The rights of refugees and asylum seekers are often under threat, and it is important that we band together to protect them! But first, let’s sort out some basic facts, as there is an important difference between refugees and people seeking asylum.

What’s the difference between refugees and people seeking asylum?

A refugee is a person who has been forced to flee their home country due to dangerous conditions like war, famine, extreme climate change or fear of persecution. A refugee is someone who has been found to be in urgent need of protection – that is, their claims of potential persecution in their home country are found to be true.

A person seeking asylum is someone needing protection as a refugee and is still waiting to have their claim assessed. 

Here’s the official international definition of a refugee, as described by the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees:

A refugee is someone who: “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of [their] nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail [themself] of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of [their] former habitual residence, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.”

Australia is a signatory to this Convention, which means Australia agrees with this definition.

“If an asylum seeker who has reached Australia is found to be a refugee, Australia is obliged under international law to offer protection and to ensure that the person is not sent back unwillingly to a country in which they risk being harmed, wrongfully imprisoned or even killed.”

However, just because many countries have agreed to protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, does not mean that they actually do protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers.

 Check out this video for more info about refugees and asylum seekers.

Australia’s human rights abuses: What is offshore processing? 

Offshore processing is when asylum seekers who arrive by boat without valid visas are held in ‘processing centres’ in another country. From 2012 to June 2023, the Australian government detained asylum seekers in processing centres in the Republic of Nauru or Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. These centres were staffed and paid for by the government, and subjected asylum seekers to extremely poor conditions. 

Offshore processing is incredibly damaging to the physical and mental health of asylum seekers. There have been reports of abuse, violence, lack of health care, poor mental health, suicide, and death on Manus Island and Nauru.

Asylum seekers can wait for years to have their claims processed. Some have had to spend over 10 years in these conditions, which have been condemned by the United Nations as being “cruel, inhuman and degrading”:

“I was 25 when I left. I’m now 36 … My daughter [in Pakistan] is 12 years old… It’s been 10 years of bad health, no freedom and promises broken.”
– Sabir Khan (Pakistani man held on Nauru)

This policy was criticised heavily by human rights advocates around the world. And yet, conservative governments such as in the UK have viewed it as a success and used it to model an offshore processing policy of their own. 

The Australian government has now closed offshore processing centres in Manus and Nauru, but sadly this doesn’t mean that the cruelty and cost of Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers is over. Australia’s border policies haven’t changed, which means people who travel to Australia by boat can still be turned back and transferred to be processed in Nauru. y. 

As of June 2023, there are still 80 people previously detained on Manus Island who remain trapped in Papua New Guinea, which the government has abandoned. These people have received no support for serious health problems caused by years of neglect. 

To learn what it is like to be a young refugee you can watch this video. 

Refugee myths and facts

• Myth: Most people seeking asylum arrive by boat
• Fact: Only a small portion of asylum seekers arrive in Australia by boat – most arrive by plane
• Myth: Asylum seekers are ‘illegal’
• Fact: It is not against the law to seek asylum in Australia – even if they arrive by boat. Every person has the right to seek asylum in Australia under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Read more about human rights here.
• Myth: Most boat arrivals are not genuine refugees.
• Fact: Between 70-100% of asylum seekers who arrive via boat are later found to be genuine refugees fleeing countries torn apart by war, natural disaster or social oppression. The myth that asylum seekers arriving by boat are not “genuine” comes from racist ideas about people fleeing unsafe situations.
• Myth: Refugees and asylum seekers will harm our economy
• Fact: Australia’s refugee and asylum policy is incredibly expensive, costing the government millions of dollars every year. In fact, detaining asylum seekers cost the Australian government $9.65 billion from July 2013 to 2022, when we could have more than quartered our costs by processing asylum seekers more humanely.

To bust more facts about refugees and asylum seekers you can watch this video from Amnesty International. 

How to support refugees and asylum seekers

Want justice for refugees and asylum seekers? Here are some ways you can take action:

Get Informed

Understanding the plight of refugees and their treatment by the government is an important first step. The Refugee Council of Australia has some great informative resources. We can also recommend Behrouz Boochani’s books No Friend But the Mountains and Freedom, Only Freedom. Boochani is a Kurdish journalist who was illegally detained on Manus Island for over 6 years. 

Raise awareness

There are many ways we can raise awareness around issues affecting refugees and asylum seekers. Some examples include getting involved with National Refugee Week held every year in June, or participating in events and extracurricular activities supporting refugees and asylum seekers at your school. 

Sign a Petition

Get Up and Change.org highlights issues in our community including those affecting refugees and asylum seekers, and provides a means of peaceful protest.

Help out organisations 

Find out what organisations are operating in your area that offer support for refugees and asylum seekers, and how you can help the cause. You could volunteer or donate to assist them in delivering their important work.

To learn more about the experience of refugees, you can watch this TedEd video.