Refugees

hello all.

I would like to hear members' points of view regarding refugees and the correct ethical treatment required. This is a situation in which one country in particular, Australia, is severely lacking. Let me elaborate:

Under John Howard, Australia has further stepped up its campaign of racism against the refugees, or 'queue-jumpers', in recent years. This all came to a head during the infamous 'children overboard' scandal. In October 2001, a boatload of refugees from afghanistan arrived in australian waters. Quickly, the australian navy rushed out to meet it. The boat began sinking, and the navy made no effort to rescue those surely about to drown. One man raised his child above his head to show the navy vessel that there are children aboard. Thiswas blatantly bastardised into claims that the refugees were throwing their children overboard. Without missing a beat, Howard declares that 'we don't want people like this in our country'. Eventually, after the boat had sunk the refugees were rescued, and taken to mandatory detention camps. Conveniently, this happened right before the election, and helped him win it comfortably. After the election, evidence began surfacing that no such incident (children being thrown overboard) had taken place. Howard claimed that he was misinformed. However, the only problem, was that several people were ready to testify that they had in fact informed the prime minister that the allegations were false. Even so, the whole incident conveniently went away.

Lately, Australia's policy of mandatory incarceration in sweltering concentration camps for all refugees seeking asylum for, in some cases, up to four years has been widely condemned by international human rights groups.

Thoughts?

[edit on 2-12-2004 by General Zapata]

It is pathetic.

Let's not forget this also:

Aladdin Sisalem released from Manus Island

Mr Sisalem fled Kuwait in 2000, eventually arriving at an island in Torres Strait by boat from Papua New Guinea 18 months ago. He immediately sought asylum, saying he would face persecution if sent back to Kuwait. He was sent to Manus Island, where for the past 10 months he was the sole occupant, apart from a small staff of guards and cleaners hired to look after him at a cost to the Australian Government of $250,000 a month.

His application to stay in Australia was finally approved on Friday.

This is a disgraceful system we have. It should never take 4 years to process refugees and detaining a single solitary refugee at a cost to the Australian taxpayer of 250,000 a month is reprehensible. Even more shameful than this conservative "liberal" governement are the people who vote for them after knowing how they operate.