buddies

In 1999, ninety-seven percent of applicants from Iraq and 93 percent of applicants from Afghanistan were recognized as genuine refugees by Australia.

Australia is a signatory to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, which states: “No child shall be deprived of their liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily.”

No country, other than Australia, detains unaccompanied children indefinitely.

Australia is now the only country in the Western world to lock up asylum seekers automatically, indefinitely and with limited judicial review.

Australia is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits arbitrary detention.

Australia is a signatory to the UN Convention Relation to the Status of Refugees, respecting a person’s right to seek asylum.

Australia is one of only eight countries in the world which set quotas for refugees. The other 63 countries which accept displaced people don’t set limits.

Australia came 38th of 71 countries, on a per capita basis, for its acceptance of refugees in the calendar year 2000 (figures supplied by UN High Commission for Refugees.) Among the 29 developed nations in this group, Australia came 14th.

Australia is one of just four countries in the developed world—the others being Greece, Turkey and Poland—that put asylum seekers in detention camps.

Australia receives 8 million visitors, about 105 migrants (as of next year) and 4000 asylum seekers a year.

Sweden receives similar numbers of asylum seekers to Australia despite having less than half the population. Detention is used only to establish identity and to conduct criminal screening. Most detainees are released within a very short time, particularly if they have relatives or friends living in Sweden. Of the 17,000 asylum seekers currently in Sweden, 10,000 live outside detention centres. Children are detained for a maximum of six days.

(source: David Leser’s article Behind the Wire, in the July, 2002 issue of Women’s Weekly)