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为了解决社会问题和实现人民团结幸福和社会的可持续发展，政府制定了一系列社会方针。这是一系列影响社会各个方面的指导方针，原则，规则和活动。为了实现一定价值和提高全体人民生活水平的宗旨，建立了一种机制来创造和分配社会资源。大部分的人认为社会政策的规定已经深深植根于历史中，历史对价值观，信念和政策的影响在政策规定和实施时一定要好好考虑。社会方针不只是政府对一定问题的反应，与历史背景也是息息相关的。因此，本文分析了澳大利亚政府在过去几十年里针对寻求庇护者所做的社会政策。跟随对寻求庇护者所做的社会政策的历史轨迹是非常有必要的。
所谓寻求庇护者就是那些在国外寻求庇护来躲避战争，暴力或者是害怕受到迫害的人。这种迫害的理由有很多，如种族，宗教，国籍，政治观点。一些国家认为寻求庇护者就是接受的避难者，从此获得避难身份，根据所在国家法律享受一定的权利和履行一定的义务。世界上的一些移民国家比如美国，西方国家澳大利亚。本文将集中讨论澳大利亚针对寻求庇护者的政策。
Introduction 介绍
Social policy is stipulated by government with the purpose of addressing social problems and realizing the solidarity and wellbeing of its people and sustainable development of the society. It is a set of guidelines, principles, rules and activities that affect every aspect of the society (Dean, 2006). There is a mechanism that was established to create and allocate social resources with the purpose of fulfilling certain values and objectives for improving the wellbeing of the whole population (Rittel & Webber,1973). It is generally accepted that the stipulation of social policy is deeply rooted in the context of history, the impact of history on values, beliefs and policy has to be considered in policy shaping, making and implementation process. Social policy is not simply a government’s response to a certain issue but rather is closely related to a historical context. Therefore, this essay is made with the purpose of analyzing the social policy made by Australian governments on the issue of asylum seekers in the past several decades. Therefore, it is very necessary to trace the history of social policy of asylum seekers.
What is asylum seeker什么是寻求庇护者
Asylum seeker is someone who seeks refuge in a foreign country to avoid war, violence or for fear of persecution. This persecution is due to many reasons according to United States, for example: race, religion, citizenship, political opinion (Matt, 2010). Asylum seeker refers to the accepted refugee by some country, since then he or she obtains the refuge status and enjoys certain rights and undertakes ceratin obligations according to the law of the host country. There are some immigrant countries in the world, such as the United states, European countries, Australia. This essay will focus its discussion on the policy of Australia on asylum seekers.
Asylum seekers in Australia 在澳大利亚的寻求庇护者
Australia is ideal place for refugees for its vast expanse of territory and animal husbandry. Its geographical features makes it accessible from any quarter of the world(Jupp＆James,2001). Therefore, for a long time in the past, millions of refugees made their way to Australia by ship or by plane. Australia’s population is now four times larger than that before the Second World War. Among those refugees, British and Irish ethnic origins occupy the largest proportion, followed by Italian, German, Chinese, India, Greek and Dutch. The settlement of Great Britain began after the discovery of Australia by Dutch in 1606, by penal transportation, the continent had its first foreign settlers from Britain(McConville,1981). After the Second World War, Australia encouraged immigrants from Europe, with the abolition of the White Australian Policy, migrants from Asia and other places flooded the continent. As a result, more than half of its population is migrants. This contributed to the diverse cultures in Australia. However, problems are also triggered off by motley ethnic groups. Therefore, Australian government has been attaching great importance to the issue of asylum seekers(Grattan＆Michelle,2006). The following will give a detailed introduction to the policy concerning refugees of Australian government.
The policy on refugees by the Australian government 澳大利亚政府针对避难者的政策
As said at the beginning of the essay, social policy was made in certain historical context. This part will provide historical reasons for social policies made by government.
All Australian governments adopted the Mandatory Detention, this policy is applicable to people arriving Australia without a valid visa. Originated by the Keating Government, the policy was made to detain asylum seekers in immigration detention facilities. During that period, those people were forced to receive checks in order to eliminate security risks and carriers of infectious diseases. This decision had historical implications. The number of aboriginals, which was 0.75 to 1 million according to rough estimation, was on a decline since the settlement of Europeans. The main reason accounting for this phenomenon was infectious diseases such as smallpox(Gibson＆Joel,2009). The law was issued because of incessant flux of Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees. Minister of Immigrants said that migrants to Australia may not be simply achieved by arriving at the continent and being allowed into the community.
Those arrived without a valid visa were considered unlawful and had to be detained with a limit of 273 days. In 1994, another law passed by the Keating government called Migration Reform in 1992 expanded the application of mandatory detention to all people without a valid visa, the day limit was also removed. The law was made with the purpose of distinguishing lawful and non-lawful non-citizens, concerned officers have the duty to detain any people who was suspected of being unlawful(Robertson＆Dana,2005).
This practice was carried out by the following governments. However, this law is not sound without controversy. In its brief history, this stipulation has been broadly criticized by people. Human Right Commissioners made a depth inquiry into the mandatory detention. They found that children detained for an indefinite period of time are vulnerable to mental disease and argued that children should be released to the community with their parents. However, government’s refusal to carry out these recommendation further deteriorates the condition of children in detention. The Migration Amendment Act 2011 by Howard Government further strengthens the practice of mandatory detention by arguing that their actions are in the interest of protecting Australian borders, the government has the right to decide who come to this country. Containment has been achieved through the methods of boat returns(Kelly＆Joe,2009), detention, offshore processing. Civic-minded people protest that this law as seriously contradicts Australia’s duty to non-citizens, refugees under the international human rights and refugee law. However, this stipulation remained unchanged until the Rudd Government.
During Rudd period, refugees are encouraged because Kevin Rudd wants more people to take such jobs as mining, health and aged care. Therefore, its policy is relatively mild compared with the Howard government. The Rudd Government declared that detention will be applicable to those who pose threats to national security or the ones carrying infectious diseases, for they need security and health checks. According to the Convention on the Rights of Child, Rudd Government released a great majority of detained children into the community. But mandatory detention will be remained for those two kinds of people mentioned above(Manne＆Robert,2008).
Policy is always made according to the concrete situation, no policy remans unchanged in the passage of time. In Gillard Government, further steps were made to better up the condition of asylum seekers. Gillard promised to release more children with their parents from mandatory centers into community-based accommodations run by church and charity. Children will be granted right of education and protected in high security.
Stakeholders involved in mandatory detention mainly include aborigines and refugees. This practice is necessary to protect Australian people from the threat of infectious illnesses which has contributed to the sharp decline of aborigines. And also, security risks have to be eliminated for fear of posing challenges to national security. To make all immigrants with different backgrounds coexist harmoniously, the government took measures to encourage and promote racial harmony based on the policy of multiculturalism(Lunn＆Stephen,2008).
However, it is safe to say that the government overdone in this field. Indiscriminate detention harms the rights of refugees, there are often the case of wrong detentions (Wrongful detention, 2005).
Social Policy is closely related to the concrete historical context, if one want get to know the reasons contributed to the policy, one must get a thorough knowledge of the history. To review a policy, one has to know the historical context, the situation, people involved in the policy and evaluation of the policy. Bearing all these things in mind, this part will examine the issue of “boat people” and the policies made by governments to address the issue. “Boat people” are mostly unauthorized arrivals for they do not have valid visa. Australian government takes steps to reduce boat arrivals. Howard government was the first to recognize the issue and passed the Pacific Solution to deal with the problem. This policy reduced the number of boat arrivals and detainees. According to this policy, arrivals without visa will be processed at offshore detention centers. Many islands were excised from Migration Zone, unauthorized arrivals will be sent to island nations in the Pacific Ocean to determine their refugee status. To reduce boat arrivals, the parliament introduced the Border Protection Bill in 2001 to remove boat from Australia’s waters. In Rudd government, this policy was abolished, boat people are still kept in mandatory detention centers, but they can get legal advice and decide independently whether stay in Australia or not. In Gillard government, the Pacific Solution was restored. The goal of Gillard government was made clear: to wreck people smuggling trade and to remove the profitability of the trade and danger at sea. The government showed its determination to rescue the boat arrivals from the dangerous sea at the cost of defence and custom personnel(Fitzpatrick＆Stephen,2009). In addition, Australian federal police will work together with regional neighbors to prevent people smuggling. Through this method, smugglers will find nothing to sell and consequently end the long and dangerous voyage. #p#分页标题#e#
It is evident that Gillard government takes comprehensive measures to address the issues at the core of public attention. This indicates that social policy will become sound and consummate with the development of practice. To reduce the negative effect of the policy, the Gillard Government adopts a democratic manner, that is through frank, open and honest national conversation to address the issue of border protection and asylum seekers. Gillard reiterated Australia’s principle: do not punish women or children by locking them behind the razor wire or ignore people escape from genocide, torture, persecution, and not stand back and watch fellow human beings drown in water.
To be frank, Australia adopts an inclusive attitude toward refugees and plays an important role in accommodating refugees as a developed country. However, since the 9.11 terrorist attack, Australia strengthened its control on refugees for fear of infiltration of terrorists. This inevitably harm the interests of refugees, Australia’s international profile was also stained(Sarah,2009). Australia’s policy concerning refugees undergone changes with the changing situation. Before October 20, 1999, the Australian government granted applicants the status of permanent residency, including some subsidies. However, with the growing number of stowaways, Australia began to tighten its control on refugees. Applicants have to submit themselves to offshore entry process prior to their arrival, those who didn’t approved by authority could only get a Temporary Protection Visa(John＆Kim＆Mirko,2005).
Despite the fact that Australia exercises a relatively strict policy on refugees compared with other countries, the problems concerning refugees are increasingly serious. In 2001, Australia began to prevent “boat people” entering the waters of Australia to ensure national security, they were sent to island nations in South Pacific waiting for the ratification of their applications. This is known as Pacific Solution. This policy was favored by leaders but criticized by many people through the life of three governments. They argued that this practice failed to undertake its obligation to Refugee Convention, refugees cannot receive their due treatment. In October, 2001, 360 boat people drowned when they sailed for Indonesia. In June, 2013, a boat filled with 55 refugees sank near the Christa island, no refugee could survive the tragedy, Australian custom decide to give up their efforts to search for survivals(Peter,2011). Some scholars criticized that this method brings more danger to refugees at sea. Unfortunately, Australian government refuses to abolish this policy.
Pacific solution was ushered in the Howard era, abolished in the Rudd period and resumed in the Gillard government. The forceful measures adopted by the Howard government aroused broad criticism. The tolerant attitude toward boat people during Rudd period caused a surging number of unlawful refugees, which triggered off dissatisfaction from citizens, Rudd was forced to resign as a consequence. Therefore, the Gillard government decided to take mild measures to deal with the problem (Jazeera,2010).
This change illustrates that theoretical construct is deeply rooted in the historical context. Making each policy has to take into consideration the changing situation. The modification in the Pacific Solution is a typical example. Australia is confronted with the issue of increasing number of boat people, Pacific Solution is extremely necessary. Gillard government resumes this policy which had been abolished by the Rudd government but at the same time, it takes some mild measures instead. These steps contribute to the success of Gillard in general election.
According to these measures, Gillard decides to establish retention center in East Timor for the refugees, this practice will frustrate smugglers’ attempt to smuggle people. As in the words of Gillard, to wreck the smuggling trade by removing the incentive for boat to leave their port of origin. The government also decides to seek cooperation with neighboring countries to combat the stowaway of refugees. The government realizes the importance of eradicating the roots of stowaway. Australia will cooperate with Sri Lanka and Afghanistan to curb the outflow of unlawful refugees. According to Gillard, Australia welcomes migrants on the condition that they abide by the laws of the country. They will be treated with equal rights with native people and required to undertake the obligations to the country(James,2011). In 2010, the Rudd Government put forward a population strategy named “Large Australia” which aims to attract more migrants with an increase of 60％ in 40 years. However, the changing situation gives birth to a quite different policy in the Gillard government. Gillard argued that Australia can not hold the influx of refugees with its limited farmland and grassland. Growing number of refugees will pose pressure on resources. In addition, Gillard government chooses to intercept boats which carry unlawful refugees. It insists that it is due to Rudd’s mild policy that leads to the surging number of refugees. However, as mentioned before, this strict policy on asylum seekers violates human rights, refugees’ basic rights are deprived, and they are living in a unfavorable condition.
Conclusion 总结
The issue of asylum seekers has always been the focus od attention in Australian government. Generally speaking, Australia plays an active role in providing shelters for refugees. The Howard, Rudd and Gillard government adopted same policies, for example, mandatory detention and Pacific Solution. With the requirements of different situations, those policies underwent incessant changes. The new government issued strict policy to deal with refugees on the pretext that prevent terrorists away from the border of Australia. There is no ground to blame Australia for every conceivable method it adopts to protect national security. But as a signatory of the Refugee Convention, Australia has the obligation to abide by the rules. Its current practices harm the interests of refugees and aroused wide criticism.
Its policy on asylum seekers is based on historical context, from the perspective of Australian government, excessive influx of refugees has to be curbed for fear of overexploitation of resources. In addition, citizens’ pressure on the government is also an incentive to set quota to the number of refugees, especially the unlawful ones. Therefore, to analyze Australia’s policy on refugees, the historical context has to be considered.
Reference参考文献
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