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.