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Boat People, Illegal Migration and Asylum Seekers: in Perspective
Adrienne Millbank
Social Policy Group
14 December 1999
Contents
Major Issues
Introduction
Some comparative statistics
Boat arrivals
Air arrivals
Overstayers
The problem with illegals
'Illegals' and the asylum system
The international context
Some international comparisons
The USA
Canada
Western Europe
Conclusion
Endnotes
Major Issues
- The recent wave of boat arrivals (over 3000 from January to
December 1999, of whom over 1200 arrived in November) is the largest
ever to reach Australia, and in the shortest time frame. While the boat
people comprise a relatively small proportion of Australia's 'illegal'
population, their arrival has generated some dramatic media coverage
and has been described as a national emergency by both major political
parties. The Government has been called upon both to turn around these
'queue jumpers' at sea, and to welcome these 'desperate refugees' with
compassion. The problem of boat people does not however lend itself
to straightforward solutions.
- Most of Australia's current illegal population of about 53 000
have entered the country legally and overstayed their visa. Over 70
per cent have been here longer than a year. The only thing differentiating
an illegal migrant from a model resident may be a valid visa. However
the illegal population predominantly comprises, in migration terms,
the 'unskilled'. There is public concern both that they are taking the
jobs of the legally resident unemployed, and that their irregular status
makes them vulnerable to exploitation by employers or the smugglers
who have organised their entry.
- Boat arrivals pose a dimension of urgency in that they involve the
practical difficulties and costs, and human rights concerns, of detention.
They represent a very public challenge in terms of government capacity
to control who enters the country, and to manage our annual migrant
and humanitarian 'intakes'. While some have sought to land clandestinely
and work in Australia, most have come to claim refugee status, and have
not tried to avoid detection. They thus also provide a public demonstration
of how options for dealing with people unlawfully in Australia are constrained
by the international asylum system, and the way our obligations under
the United Nations 'Refugee' Convention are written into Australian
migration law.
- Illegal or 'undocumented' migration has increased dramatically worldwide
over the last 10 years, and illegal and asylum seeker categories have
become blurred in many Western and especially European Union 'Convention'
countries. Levels of desire and need to move from poor and war-torn
countries have intensified, as opportunities for legal entry, even to
traditional immigration countries, have diminished. The number of people
estimated to be living and working outside their country of origin has
been put at 120 million. Irregular migration has emerged as a major
international challenge. The international people smuggling industry
is currently worth over $11 billion; one in 3 people who have moved
to Western Europe, and one in 4 to the USA in recent years are estimated
to have done so illegally, or as asylum seekers.
- While Australia does not rank amongst the highest countries in the
world in terms of numbers of asylum seekers, relative to population
it is moving up the scale. In 1998-99 Australia received, on a per capita
basis, fewer asylum claims than the UK, and much fewer than Germany
or Switzerland, but more than France or Italy. In terms of immigration
countries, Australia received twice as many asylum claims per capita
than the USA, but half as many as Canada.
- The USA, the most attractive of immigration countries and most vulnerable
in terms of land borders, has an estimated illegal resident population
of 5.5 million, growing at 275 000 per year. Similar estimates
are made for the European Union. Canada has become one migration zone
with the USA, with New York the destination of many boat people and
asylum seekers. Canada's resident illegal population is unknown, but
has been estimated in 1999 as at least 10 000. While illegal migration
at least in the USA, although contentious, appears to be generally tolerated
in a time of economic growth, illegal boat arrivals are as politically
sensitive and publicly divisive in other immigration countries as in
Australia.
- International migration and asylum seeker
pressures are expected to increase in coming years. The long-term solution
is seen as improved living standards and political stability in 'sending'
countries. The short to medium term solution is tighter border controls
and more restricted refugee determination systems, together with efforts
to integrate established 'undocumented' populations. Australia has to
date been relatively protected by its physical remoteness, its lack
of land borders and its strictly controlled visa regime. However with
access to northern hemisphere countries increasingly restricted, improvements
in communications and travel, and the emergence of a profitable international
people smuggling industry, Australia appears to be becoming a more attractive
destination.
- Overseas experience suggests that more resources may in future be
directed to dealing with illegal arrivals, visa 'overstayers' and on-shore
asylum seekers. Additional policy and administrative resources may also
be needed to focus on regional illegal movements and refugee solutions,
and on negotiating 'safe country' and readmission agreements with 'sending'
countries further afield.
- Overseas experience further suggests that despite these efforts, and
the fact that management of Australia's immigration and humanitarian
programs is unmatched, Australia's illegal population may increase.
And people in situations of need and refugee camps overseas, who have
been determined by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
to require resettlement in a 'third country', may comprise a decreasing
proportion of Australia's annual refugee and humanitarian intake.
Introduction
The recent wave of boat arrivals (over 3000 from January
to 6 December 1999, of whom over 1300 have arrived in the last six weeks)
is the largest ever to reach Australia, and in the shortest time frame.
It has generated some dramatic media coverage and intense and often emotional
public debate. The recent wave of arrivals has been described as a national
emergency by both major political parties. Border protection and related
legislation has been pushed through the Spring 1999 parliamentary session
on a bipartisan and priority basis. The recent wave of arrivals is clearly
seen by political leaders as representing a very public challenge in terms
of government capacity to control who enters the country, and to manage
our annual migrant and humanitarian 'intakes'.
Public concern and anger has been expressed through calls,
including by WA State premier Richard Court, for these 'queue jumpers'
to be turned around at sea, or promptly returned to where they have come
from. Refugee advocates on the other hand have called for the human rights
of these obviously 'desperate refugees' to be respected, and argued that
they should simply be allowed to stay. Migration advocates and agents
have blamed immigration restrictions of recent years for the recent wave
of arrivals,(1) and refugee observers have blamed the inability of the
international community to address refugee situations overseas:(2) people
are being forced into the hands of organised people smugglers by the lack
of legitimate migration channels or effective refugee solutions.
Despite public perceptions and the views of advocacy
groups the problem of boat people arrivals does not lend itself to immediate
or simplistic solutions. It is multifaceted and has resource and policy
implications ranging from our coastal surveillance capacity,(3) to how
our international obligations under the United Nations Refugee Convention
are interpreted in Australian migration law, to our regional and international
representational capacity and influence.
Some comparative statistics(4)
The boat people who arrived in 1999 represent numerically
only a tiny fraction of non-citizen entrants, and a small proportion of
Australia's 'illegal' population. In the financial year 1998-99, besides
the over 3 million visitors who entered Australia, there were about 110 000
legal temporary residents, including 67 000 students. At the end
of June 1999, the calculation of people resident illegally was 53 143.
Australia's illegal population has increased in recent years; the latest
figure is an increase of 5 per cent over the December 1998 figure of 50 600,
and compares with 46 232 at June 1997. It would be twice as high
had not the practice been adopted in 1994 of granting people bridging
visas while their applications for migrant or protection (refugee status)
visas are considered.
The great majority of 'illegals' have arrived legally,
and overstayed their tourist, student or other short-term visas. The true
extent of illegal entry is unknown with certainty; detection figures obviously
reflect only the minimum number. However, it would appear that those who
arrive illegally, that is without a valid entry visa, by boat or plane,
comprise a relatively small (in the order of 10 per cent) albeit rapidly
growing proportion of Australia's illegal population. In recent years,
illegal air arrivals have outnumbered illegal boat arrivals, however in
1999 the ratio was reversed, with boat arrivals outnumbering air arrivals.
Boat arrivals
The 3123 figure for boat arrivals for the period 1 January
to 6 December 1999 compares with 200 in 1998 and 339 in 1997, and brings
to a total of about 6350 the number of boat people who have arrived since
1989. Despite public perceptions to the contrary, concerns that many more
may have arrived undetected somewhere on our 'vast and vulnerable' coastline
and be living and working in Australia appear to be unfounded. Virtually
none of the 13 500 'illegals' located in 1998-99, and interviewed
by immigration officials, was found to be linked with boat arrivals.
As indicated, of the 3123 boat people who have arrived
in Australia so far in 1999, over 1300 arrived in the one six month period.
Boat arrivals are not new to Australia. What is new however is the scale,
scope and highly sophisticated level of organisation of recent arrivals.
The Vietnamese boat people in the 1970s (about 2000 between 1977 and 1981)
were comparatively spontaneous departures, often in flimsy boats containing
small family groups. Since the Chinese and Cambodian boat arrivals of
the late 1980s, the boats have been larger and more seaworthy. Recent
arrivals have come from origins well outside our region, typically comprise
larger groups of predominantly young (24-35 year old) males, and are highly
organised by people smugglers. The going rates for passage to Australia
are reportedly in the range of $10 000-$40 000, depending on
the point of departure and level of service provided.(5)
The recent arrivals have come from southern provinces
of China, South Asia (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh) and the Middle
East (Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan), often via Indonesia. Some come
with the aim of bypassing immigration clearance and working illegally
in Australia. Included amongst these are the boat people from China who
landed on the eastern coast in April and May 1999.(6) Most of the recent
boat arrivals however have come with the purpose of claiming refugee status.
They head directly for Ashmore Reef or Christmas Island, and do not attempted
to avoid detection. Once ashore they make an application for asylum in
accordance with the 1951 UN Refugee Convention,(7) that is they seek refugee
status. They are then taken to the mainland where their case can be heard-and
where they are detained pending this determination.(8) People from countries
affected by civil war and political conflict, known as 'hot spots' such
as Iraq, Iran, or Lebanon, receive high rates of acceptance as refugees;
recent acceptance rates for Iraqi boat people have been 97 per cent, and
for people from Afghanistan 92 per cent.
Of the 200 boat arrivals in 1998, so far 160 have departed,
24 have been granted refugee status, and 16 remain in detention. Of the
over 3000 who arrived January-6 December 1999, 450 have departed, 300
have been granted refugee status, and the rest remain in detention.
Air arrivals
Over the last few years, but without equivalent press
coverage or sense of urgency, the number of people illegally arriving
by air (that is with no valid entry documents or with forged documents)
has also increased dramatically. In 1998-99, 2106 persons were 'refused
immigration clearance' at airports, compared with 1550 in 1997-98, and
1347 in 1996-97. The main countries of citizenship of recent illegal air
arrivals have been Iraq, Malaysia, South Korea, the People's Republic
of China, India, and Thailand.
Most unauthorised arrivals detected at airports are turned
around quickly; in 1998-99 1457 were removed from Australia within 72
hours. Of the 2106 illegal air arrivals in 1998-99, 615 were 'assessed
as presenting information that, prima facie, may engage Australia's protection
obligations'; in other words they succeeded in entering the asylum system.
The main countries of citizenship of these were Iraq, Algeria and Iran.
Given the level of sophistication of organised illegal
people movements, involving high quality forged documents, and the high
volume of traffic through our major airports, it is probable that more
people may be entering the country unauthorised and undetected by air
than are arriving unnoticed in boats.
Overstayers
As at 30 June 1999, the estimated 'stock' number of overstayers,(9)
that is people illegally resident in Australia because they have overstayed
their visas, was 53 143. In 1998-99 13 472 were located, and
8308 departed. Many overstayers wish simply to extend their short stays,
report themselves to Immigration, and leave of their own accord. Others
simply stay and live and work in Australia illegally.
Citizens of the UK (about 11 per cent of overstayers)
followed by the USA (9 per cent), the People's Republic of China (PRC)
(7 per cent) and Indonesia (6 per cent) ranked highest in terms of numbers
of overstayers at 30 June 1999. However, proportional to numbers entering
on short-term visas, people from poorer and war-torn countries and countries
in our region predominate. The countries with the highest visitor overstay
rates in 1998-99 were Tonga, Colombia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Vietnam, Peru, Samoa and the PRC. The two countries with the
highest number of visitors were Japan and the UK, which had visitor overstay
rates of 0.0 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.
In 1998-99 the illegal population is estimated to have
increased by 20 000, while 13 500 'illegals' were located. Locating
and organising the departure of people living here illegally becomes more
difficult the longer they are here and the more they become established
members of the community. Of overstayers located in June 1999, over 73
per cent had been here longer than one year, and over 27 per cent had
been here for 9 years or more. Seventeen per cent of 'illegals' located
in 1998-99 admitted working.
Most of the 13-14 000 or so illegals uncovered each
year are located through 'dob-ins' by work mates or neighbours. Others
are located by data matching between immigration, taxation and social
security agencies. Overstayers for whom departure is organised may be
subjected to an exclusion period of 3 years, and are required to repay
detention and removal costs before being granted another entry visa.
The problem with
illegals
The feature that many people most enjoy about our major
cities-vibrant and enterprising ethnic communities, offering a variety
of cheap goods and food and restaurants-are fuelled by illegal as well
as legal immigrants. A Four Corners program in 1999(10) reported
a Chinese community estimate that there were 10 000 illegal immigrants
in Sydney's Chinatown alone. The only thing separating a model resident
from an 'illegal alien' may be a valid visa. The same Four Corners program
interviewed an obviously successful former immigrant and now citizen who
had previously lived and worked here illegally-long enough to become proficient
in English and to develop the skills and sponsorship network to enable
him to re-enter the country legitimately.
However the 'illegal' population comprises, in migration
terms, predominantly unskilled or lower skilled people who would not qualify
under current entry criteria. There is public concern that they are taking
jobs that should go to the legally resident unemployed. There is also
concern that their irregular status-they are not entitled to government
benefits-makes them particularly vulnerable to exploitation by employers
or those who have organised their entry. And the continuing existence
or growth of ethnic communities which are marginalised and disadvantaged
by their irregular status, and by their concentration in insecure and
crime related areas such as the sex industry, is anathema to the immigration
ideals of Australia.
According to the Immigration Department, while keeping
the 'stock' number or illegals down is resource intensive, the growth
of the illegal population makes detection difficult, and encourages further
illegal migration.(11) Allowing a build up of an illegally resident population
also creates pressure for amnesties or periodic 'regularisation of status'
for people who have established themselves in Australia. And such 'amnesties'
or 'regularisation of status' programs encourage further illegal immigration.
Concerns related to the boat people and unauthorised
air arrivals are of another order of urgency. Illegal arrivals involve
the immediate practical difficulties and costs-and humanitarian and civil
liberty concerns-of detention. And the boat arrivals in particular provide
a very public demonstration of how options for dealing with people unlawfully
in Australia are constrained by the international asylum system, and the
way that the UN Refugee Convention obligations have been written into
Australian migration law. Measures for dealing with illegal boat arrivals
have also had to be developed within pragmatic and diplomatic constraints,
such as the need to obtain the agreement of source countries to take back
those of their nationals or former residents who may not be granted refugee
status.
'Illegals' and the
asylum system
While the boat people have supporters, others see such
'self-selecting' entry as a challenge to Australia's sovereignty, and
the increasing numbers of on-shore asylum claims as having the potential
to distort our 'world's best practice' refugee (called humanitarian) migration
program. Australia maintains the highest per capita refugee resettlement
program of any contemporary nation, together with a highly developed and
costly 'integrated' settlement program. The humanitarian program has a
non-economic, indeed an openly humanitarian rationale. Refugee settlement
is costly; humanitarian entrants require special settlement services,
and they are likely to remain unemployed and to require support for extended
periods.(12)
The 1999-2000 humanitarian program has a ceiling of 12 000,
of which a nominal 2000 places are set aside for successful onshore asylum
seekers. Twice as many places, i.e. 4000, are planned for refugees who
have been determined by the UNHCR to be in need of resettlement from overseas
camps. A further 6000 places are planned for 'humanitarian' and 'special
assistance' category entrants; people who may not be determined to be
Convention refugees but are in situations of hardship and need, and often
have links with Australia through family or friends. The Immigration Minister
has undertaken to reduce the overseas humanitarian program commensurately
if more than 2000 places are granted to asylum seekers in Australia.
In the 1980s about 500 asylum claims were lodged in Australia,
i.e. 'on-shore', each year. Numbers increased in the 1990s, reaching a
high in 1998-99 when 11 000 applications for 'protection', i.e. refugee
visas were lodged. People intending to apply for refugee status in Australia
have since July 1998 been required to lodge applications within 45 days
of entering the country, or lose any work rights associated with their
bridging visas. A post Refugee Review Tribunal (appeal) decision fee of
$1000 was also imposed on failed claimants.
In 1998-99 a lower number, 8257, protection visa applications
were lodged. A total of 1834 protection visas were granted, including
985 at the primary decision stage and 741 following review by the RRT.
A further 108 were granted by ministerial discretion. The proportion of
successful applicants in 1998-99 was thus 22.5 per cent. Protection visas
provide the holder with permanent residence in Australia, provided they
have entered lawfully. Boat arrivals or illegal air arrivals who are granted
refugee status have since 21 October 1999 been provided in the first instance
with 3 year temporary visas, which provide access to welfare support (Special
Benefits), but not to family reunion.
Acceptance rates (the proportion of applicants granted
refugee status), vary considerably according to the country or region
of the applicant. Applicants from Indonesia, the PRC, and Sri Lanka represented
a significant proportion (40 per cent) of all protection visa applicants
in 1998-99. A significant number also came from other countries in our
region, including the Philippines. Acceptance rates in 1998-99 at the
initial departmental decision stage were less than 1 per cent for nationals
of Indonesia and the PRC,(13) virtually nil for the Philippines, and 18
per cent for Sri Lanka. The highest approval rates were for applicants
from Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, 70-80 per cent at the initial stage,
and over 90 per cent following review by the independent appeal body,
the Refugee Review Tribunal.
The cost to Australia in 1998-99 of locating, removing
and detaining people who had arrived illegally, and those found to be
working illegally, was $128 million; this financial year it is expected
to be $200 million. The number of protection visa claimants who fail to
leave the country after their case is rejected, and simply join the illegal
resident population in Australia is estimated to be about 5000. Expenditure
on Australia's on-shore refugee determination system in 1998-99, excluding
litigation costs incurred through appeals to the courts, was in the order
of $35 million ($19.5 million by the Immigration Department, for initial
decision making and asylum seeker assistance payments ($9 million), and
$15.5 million for the RRT). By way of comparison, Australia's contribution
to the UNHCR's international refugee effort in 1998-99 was about $20 million.
The international context
'Illegal' or 'undocumented' international population
movements have escalated dramatically over the last 10 years, as levels
of desire and need to move have increased, while opportunities for legal
entry have decreased. One in three people who have moved to Western Europe,
and one in four who have moved to the USA in recent years, have done so
as undocumented migrants.(14) The UN has estimated that there were 120
million people living and working outside their country of nationality,
up from 50 million in 1989. Irregular migration has emerged as a major
international challenge,(15) as has the refugee situation. The United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 1998 estimate of world
refugee numbers was 11.5 million, within a 'population of concern' of
21.5 million.
The reasons why more people than ever before want and
have to move include increased conflict and political instability and
the breakdown of borders following the end of the Cold War, and growing
populations of young people in Third World countries with limited employment
prospects. Discrepancies in income and life opportunities between wealthy
and poorer countries have increased, as have awareness of these discrepancies
and ability to move, through revolutions in global communications and
travel.
Opportunities to migrate legally to Western countries,
except for the skilled or those with money to invest, or those with close
family ties, including even to the traditional immigration countries (the
USA, Canada, Australia and NZ), have however progressively closed off.
As legal opportunities have become way insufficient to meet demand, people
have made use of the asylum channel as the one remaining avenue to legal
entry, to the extent that illegal and asylum seeker populations in many
(especially European Union) countries have blurred.
Asylum claims reached absurdly high levels in the early
1990s in some Western European countries and particularly Germany. (In
1993 Germany received nearly half a million claims, and had a resident
population of 1.5 million asylum seekers.) The UNHCR has acknowledged
that by the early 1990s the vast majority of asylum seekers in Western
countries were economic migrants. It has however urged convention countries
to maintain the international asylum system, and to ensure that 'real'
refugees are not blocked from refugee determination systems.(16)
Measures to bring asylum seeker numbers down and prevent
them accessing refugee determination systems have included: tighter border
and visa controls; 'harmonisation' of claims (within the European Union,
and within Northern America); summary assessments of 'manifestly unfounded'
claims and turnaround of people (at border crossings and airports); 'expedited'
or speeded up refugee determination processes; safe country of origin
and safe third country decrees; and repatriation agreements. Numbers of
asylum claims, while still significant, came down in the late 1990s. However
illegal populations have not decreased.(17)
One undesired result of tougher border control measures
and more restricted access to asylum systems has been the development
of organised people smuggling. The International Organisation for Migration
(IOM) estimated in 1996 that 4 million people were moved each year, as
part of an industry worth an annual $11 billion, and that few areas of
the world remained unaffected. Another result of tightening entry controls
in Europe and the USA has been the targeting of more distant and relatively
isolated countries, like Australia.
Some international comparisons(18)
As indicated above, Australia has an illegal population
of about 53 000, and possibly as many again on bridging visas pending
determination of their migration or refuge status. In 1997-98 Australia
received 11 000 claims and in 1998-99 about 8300. The success rate
in 1998-99 was 22.5 per cent.
The USA
The USA is the most attractive of the official immigration
countries, with the most vulnerable of borders, and provides a good examples
of both the near impossibility of liberal democracies completely controlling
illegal migration, and of the stresses and resultant absurdities in the
international asylum system in the late 1990s.
The US Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) estimated
the illegal population in the USA in 1996 at 5 million. It also estimated
it to be growing at the rate of about 275 000 per year, despite a
budget in the order of US$4.8 billion, the bulk of which is dedicated
to border control. About 2.1 million, or 41 per cent of the total undocumented
population in 1996 were nonimmigrant overstayers. The rest had entered
illegally, most across the Mexican border.(19) Anti-illegal migration
rhetoric has run high in the USA in recent years, apparently to placate
public concern, while politicians praise legal migrants in pursuit of
the critical migrant vote. Once in the US, however, 'illegals' run little
risk of removal. Illegal immigrants are welcomed as low wage labour by
(especially agricultural) employers, and are generally tolerated in a
time of economic growth and low unemployment.
The INS has virtually given up on controlling illegal
numbers, and pursues as a matter of priority only those individuals involved
in criminal activity.(20) The level of police activity and mass deportations
that would be involved in seriously addressing the illegal 'problem' might
in any event be unthinkable in such a pluralistic and individual rights
oriented society. California in 1996 had an illegal population of about
2 million, Texas 700 000, New York 540 000 and Florida 350 000.
Boat arrivals however appear to be as politically sensitive
as in Australia, and tough and costly measures are employed to prevent
people reaching US shores. US coastguards board and search suspect vessels
outside US territorial waters, and boat people from Cuba and Haiti caught
by the US Coastguard or navy are turned around at sea and taken back.
If they manage to get a foot on US territory, people from these countries
are granted almost automatic political asylum. Extraordinary and shocking
measures have been employed recently to prevent them from achieving this
goal, including a naval blockade of US territory in Micronesia earlier
this year, and efforts to hose Cuban asylum seekers off a Miami beach.(21)
During 1998 54 952 asylum claims were lodged in
the US and 9939 accepted, for a 23 per cent approval rate. The majority
of claims were from Mexicans, who have the lowest acceptance rate of any
nationality, at 0.6 per cent. The highest acceptance rates have been for
nationals of Afghanistan, Somalia, and Iraq.
Canada
The illegal population of Canada is unknown, but has
been estimated in 1999 as at least 10 000.(22) Canada is however
increasingly viewed as part of a single migration zone with the USA. Many
boat people who land in Canada are en route to the US, and particularly
New York, and the bulk of asylum claims are received at the US border.
Canada would appear to be seen by many asylum seekers as more generous
and receptive than the US, but a less desirable place to live.
Canada is in fact the most generous of any Convention
country. Canada received 24 937 asylum claims in 1998. In the mid-1990s
Canada's asylum seeker approval rate was 70 per cent; in 1998 it was 56
per cent.(23) Many of those who are not accepted as Convention refugees
are provided humanitarian visas: mechanisms such as the post-determination
refugee class, or the deferred removal orders class have allowed many
failed applicants to remain legally. Most of the remainder would appear
to simply stay and join Canada's illegal population. It appears as if
energy is put into removing only those refused applicants who have committed
crimes in the past, or who have committed serious crimes in Canada.(24)
Boat arrivals have increased this year, many from Fujian
province in southern China. (Over 600 boat people arrived between 1 July
and 10 December 1999.) As in Australia, the Canadian public is sharply
divided, with some wanting to welcome the boat people to Canada, and others
wanting to turn them away. Canada describes its refugee policy as the
most humanitarian and compassionate in the world. However the UNHCR has
apparently criticised Canada for its high acceptance rates, as discrediting
the international refugee system.(25) The PRC Government has similarly
accused Canada of encouraging illegal immigration by granting refugee
status to 'economic migrants', arguing that rapid repatriation is the
only way to 'shatter illusions' and slow people smuggling operations out
of China.(26)
Canada's 1999 Immigration Plan(27) includes a notional
target of 7000 'Government sponsored' refugees; people from refugee camps
overseas that the UNHCR has determined need to be resettled in a third
country. In a reversal of the situation in Australia, twice as many places
are allocated for 'refugees landed in Canada', and their dependents, i.e.
asylum seekers. Canada's high on shore asylum seeker acceptance rate has
been a contentious public issue. Also contentious has been the Can$1000
landing fee, a cost recouping measure applied to refugees (on a pay later
basis) and migrants alike.
Western Europe
The illegal population in Western Europe is unknown,
but is generally considered to rival that of the US. Estimates are complicated
by the periodic regularisation of status of illegal and asylum seeker
populations who have found stable employment and effectively settled,
often with their families. The IOM estimated that in 1996 the business
of smuggling people into European Union countries was worth US$4 billion,
and involved some 400 000 people a year.
In 1998 Germany received about 99 000 asylum applications,
Switzerland 41 000, the UK 46 000, France 22 000 and Finland
1000. Italy received over 10 000, up from 1858 in 1997, and 675 in
1996. The acceptance rate for European countries is generally lower than
for the traditional immigration countries, varying in 1998 from 0.6 per
cent in Finland, to 4 per cent in Germany, 8 per cent in Sweden, 15 per
cent in Switzerland, but up to 32 per cent for Italy. A number of those
not granted refugee status may however be permitted to remain on humanitarian
grounds, often with temporary or provisional visas, and with less access
to public benefits. Few failed asylum seekers actually leave, however;
most of those not granted refugee or humanitarian status simply remain
and merge in with the illegal population. (The UNHCR has estimated that
while over 80 per cent of asylum claims are rejected, fewer than 25 per
cent of failed asylum seekers actually leave the country in which they
lodge their claim.)
So far this year over 20 000 Albanian boat people
have arrived in Italy, many en route to Germany. The illegal population
in Italy has been estimated to be in the order of 200-300 000 in
recent years. Earlier this year the Italian Government provided an amnesty
which 'regularised' the status of about 250 000 undocumented arrivals
who had established themselves in Italy. This follows similar amnesties
in 1995 and 1996.
Conclusion
The illegal migration and asylum seeker pressure on Western
countries is expected to increase over the next 25 years. The only 'solution'
envisaged by international migration forums is to improve the living standards,
political stability and democratic institutions in countries of origin,
so that people no longer want or need to move.(28) This solution obviously
entails a long-term effort, and one that in the short to medium term will
increase rather than decrease migration pressures. In the meantime, 'receiving'
countries, including the traditional immigrant receiving countries, will
continue to tighten border controls and attempt to restrict asylum seeker
entry. The officially non-immigrant countries of Europe and the UK will
also intensify their efforts to integrate their sizeable illegal and asylum
seeker populations that have become established.
Australia has been largely protected from the levels
of illegal and asylum seeker movements experienced by other countries,
by its physical remoteness, its lack of land borders and its strict visa
regime. With cheaper and more direct air travel, increasing temporary
movements, tighter border controls and more restricted asylum seeker access
in Europe and the USA, together with the advent of a highly sophisticated
global people smuggling industry,(29) Australia could become a more attractive
destination. Besides relative economic and political stability, and remoteness
from world conflicts, Australia offers well-developed and comparatively
generous migrant and refugee settlement assistance and quick access to
citizenship entitlements.
Australia does not rank amongst the highest countries
in the world in terms of illegal populations and asylum seekers, but it
has entered the general ballpark. In 1998-99 Australia received, on a
per capita basis, fewer asylum claims than the UK, and much fewer than
Germany or Switzerland, but more than France or Italy. In terms of immigration
countries, Australia received twice as many asylum claims per capita than
the USA, but half as many as Canada. In per capita terms, Australia in
1998-99 had an estimated illegal population, per million population, of
2819, compared with the USA's 20 328 per million population.
Australia, the USA and Canada are often compared on immigration
issues. However Australia and the USA have different labour market and
welfare traditions and cultures, and they also have different migration
cultures. In the USA legal migration is dominated by family migration,
and the focus of recent policy and debate is illegal migration. Canada's
and Australia's migrant and humanitarian programs have been more similar,
but have diverged in recent years, with Canada maintaining higher immigration
intakes, even in times of relatively high unemployment, and a refugee
program increasingly dominated by asylum seekers.
It is questionable whether many countries-Canada perhaps
aside-would sign up to the 1951 international refugee convention today,
or that it would be put forward as a workable way of addressing the refugee
situation at the beginning of the 21st Century. However Australia,
along with other Convention countries, appears reluctant to revisit it,
despite the skewing of the international refugee effort resulting from
the focus of individual countries on their refugee determination systems,
and their efforts to weed out (possibly no less desperate) 'economic'
from political refugees. (In 1992 the cost to Western Governments alone
of processing their estimated two million on-shore asylum-seeker claims
and providing welfare payments to applicants awaiting decisions was estimated
at around US$7 billion: ten times the annual worldwide expenditure of
the UNHCR in that year.(30))
Overseas experience suggests it is likely that more resources
in Australia may be directed in future towards dealing with illegal arrivals
and on shore asylum seekers. Practical and cost considerations as well
as humanitarian concerns may force a revision of the detention policy,
if numbers of illegal arrivals get much higher. Additional policy and
administrative resources may be needed to focus on regional refugee solutions,
and on negotiating readmission agreements with sending countries further
afield. And a decreasing proportion of Australia's annual refuge intake
may come via UNHCR advice from refugee camps overseas, as increasing numbers
of people seek protection visas in Australia.
Endnotes
- See Dick Pratt, 'Refugee alert sounds like a wake-up call', The
Australian, 25/11/99.
- Carolyn Graydon, 'Why new refugee laws set a bad precedent', The
Sydney Morning Herald, 24/11/99.
- See forthcoming Information and Research Services paper by Derek Woolner
on issues in coastal surveillance.
- Illegal and asylum seeker information and statistics are taken from
Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Fact Sheets
(www.immi.gov.au/facts/), annual reports, and other departmental publications.
- See for example Karen Polglaze, 'Illegal migrants washed up on rising
human tide', The West Australian, 18/8/1999.
- The eastern coast arrivals in 1999 heralded Australia's entry into
a new era of people smuggling, with the use of 'motherships' which remained
outside territorial waters and contacts in Australia to ferry illegal
migrants ashore.
- Australia is one of 134 signatories to the 1951 United Nations Convention
and 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. The Convention
defines refugees as people who 'are outside their country of nationality
or their usual country of residence, and are unable or unwilling to
return or to seek the protection of that country due to a well-founded
fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality,
membership of a particular social group, or political opinions'. The
basic principle and obligation under the Convention is that of 'non-refoulement',
i.e. not sending someone back into a situation of danger.
- The policy of detention is described in DIMA Fact Sheet no
82, op cit, and was explored by a parliamentary committee in 1993-94.
Joint Standing Committee on Migration, Asylum, Border Control and
Detention, AGPS Canberra 1994.
- The estimate of 'unlawful' non-citizens resident in Australia is prepared
at 30 June and 31 December each year, based on arrival and departure
data from 1981.
- ABC TV, 'The People Smugglers' Guide to Australia', Four Corners,
23/8/99.
- Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Protecting
the Border: Immigration Compliance, DIMA, December 1999.
- See data from Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
Longitudinal Survey of Immigration to Australia. LSIA Reports
are listed at www.immi.gov.au/research/lsia1.htm.
- In 1995, following amendments to the Migration Act, the PRC was declared
a safe third country for the purpose of the Sino-Vietnamese former refugee
boat people from the Beihai region in southern China. They are thus
precluded from accessing the refugee determination system. Also in 1995
the High Court upheld the then Government's position that people affected
by China's one child policy do not constitute a persecuted 'social group'
under the terms of the refugee convention. A high proportion of claims
made under this policy are rejected.
- According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and
the US Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS).
- Described by Michael Shenstone, former Canadian diplomat and consultant
on refugee and population issues, in World Population Growth and
movement: Towards the 21st Century, Departments of Foreign Affairs
and International Trade, and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
- UNHCR Note on International Protection. A/AC. 96/830.
- Measures to regulate and control illegal and asylum seeker inflows
are described in SOPEMI Trends in International Migration, OECD,
Paris, 1999; and UN Population Division International Migration Policies,
UN, New York, 1998.
- Asylum claim figures are taken from the US Committee for Refugees
Internet site, at www.refugees.org/world/countryrpt/.
- US Department of Labor Immigration Policy and Research Working Paper
Developments in International Migration to the US: 1998.
- November reports, collated by Mark Krikorian, CISNEWS@cis.org.
- Described in 'Farewell Cuba', The Economist, 10 July 1999.
- By the Reform Party.
- The Canadian Government claims its acceptance rate is under 50 per
cent. However other observers inside and outside Canada (including the
Canadian Parliamentary Library) usually calculate it as the number of
positive decisions per claims concluded by a final decision. (A significant
number of claims, including 50 per cent of boat people this year, are
withdrawn or abandoned.)
- Tom Fennell, 'Canada's Open Door', Maclean's, 28 August 1999.
- M. Shenstone, op cit.
- Paul Mooney, 'Human smuggling is big business', Maclean's,
23 August 1999.
- At internet site http://cicnet.ci.gc.ca/english/pub/anrep99e.html
- OECD, SOPEMI 1999, op cit.
- The International Organisation for Migration's Internet homepage on
people trafficking is at www.iom.ch/iom.policies/trafficking.
See also OECD, SOPEMI 1999, ibid.
- G. Loescher, 'Refugee Movements and International Security', Adelphi
Papers, Summer 1992.
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