- Article one: all people have the right to self determination
- Article seven: no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Article eighteen: everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
- Article twenty-six: all persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law.
Asylum seekers civil and political rights are often the main section of right that are abused by governments.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights have selected nine article in which reflect a persons social, economic and cultural rights. This category of rights assesses a person’s right to work, right to education, an adequate standard of living and the right to take part in their own cultural life.
The main article in this category that is not present to asylum seekers is article eleven: the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself, family, including food, clothing and housing…
Environmental rights refer to the right to clean and safe environment. Peace rights refer to the right to live in a peaceful world where war, environmental devastation and the risk of nuclear fallout are removed or even reduced. Obtaining peace rights include:
Some asylum seekers may also experience a violation of their environmental and peace rights because of the number of wars in third world countries and the nuclear weapons that are sometimes found in third world countries.
The collective right to self determination discusses the rights of indigenous people in particular, to be allowed certain forms of sovereignty, which may include the right to control certain parts of land and utilise certain laws.
A little over 9,000 people have sought asylum in Australia in the last year, some with documentation, and others without.
In Australia, the refugee and humanitarian program is linked by an off-shore and an on-shore component. 10,000 places are allocated to off-shore applicants who are waiting each year to be accepted as humanitarian entrants, while on-shore asylum seekers flee by whatever means available directly to Australia where on 2,000 places are on offer for applicants.
Those asylum seekers who arrive in Australia with documentation are placed in detention centres ranging from three months to sometimes six years while they wait for their asylum to be decided and a Permeant Protection Visa (PPV) is granted.
Australia provides protection for asylum seekers who meet the United Nations definition of a refugee, which is defined in the 1951 Convention and 1967 protocol relating to the status of refugees.
In the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the UN proposed that “everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” In this article the UN was attempting to set a standard of rights for the treatment of refugees.
Australia initially responded to this proposal by the UN by becoming a party to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1951 and by forming the Migration Act 1953(Migration Act 1953)←------ (AT OUR SKOOL WE HAVE TO LIST THE ACTS IN ITALICS OR WE LOOSE MARKS). However, in 2001 the government amended the Migration Act so an asylum seeker would have to prove that the persecution they fear from there former country would be “serious, systematic, discriminatory and the essential and significant reason for their fear.” This requirement narrows the chances for a person to be considered to be classified as a refugee seeking asylum from persecution. This amendment to the Migration Act is not very effective for people seeking asylum because it narrows down their chances for being considered as an asylum seeker. International law has left the definition so broad and open with the intention of embracing as many applicants as possible and thereby protecting them.
The Refugee Review Tribunal is known as an independent merits review tribunal. Its main purpose is to review decisions made by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA). The tribunal has the right to refuse or cancel protection visas of all non-Australian citizens. To be granted with a protection visa the person must be a non-Australian citizen, and Australia has the obligation of protecting any non-Australian citizens under the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (refugees Convention) as amended by the 1967 UN Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (the Protocol). The operations of the tribunal are governed by the Act and Migration Regulations 1994. In conducting a review of a decision to refuse or cancel a protection visa, the tribunal reviews the issues. This tribunal is very effective and beneficial for people seeking asylum in Australia because it reviews the decisions made by the courts and see if a protection visa should have been granted. This tribunal is also very effective in preserving justice because it can refuse and even cancel protection visas that have been granted to asylum seekers. The Tribunal has the power to affirm the DIMIA’s decision, vary the decision, set the decision aside and replace it with a new decision, or forward the matter to the DIMIA for reconsideration.
The number of Protection Visa applicant’s received in 2001-02 was 8,670. During 2001-02 the RRT processed 5,467 cases. 4,272 of these cases agreed with the decision made by the Department while 710 cases were in favour of the applicant. These statistics illustrate just how effective this Tribunal is, it demonstrates the number of successful cases that they have reviewed.
The amendment to the Migration legislation came into practice on the 1st October 2001 to clarify the application in Australia of the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
The amendments were also aimed at strengthening powers to protect asylum processes against an increasing incidence of fraud in the presentation of claims. The legislation also:
- Prevents people basing their applications on conduct in Australia designed purely to strengthen their claims
- Clarifies circumstances in which people will not receive protection because of their serious criminal conduct
- Provides increased powers to draw adverse inferences if a person fails to provide information on oath or affirmation or cannot provide reasonable explanation for the absence of any identity documents
- Prevents people whose protection visas have been cancelled, or who have previously applied as family members and been refused, from making another protection visa application.
There are many services run by the Government that are set up to assist asylum seekers. Some of these include:
- Financial assistance to eligible Protection Visa applicants who are unable to meet their basic needs for food, accommodation and health care while their application is being processed.
- Help in preparing and lodging Protection Visa applicants through the Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme.
