Afloat in a sea of suspicion and ignorance

April 4, 2010
by Cropje

"The word from the relevant United Nations agencies – those that deal with refugees and asylum seekers around the world, such as the UNHCR – is that global irregular migration patterns are primarily influenced by factors in the country of origin. Indeed, international agencies and NGOs alike consistently argue that this is by far the greatest factor behind illegal immigration. On the surface, this is pretty evident. When was the last time we saw Europeans, Japanese or Americans claiming political asylum? But even in less broad terms, there is a strong logic to support this view. Recent intense conflict in Sri Lanka, political turmoil in Iran and ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are fuelling the current waves of arrivals. This simple fact may give us a hint of what will no doubt for some be an uncomfortable truth: illegal immigration is just one of numerous global issues that can only be fundamentally tackled through development aid and international cooperation. For the reasons examined above, simply cracking down at the very final stage of the global refugee production process – in other words enacting “tougher” border protection policies in Australia – is likely to have little or no effect on overall trends to which Australia is subjected."

Read entire article: Cropje