids To Detention

The average time for immigration detention is 445 days, or 14 months, about one quarter of children on Nauru have been there over two years, he said.

Professor Issacs spent five days examining about 30 children on Nauru in December 2014.

"Really they had post traumatic stress disorder, and there's no treatment for post traumatic stress disorder that doesn't involve taking away the cause of the stress," he said.

"They are worse off than our convicted prisoners, than our convicted criminals, who know at least when their due date to get out is.

He said he saw a six-year-old with rope burns on her neck after she tried to hang herself with a tie. A 15-year-old boy sewed his lips together with a safety pin, and he saw multiple cases of self harm.

"It makes you shudder even to talk about it again," he said.

 

You're right. We should send them back much faster than that. I find it interesting that they allege PTSD from being free to roam about on Nauru, getting fed, clothed, educated but apparently ignore the fact that if their claims are true they should already be suffering PTSD from the horrible conditions of the country they fled, so which is true I wonder.

 

They aren't free. They are prisoners of hope. They can't leave Nauru, unless they are willing to return to the misery they left.

They are prisoners for years with no end in sight.

At least criminals know how many years they have to serve. Refugees aren't given the same courtesy.

 

I'll say this in the same way as i usually do.

Imagine a family of four come knocking on your door asking for a room to live in your house in Vaucluse because their place in Merrylands was next to a house sprayed with bullets TWICE.
You don't know them who they are.
They don't have any ID with them.
There are kids in that family.
You have 2 young daughters (vulnerable people) in your family.
Couple of young kids (Tourists) from the neighbourhood often come to play at your house.

Now you have few options to choose. Please answer honestly what would you do?
1. Take them in. Let them live at your beautiful house in Vaucluse because you have been gifted to have such a nice place to live. Help those people even though you don't know them.
2. Move them to a housing commission house (detention centre), where they can live peacefully if they intend to and it doesn't interfere with your everyday life. Although you do provide money out of your family budget to help them with food, shelter & education there.
3. Ask them to leave and go back living in Merrylands and tell them they could have used the money they spent to take a UBER(boat) to come to vaucluse in a better way.

Be honest !! Only say if you would really want to do it.

 

Everything you said is incorrect.

If they can leave; they are free.

They are not prisoners. The end to their current detainment is once they are processed.

They are given, food, shelter, clothing and medical treatment and the promise that their cases will be heard and decided upon. That is a hell of a lot more than many people in this world get.

 

Wheres the evidence that the bureaucracy is stacked? Are you talking about the department of immigration? Who has stacked it?

I think theres just millions if not billions of people worldwide who genuinely meet the criteria for refugee status. Its just that most of them dont have the resources to claim asylum. Making the vast majority of asylum seekers travel to lodge the application at their destination country is just like giving them an obstacle course to weed out the poor, lame and over burdened. Thats why most asylum seekers in western countries have always been male. The journey is hard, long and dangerous. Families often save up to send one person to seek asylum.

Theres nothing in the criteria for refugee status that says that having savings disqualifies you. Think about the jews fleeing the nazis. Did owning jewelry or paintings make them any safer?

i think you are right though, Its clear that the current system favors able bodied, men with access to money. I just dont know how you could make it more equitable.

As to the article youve linked, i think a lot of afghanis and Iraqis will be able to demonstrate that they are genuine refugees. Im not sure about the albanians. I suppose if they dont have genuine need they will be sent back.

 

"The end" as I said has no expiration date. Thus, they are prisoners.

Even criminals are given food, shelter, clothing.......still makes them prisoners. At least, criminals know their "end" date.

 

Did I wake up in another country? Majority of public servants no longer vote Labor/Greens? Wait no, that remains the reality.

Well you would be wrong. There were 19.5 million refugees worldwide at the end of 2014 UNHCR:Facts and Figures on Refugees

No it would be following the very definition of refugee as set down by the UN.

Godwins law already?

By not allowing such acts to be met with the reward of settlement.

 

The expiration date is the day their case is processed. They are likewise free to leave at any time. The very antithesis to prisoner.

 

Imagine if you had a small family living in one of these countries immersed in war for years. You don't know if the next bomb will land on your house, or if the next bullet will hit your children when they play outside. Imagine a country where there is very little hope or future for your children.

Would you make the decision to use whatever money you have left, risk your family's life, on a journey that many people die, to travel across the world, to go to a country where your family could be safe? A country where you know if you work hard, then there could be hope and possibly a future for your children?

My parents were brave enough to make the journey. I hope I am brave enough to make the same decision for my family if the time came.

 

My grandfather (on my father's side of the family) did the same after WWI. My mother's siblings did the same after WWII. I guess my sympathize lie with refugees because of my own family experiences.

Agreed. I wish it wasn't so. We all want the same or we won't do what we do.

We are all immigrants. Some with recent history......some with so far past histories that memories and experiences are lost.

 

There is no processing. Australia will not accept 'boat people' anymore. They are left in limbo.

 

Why not? You don't have to be dirt poor to be a refugee.

In fact, it's not normally peasants living in caves who need refuge.