go back to whereyou camefrom
TRANSCRIPT
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These resources were developed in 2011 for the first season of Go Back To Where You Came From. You will need to view the clips hosted on SBS Learn before completing the corresponding classroom activities.
NB: Statistics and information included in this resource were correct at the time of original publication in 2011.For all Go Back classroom resources, please visit
About the Resource
SBS Learn’s Go Back To Where You Came From resources page
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Teachers are encouraged to view all resources and news clips before sharing it with students. The content addresses some significant themes and it is important for teachers to feel comfortable with the content before introducing it in the classroom. These resources have been designed to facilitate engagement in safe and robust discussions in the classroom:
• Encourage students to frame discussion comments as their own (as in “I think”) and avoid forceful language (such as “you should”). Also encourage students to draw on evidence from their viewing, and from further critical research, in shaping their responses – engaging with diverse perspectives, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, is key to formulating strong understandings and responses.
• When responding to others in classroom discussion or within the associated activities, encourage students to challenge ideas rather than people. Allow adequate time at the end of each viewing session to debrief the content, discussion and associated activities.
Recommendations Before Viewing in the Classroom
Be respectful Each person has their own beliefs and values.
Value diversity Each person has their own world views, experiences and opinions.
Listen politely Each person has a right to contribute without pressure or intimidation.
Act with honour and courage Be brave in sharing experiences, ideas and opinions.
Appreciate privacy Each person has the right to uphold their privacy.
Act responsibly Share feedback with thoughtful consideration and a positive attitude towards others. As each classroom is unique, add any further rules that may be required.
Examples of Classroom Ground Rules
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Introduction
After many years of persecution, degradation and fear, both Bahati and Maisara fled their own war-torn countries in search of safety and peace.
Bahati came from Burundi and Maisara from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They settled in a refugee camp in Kenya. As a young man, Bahati lived in this camp for nine years. It was here that he met and married Maisara. But the camp was not a safe haven. Civil unrest and crime was common. They lived in poverty in makeshift accommodation without adequate food, water or health care for themselves or their newborn children.
Now, Bahati and Maisara are among the 1 per cent of the world’s refugees who have been re-settled by the United Nations. A Humanitarian Visa has enabled Bahati to legally immigrate with his family to Australia. They now live on the NSW and Victorian border in Albury Wodonga with their children.
In this clip both Bahati and Maisara share their individual stories of persecution, injustice and tragedy with their guests Raye, Raquel and Roderick.
Clip 01
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Task 1: Push and Pull Factors
Often when a person flees their own country they are forced by a number of reasons called Push and Pull factors.
a. What is the definition of the term Push and Pull factors?
b. Write a list of 5 Push and 5 Pull factors that influenced Maisara’s decision to flee from her homeland to the safety of Australia.
c. It is clear that while Maisara is pleased to be able to raise her children in the safety and wellbeing of Australia, she misses her sisters in Kenya. Often, for a refugee, the emotional journey to a new homeland is complex. Write a letter from Maisara to her sisters describing her family’s new life in Australia – including specific references to the Push and Pull factors you have identified that Maisara must be experiencing.
Task 2: Terror and Persecution
Watch the clip and focus on the similarities between Bahati and Roderick. You may need to watch it several times to fully appreciate Roderick’s response to Bahati’s story and how closely it resembles his own life.
a. Write a 250-word description of Bahati’s life in Burundi prior to the war, and what happened once war broke out. Conclude by explaining why Bahati cannot continue his explanation and why Roderick is so shocked.
Task 3: Informed Humanitarian Attitude
The Ipsos Mackay Report 2011 researched Australian community attitudes to asylum seekers and identified four main attitudinal groups, listed in the graph below.
23%Fear of theforeigner
22%Under no
circumstances
27%On ourterms
28%Open mind,
open borders
Figure 2: Attitudinal Segmentations The Ipsos Mackay Report 2011
a. In your own words, describe the four attitudes and the relating percentages in this pie graph in four separate sentences.
b. If you were asked to participate in this survey, in which group would you belong?
c. Now, with regard to Bahati, Maisara and their children as an example of happily settled, community-minded refugees, respond to the remaining three attitudes in separate paragraphs by writing a convincing explanation as to why these attitudes may not represent a humanitarian viewpoint.
Reference: The Ipsos Mackay Report
Classroom Activities
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Introduction
Kakuma Camp was established in 1992 as a refugee camp on 25 square kilometres in the semi-arid desert region of north-western Kenya. Kakuma is the Swahili word for “nowhere”.
Today* Kakuma Camp is home to more than 84,000 refugees from 14 different African countries. They have all either been forcibly displaced or have fled their war-torn home countries in search of safety. Kakuma’s refugees have been traumatised and have seen unspeakable horror before arriving at the camp.
Kakuma camp is governed by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The United Nations World Food Programme provides food supplies every 15 days. During the distribution of food, the refugees’ anxieties often emerge and tensions can arise.
While life in Kakuma might be relatively safe, it is also difficult. Survival is challenging. Adequate shelter, disease and malnourishment are common problems for Kakuma residents.
Clip 02
*All information correct at time of publication in 2011
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Task 1: Kakuma Camp
Identify the location, purpose and function of Kakuma Camp by completing the following:
a. Mark the location of Kakuma Camp on a map of Africa.
b. Name the 14 countries from which Kakuma’s residents originated.
c. Describe the geographical region in which Kakuma is located.
d. When and why was Kakuma Camp set up?
e. Who administers the management of Kakuma Camp?
Task 2: Living Conditions
Watch the clip to view the living conditions in Kakuma Camp. Then, complete this task to gain an understanding of why Kakuma residents continue to live in such difficult conditions. Draw up a three-column table. Write the headings for each column: Basic Living Needs, Australia, Kakuma Camp.
a. In the first column write a list of 10 basic human needs for a healthy, comfortable life.
b. Complete the second column by describing in one or two words the availablility of each Living Need in Australia.
c. Complete the third column by describing in one or two words the availability of each Living Need in Kakuma Camp.
Now, imagine you are a refugee living in Kakuma Camp. Write a 200-word letter to the United Nations explaining why you and your family want to move from Kakuma Camp and immigrate to Australia.
Task 3: Food Distribution
Watch the clip carefully. Australian participant Roderick jokingly calls the weighing of the food the “refugee check out”. However, the tensions and anxieties that arise amongst the thousands waiting for food are unmistakable.
a. In relation to the food rationing, recipient humiliation, differing nationalities and crowd tension, the three Australian participants argue after receiving their 15-day food parcel. Why?
b. Describe their differing points of view about food distribution.
Classroom Activities
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Introduction
In Kakuma Camp, the Kenyan Red Cross in association with the ICRC, runs a Tracing Programme to re-unite families who have been separated by war.
The Kenyan Red Cross/ICRC keeps records of everyone residing in the Kakuma Camp. Sometimes, after being separated for a long time, it is possible for family members to find each other in Kakuma Camp.
The refugees are given a small plot and are required to build their own shelter. Bahati’s brother Deo lives with his wife and six children in a mud house. Maisara’s sister also lives with Deo’s family. Life is not easy. Although the family can live in relative safety in Kakuma Camp, they exist in difficult circumstances.
They have neither electricity nor water. The women carry plastic containers to the well to collect water for washing and cooking. In Kakuma there are no toys for the children, no school for the teenagers and no employment for the fathers like Deo. The family lives in desperate hope that they may be granted opportunity to leave the camp for a better life. Deo says: “we are not animals; we need to contribute with work.”
Deo and his family suffer a deep anguish at being separated from their extended family in Australia because of their own situation and refugee status. While they are proud and happy for Bahati and Maisara and their children, Deo and his family are distraught with their own seemingly hopeless prospects of being granted a visa to come to Australia.
Clip 03
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Classroom Activities
Task 1: Key Terms
Investigate some key terms that relate to the refugee situation. Write definitions for the following:
Refugee Refugee Status Asylum
Displacement Migrant Immigration
Persecution Resettlement Assimilation UNHCR
Task 2: Life as a Refugee
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Article 14 states:
Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
However, for an asylum seeker the process of obtaining official refugee status and a possible visa for resettlement can thwart this right. In Kakuma Camp, the Masudi family has no choice but to live as impoverished refugees. Their life opportunity is severely compromised.
The United Nations states that basic human needs comprise of shelter, clean water, adequate food, basic health and schooling.
Imagine you are asked to visit Kakuma Camp to investigate the existing living conditions in relation to basic human needs, and present a two-part report to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
a. In the first part of the report explain in detail the existing living conditions in Kakuma with specific reference to basic human needs.
b. In the second part of the report, write a detailed suggestion about how access to each basic human need can be improved in Kakuma Camp.
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Classroom Activities
Task 3: Extended Family
Many cultures in the world place great importance on extended family bonds. These bonds may be extremely important to a family that has suffered tragedy, persecution and displacement. When part of a family is issued a visa to move a new homeland, difficulties in resettling may be accentuated by the separation.
The Refugee Council of Australia states:
The settlement experience for many refugees can be a very difficult time with feelings of homesickness, isolation and culture shock compounding people’s abilities to start a new life in Australia. Many refugees have experienced extremely traumatic pasts before arriving in Australia. They have often experienced high levels of poverty, low levels of formal education, suffered from the effects of torture and trauma and have low levels or no knowledge of English. Their day-to-day existence before arriving in Australia may have been in a refugee camp. Many may have never rented a house, paid a bill, gone to work or have had any concept of engaging with institutions such as banks, real estate agents or government departments.
Ever since Bahati, Maisara and the children resettled in Australia, the extended Masudi family has been separated.Without telephones or internet in Kakuma Camp, the families have no way of keeping in real contact.
a. Watch the clip a few times to fully understand the hardship the Masudi family is experiencing due to being separated from each other. Given the apparent bonds that Bahati and Maisara have with their siblings, consider the experiences they must have endured when fleeing from Burundi or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
b. Choose either Bahati and his brother Deo, or Maisara and her sister. Explain in a 250-word essay how the political conditions existing in their original countries contributed to the traumatic experiences they shared.
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Introduction
Malaysia has approximately 100,000 refugees from different nations living in impoverished urban homes. Living in virtual self-imprisonment in Malaysia, the Chin people who have escaped violence and persecution in their homeland of Myanmar (formerly Burma) are the largest displaced population of refugees in the country.*
The Chin people are a minority group whose main religion is Christianity. As Malaysia does not officially recognise the Chins as refugees, they are granted no civil liberties. Therefore the Chins have no formal legal status and so are unable to work legally or access proper medical facilities.
In Malaysia, the Chins live in fear of being arrested, imprisoned and caned by immigration authorities or being returned to their homeland. For their safety, the Chins endure an enforced existence within their own small apartment homes, rarely venturing outside.
As the clip illustrates, these apartments typically house up to 50 men, women and children. Facilities are scarce; one toilet and shower is commonly all that is available. There are no beds, so people sleep on the floor. Food is basic and is served communally. The children never leave the apartment except to walk a block to their school of four rooms for 100 students.
Critically, life for the Chin people in Malaysia is a life in transit and insecurity. Some, but not all, gain access to the UNHCR and many are assessed and found to be refugees. The wait to be resettled in Australia or another country that has signed the Refugee Convention can take years, even decades.
Clip 04
*All information correct at time of publication in 2011
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Classroom Activities
Task 1: Self-Imprisonment
The UNHCR monitors asylum seekers and refugees they regard as ‘persons of concern’. The UNHCR classifies these people into three categories. The categories in the annual UNHCR report Global Trends include:
Refugees: individuals recognised under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees; its 1967 Protocol; the 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa; those recognised in accordance with the UNHCR Statute; individuals granted complementary forms of protection; or, those enjoying “temporary protection”. The refugee population includes people in a refugee-like situation.
Asylum-seekers: individuals who have sought international protection and whose claims for refugee status have not yet been determined. Those covered [by the UNHCR] refer to claimants whose individual applications were pending at the end of 2009, irrespective of when they may have been lodged.
Internally displaced persons: people or groups of individuals who have been forced to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of, or in order to avoid the effects of, armed conflict, situations of generalised violence, violations of human rights or natural- or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an international border.
a. With reference to the Chin people portrayed in the clip, assess which categories the Chin fall into. Explain why.
b. Like most Chin people living in Malaysia, the people depicted in this clip exist in a self-imposed type of prison. Describe the factors that have forced them into this type of existence.
Task 2: Urban Slums
Watch the clip carefully. In Malaysia, the Chin people live a life that is severely compromised by the conditions under which they live. The Australian participants are quite shocked to learn of the living conditions endured by the Chin people in the flat.
a. As if you are Raquel or Adam, write a fictitious email to a friend back in Australia. Include a comment on each of the following points:
− Number of people − Number of rooms − Gender arrangements − Cooking and eating − Sleeping arrangements
− Wardrobe and storage − Bathroom and toilet − Washing and drying − Work − Schooling
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Classroom Activities
Task 3: Ethnic Minorities
Around the world war and persecution drive people from their homes and force them to flee for safety. Most commonly, the people affected by this persecution are ethnic minority groups. Typically, the ethnic minorities that have escaped their homeland live in temporary settlements in foreign countries – unable to go home and unable to move forward to a permanent better life.
The UNHCR reports on the numbers of people refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) around the world:
At the end of 2009, some 43.3 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced due to conflict and persecution, the highest number since the mid-1990s. This included 15.2 million refugees, 27.1 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and close to one million individuals whose asylum application had not yet been adjudicated by the end of the reporting period.
The total number of refugees and IDPs under UNHCR’s care remained high, standing at 26 million by end-year. While the number of refugees remained relatively stable at 10.4 million, the number of IDPs protected or assisted by UNHCR rose to an unprecedented 15.6 million.*
a. Explain how the Australian process of re-settling refugees may be impacting on the number of people who are waiting to learn about their future.
b. Given the high numbers of refugees, asylum seekers and IDPs in the world, what is your considered opinion of how to help refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons re-settle into a permanent home and start a new life?
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IntroductionAt Villawood Detention Centre, Adam, Darren and Gleny meet a small group of Iraqi refugees who have been detained by Immigration Officials. Adam, Darren and Gleny meet a small group of Iraqi refugees who arrived in Australia by boat. The Iraqis’ applications have been processed, their refugee status is acknowledged, and now they have been granted permission to live in Australia.
Located in Sydney’s western suburbs, the Villawood Immigration Detention Centre (VIDC) is a complex of three main buildings that was originally used a migrant hostel. In the early 1970s it was modified and re-opened as an immigration detention facility. The Centre accommodates 371 people. People are detained at VIDC because they have no legal permission to live in the community. This includes people who have over-stayed their visas, those that have had their visas cancelled and those who have arrived without visas.
Today* according to the Department of Immigration, approximately 6729 people are detained in detention centres around Australia. This includes 5117 people on mainland Australia and 1612 in immigration detention on Christmas Island.
The UNHCR guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers (1999) states: The detention of asylum-seekers is, in the view of UNHCR inherently undesirable. This is even more so in the case of vulnerable groups such as single women, children, unaccompanied minors and those with special medical or psychological needs. Freedom from arbitrary detention is a fundamental human right and the use of detention is, in many instances, contrary to the norms and principles of international law.
For Australia as a nation, the caring of refugees and asylum seekers who seek safe haven in our country is a complex issue. Solving the problem with a desirable humanitarian management solution is challenging.
Clip 05
*All information correct at time of publication in 2011
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Classroom Activities
Task 1: Detention in Australia
The graph below illustrates the number of people in detention in Australia during the past 20 years, to 2011.
a. With reference to international conflict, write an account of why these numbers have fluctuated and in recent years, risen dramatically.
b. What does Foreign Fishers mean? Research an official definition.
Population in Immigration Detention
0
500
1000
Excluding Foreign Fishers (FF)
January 1990 – January 2000 January 2001 – January 2011
Including Foreign Fishers (FF)
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
5500
6000
6500
7000
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Classroom Activities
c. Analyse the information below about the location of people in Australia’s Detention Centres, and re-write it in paragraph form.
Location of people in immigration detention as at 20 May 2011
No. of People as at Midnight Census
Immigration Detention Centres (excluding FF)
Immigration Detention Centres (excluding Christmas Island) 2975
Christmas Island IDC 1145
Total in Immigration Detention Centres (excluding FFs) 4120
Alternative Detention (excluding FF)
Immigration Residential Housing 82
Immigration Transit Accommodation 137
Alternative Temporary Detention in the Community 1821
Residential on Board Vessels in Ports 0
Total in Community Detention Arrangements 2040
Community Detention
Community Detention (excluding Christmas Island) 564
Community Detention, Christmas Island 0
Total in Community Detention Arrangement 564
Foreign Fishers (FF)
Immigration Detention Centres 5
Alternative Temporary Detention in the Community 0
Total FFs 5
Total in Immigration Detention 6729
d. Referring to the clip, describe Adam, Darren and Gleny’s individual reactions to what they encounter.
e. How has this experience changed their individual attitudes to asylum seekers and arrangements?
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Classroom Activities
Task 2: Detention of Children
Of the 6729 people in immigration detention in Australia in May 2011, 1082 of these detained people are children under the age of 18 years.
a. This table presents four different types of detention for children. Research and describe the conditions for each detention type.
Children in Immigration detention as at 20 May 2011
Type Total
Immigration Residential Housing 25
Immigration Transit Accommodation 98
Alternative Temporary Detention in the Community 693
Community Detention 266
Total 1082
UNHCR Guideline 6 specifies in accordance with the Convention of rights, that minors under the age of 18 who are asylum seekers should not be detained. An International Convention of Rights and UN Rules to protect children set a humanitarian recognition of an accepted duty of care.
b. What is the 1951 Convention of Rights? What did it declare? Is Australia a signatory country of this convention?
c. Investigate the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty 1990. Write a summary paragraph explaining these rules and outline the humanitarian policies relating to children in detention.
d. Research the UNHCR Guideline 6. Make a list of the standards of care the Guideline specifies in relation to children in detention.
Task 3: Alternatives to Detention
THE UNHCR has put forward a number of alternatives to the detention of refugee asylum seekers until their individual status is determined. These alternatives, the UNHCR recommends, can be based on the assessment of the asylum seeker’s personal circumstances.
These are:
• Monitoring and Reporting
• Provision of a Guarantor
• Bail
• Open Centres
a. In relation to the Iraqi people Gleny, Adam and Darren visit in Villawood Detention Centre, write a report explaining how and why each of these alternative methods of managing asylum seekers may be a more humanitarian option.
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Introduction
According to the UNHCR there are approximately 100,000 asylum seekers in Malaysia. Of these, 18,700 are refugee children below the age of 18 who live illegally in Malaysia.* In this clip the six participants witness the raid of a refugee slum. Slums like this are illegal in Malaysia as it is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its Protocol. The Chin people featured in the documentary are a minority group who have fled armed police and persecution in their home country of Burma for a safer life. As there are no official refugee camps in Malaysia, they live illegally in makeshift dwellings.
Clip 06
*All information correct at time of publication in 2011
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Classroom Activities
Task 1: Living Illegally
For many people, such as the Chin minority group living in Malaysia, settling in illegal ghettos is intended to be temporary. Without any legal status and enduring appalling living conditions, people try to move on to other countries in search of a safe and secure life. People smugglers typically operate in such ghettos taking advantage of vulnerable people who would risk anything for the possibility of a better life.
a. Who are people smugglers and what do they do?
b. Suggest why parents living in an illegal ghetto in Malaysia, would give all their money and identity documents to a people smuggler, in order for themselves and their children to travel illegally on a boat to Australia?
Task 2: Minority Groups
Do a two-part study of the ethnic Chin people. In your answer include information on:
Part One
• Country of origin
• Ethnic heritage
• Main religion
• Customs
• Language
Part Two
• Reasons why the Chin are persecuted
• Reasons for displacement
• Countries that Chin people have fled to
• Living conditions in a country that grants Chin people a legal status
• Living conditions in Malaysia that does not allow Chin people a legal status
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Task 3: Changing Attitudes
Watch the clip a few times in order to fully understand what is going on in the raid. Each of the Australian participants has his/her own point of view about the raid. Listen carefully to their comments.
Now, examine whether the experience of witnessing the raid, the squalor, the desperation and the discrimination impacts on each of the participants.
Write up a list of their names: Adam, Darren, Gleny, Raquel, Raye and Roderick. For each of the participants, write two comments you can hear them say in the clip. One comment from before or just as the raid was starting, and another comment at the conclusion of the raid.
What conclusion can you draw from the comments of the Australian participants?
Classroom Activities
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Introduction
Watching this clip we learn that three million Iraqis have been displaced since the Iraq war began. Many have fled to Jordan. The Jordanian government estimates that almost 500,000 Iraqis are currently living in Jordan. More than 100,000 have settled in the city of Amman - the capital and largest city in Jordan.*
Whilst the Jordanian government welcomes displaced Iraqis, it does not grant them visas to work. As seen in the clip, the Iraqi refugees in the Jordanian city of Amman live in urban poverty. With no money to maintain or improve their living conditions, for many displaced Iraqis in Amman a life of urban squalor is common.
In many cases, such as in the documentary, Iraqi families that have fled persecution and high danger are now separated from each other. The effect of this is that the needy and vulnerable members of the family have little or no family help and support. This is particularly difficult for the elderly and sick family members.
Organisations such as the UNHCR actively provide humanitarian support where possible. However, despite their relative newfound safety, the Iraqis in Amman are a displaced population with no civil status – unable to go home, unable to move forward, unable to work, unable to effectively communicate with their families and unable to access adequate health care.
Adam, an Australian visitor to Amman, says of the displaced population of Iraqis: “They are in no-man’s land.”
Clip 07
*All information correct at time of publication in 2011
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Task 1: No-man’s Land
Most refugees fleeing to Jordan travel overland. Locate or draw a map of Iraq. Name its neighbouring countries. On the map, draw an arrow to mark the route from Baghdad to Amman.
Whilst Amman is Jordan’s largest city, a sudden influx of 100,000 people can put pressure on the cities resources and infrastructure. The UNHCR recognises this impact on Jordan and provides some assistance.
In view of the considerable burden placed on Jordan’s national resources as a host country to a large number of Iraqis, UNHCR actively works toward supporting the government’s efforts to assist Iraqis in need, in particular in the health, education and social development sectors (UNHCR 2011).
a. Make a list of 10 types of infrastructure and services that are part of normal life in a city. Highlight those which could come under pressure by a sudden influx of immigration.
b. Pressure on resources, services and infrastructure can exacerbate social tension and unrest. Having no civil status and being unable to access the Jordanian legal system, illegal Iraqis in Amman are vulnerable when tensions arise over services and infrastructure. Suggest situations where the population of Amman might come to resent the presence of Iraqi refugees and asylum seekers. Support your suggestions with evidence.
Task 2: Displaced and Homeless
The UNHCR makes a distinction between refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Refugees, according to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees include: any person who is outside their country, and who cannot return home due to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion
IDPs, although they may be experiencing the same persecution as refugees, have not crossed and international border. The UNHCR estimated in 2009 that more than 27 million people around the world classified as IDPs. After their visit to Amman, Gleny, Adam and Darren have come to understand the plight of displaced persons. Watch the clip a few times. Each of the participants has their own perceptions and point of view about the displaced people from Iraq.
a. Describe the varying understandings, opinions and emotions that Gleny, Adam and Darren portray in the clip.
b. Name three Australian or International NGOs whose mission is to assist refugees and/or Internally Displaced Persons. Write 100-words on each including:
• When and where the organisation was founded
• The mission and objectives of the organisation
• How it functions and operates
Classroom Activities
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Classroom Activities
Task 3: Breakdown of Life Security
Returning home can often be a dangerous and challenging option for Iraqis. The country continues to experience sporadic indiscriminant violence that is having lasting effects on the civilian population - as seen in the documentary.
Aside from the continued persecution and lack of security, people who return home to Iraq can face dire conditions such as a break down in social services, a lack of opportunity for employment and demise in sanitation, healthcare and schooling.
A sense of hopelessness is common amongst those who return home. Humanitarian intervention is helping restore services and improve conditions. Yet difficulty and stress in a major factor in survival.
Watch the clip. Imagine you are an Iraqi refugee living in Amman. You have been urged to return home by an aunt who has been unable to leave Iraq because of a physical disability. Write a 200 word letter to your aunt to explain why you cannot return home to help her despite the difficulties you are facing making ends meet in Amman.
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Introduction
On the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur people traffickers and smugglers undertake their illegal operations with the aim of procuring funds in the exploitation of vulnerable refugees. In this clip we learn about the 100,000 refugees in Malaysia who seek a life that is free of persecution - in Australia.
These refugees often pay money to people smugglers and risk their lives and their children’s lives on unseaworthy vessels to travel thousands of kilometres across the ocean in a bid for a better future in Australia.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines human trafficking as: “the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them.”
Several “populations of concern” that are vulnerable to people smuggling profiteers are being monitored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The UNHCR Global Report 2010 outlines the circumstances and plight of the world’s ethnic minorities. Similarly UNODC recognises that people smuggling is an international issue. The number of boat arrivals in Australia may be small in comparison to other nations in Europe and North America, but the number is a concerning humanitarian issue.
Clip 08
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Classroom Activities
Task 1: Criminal Activity
Similar to many regions around the world where refugees are in transit, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, people smugglers conduct their criminal activities in an area notorious as a staging port for boats and smugglers who plan to set sail for Australia. Immigration police patrol by both air and by sea in the hope of capturing the criminals and breaking up their profiteering crime.
a. Watch the clip. Describe the landscape and vegetation of the region on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur where people smugglers operate. Explain how the people smugglers are able to hide from the authorities in this region.
This extract from the Parliament of Australia, Parliamentary Library details individuals not accounted for in boat people arrival statistics from 2001-02 onwards.
Data from 2001-02 onwards includes arrivals at both excised and non-excised places. Includes the 5 people killed following an explosion on board a boat on 16 April 2009, but does not include 2 men found drifting in an ‘esky’ in the Torres Strait on 17 January 2009 or the 4 people found on Deliverance Island with no sign of a boat on 29 April 2009. 2009-10 figures include the 12 people who died when a boat sank on 1 November 2009 but do not include the 78 asylum seekers on board the Oceanic Viking intercepted in Indonesian waters on October 2009 or the 5 men who reportedly drowned before a boat was rescued and towed to Cocos Islands in May 2010. Arrivals form the boat tragedy on 15 December 2010 where a boat sank on approach to Christmas Island include the 42 people saved and the 30 bodies recovered, but do not include the unknown number of those who drowned, estimated at 18.
a. Read this extract carefully. Organise the information and statistics in this extract into a table showing when, where, vessel type and how many people are accounted for in each incident mentioned. What is the impact on you of reviewing this information? Discuss your responses as a class.
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Classroom Activities
Task 2: Global Commitment
The exploitation of people who are desperate and vulnerable is common around the world. For people smugglers and traffickers, generally force is not necessary to coerce those who find themselves in a desperate situation. Seeking a better life, refugees and displaced people may be lured into the promise of a safe and fulfilling new life in a new country. UNODC recognises that this is a global concern and that international communities need to work together manage this problem.
UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov says*: “Trafficking in persons is a global challenge demanding a global response, strong partnerships and the commitment and engagement of all sectors. Only through international cooperation can we stop criminals making grotesque profits from the exploitation of human beings. We need to make global migration and the global labour markets safe for those who dream of a new life. Indeed, this is why human trafficking is so destructive to human dignity. It takes ordinary people’s dreams for a better life and turns them into nightmares.”
a. Imagine you are a speechwriter at UNODC. Write a 200-word speech for Executive Director Yury Fedotov to present at a forum of international Presidents and Prime Ministers. The intention of the speech is to encourage nations to join together to tackle the problem of global people smuggling profiteering.
b. Draw up a diagrammatic model to illustrate a how countries in Australasia could – as a single community – unite to protect refugees and displaced people from people smugglers and traffickers.
*All information correct at time of publication in 2011
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The following sections contain information about some of the locations featured in Season 1. NB: All information correct at time of original publication of this resource in 2011.
Australia
Australia
Under international law, Australia is obliged to ensure a person found to be a refugee is not unwillingly sent back to their country of origin.
The terms “refugees” and “asylum seekers” are often used interchangeably but they have quite distinct meanings.
Refugees are people who have been forced to leave their countries because they have been persecuted.
The 1951 UN Convention defines a refugee as: “Any person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country.”
An asylum seeker is a person who has fled their own country and applies to the government of another country for protection as a refugee. The term asylum seeker refers to all people who apply for refugee protection, whether or not they are officially determined to be refugees.
Key Locations
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The two most common ways for an asylum seeker to seek refugee status in Australia is to arrive by boat or by plane, and on arrival announce their claim as a refugee. Arriving in Australia with refugee status already granted, tends to refer to people who have been pre-determined by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as a refugee in either a refugee camp or by registering with the UNHCR in a neighbouring country to their country of origin.
Refugee camps and countries where a person can register with UNHCR does not guarantee safety and only offers in-transit options.
One per cent of the world’s refugees directly benefited from resettlement.
The main beneficiaries of the UNHCR resettlement program were refugees from Myanmar (24,800), Iraq (23,000), Bhutan (17,500), Somalia (5500), Eritrea (2500), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2500).*
Australia’s intake
In 2010, Australia received 1% (10,995) of new asylum applications worldwide. That places Australia 25th in the world for the number of asylum applications it received and 51st based on wealth per capita.
Sources
Refugee Council of Australia
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre - Myths, Facts and Solutions
*All information correct at time of publication in 2011
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Malaysia
Malaysia
Thailand
Cambodia Vietnam
Indonesia
Malaysia
Philippines
Malaysia is home to one of the largest urban refugee populations in the world.
As of mid-2011, more than 94,000 refugees and asylum seekers were registered with UNHCR in Malaysia. Over 90% of these refugees are from Myanmar, mostly from the ethnic Chin population.
Australian media and politicians turn public attention towards Indonesia when we refer to “boat people” and people smugglers. However there are less than 3000 asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia. Malaysia is “home” to between 90,000 and 170,000 refugees and asylum seekers. Malaysia is often the first country asylum seekers and refugees flee to. It is in Malaysia where people may first meet with a people smuggler.
Malaysia is not a signatory to the UN Convention for Refugees however it does have a UNCHR presence. It does not officially recognise refugee status as it is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention or the 1967 Protocol.
In Malaysia asylum seekers and refugees predominantly come from Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.
Refugees and asylum seekers are still considered “illegal migrants” in Malaysia. They have no formal legal status or right to work.They face the daily prospect of being arrested, detained and otherwise ill-treated.
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Malaysia is both a destination and transit country for a significant number of refugees and asylum seekers. Despite not being a signatory to the 1951 Convention, the UNHCR is present in Malaysia and has facilitated resettlement for refugees in USA, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
UNHCR is the main actor of protection and assistance for asylum seekers and refugees in Malaysia: 92 per cent, or some 85,300, are from Myanmar, comprising some 36,600 Chins, 20,100 Rohingyas, 9000 Myanmar Muslims, 3900 Mon, 3500 Kachins and other ethnicities from Myanmar. There are some 7400 refugees and asylum-seekers from other countries, including some 4000 Sri Lankans, 1050 Somalis, 710 Iraqis and 510 Afghans.
Sources
Refugee Council of Australia
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Amnesty International: Refugees Denied Rights In Malaysia
Human Rights Watch
*All information correct at time of publication in 2011
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Jordan
Jordan
Syria
Iraq
Egypt
Saudi Arabia
Israel
Lebanon
Cyprus
Jordan is one of the three main countries where Iraqis have fled after escaping their war torn homeland. It’s home to the second highest population of Iraqi refugees after Syria.
The Jordanian government estimates that as of January 2010, there are between 450,000 and 500,000 Iraqis living in Jordan. Around 31,000 Iraqis have registered with UNHCR.
According to the UNHCR as of December 2009 there were around 1.8 million Iraqi refugees in the world, most of them living in Iraq’s neighbouring countries of Jordan, Syria and Iran.
As of the start of 2011, Syria was home to 1 million Iraqi refugees, while Iran’s population of Iraqi refugees was around 48,000.
Jordan is not a signatory to the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention, but UNHCR says: “the Government of Jordan recognises the Iraqis on its territory as guests. It continues to welcome them and allows them to live in the country in safety. However, the Iraqis do not have a clear legal status nor the right to work.”
Most Iraqis in Jordan live in urban areas, mostly in slum-like conditions. The UNHCR says in the Middle East and South West Asia, almost 80 per cent of refugees live in urban areas. In Africa around 15 per cent of refugees live in urban areas, while almost 60 per cent live in camps.
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Iraqi refugees in Jordan have no right to access social security services. According to UNHCR staff in Jordan, if Iraqis can get access to the Jordanian public health system, they may pay up to 10 times the amount that Jordanians pay for treatment.
In 2007, the Jordanian government granted access to public schools for all Iraqi children.
Of the 1.8 million Iraqi refugees mostly living in the Middle East, in 2011 the UNHCR aims to resettle 26,830 Iraqis from Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
The UNHCR’s country profile on Jordan says: “Due to the lack of local integration possibilities in Jordan, resettlement remains the only durable solution for the majority of the Iraqi refugees. Large-scale returns are not anticipated due to the security situation in Iraq.”
The UNHCR says over 52 per cent of refugees in the Middle East and South West Asia are living in protracted situations, which means they’ve been there for more than five years.
Sources
Refugee Council of Australia
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
*All information correct at time of publication in 2011
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Iraq
Syria
Turkey
Iran
Kuwait
Egypt
Saudi Arabia
Jordan
Israel
Lebanon
Iraq
Iraqis make up the 2nd largest refugee population in the world with an estimated 2 million people having fled the country since 2003.*
The United States officially ended its seven-year combat operations in August 2010, reducing the number of troops to about 49,700. The US and Iraq have agreed that all US military personnel will leave the country by the end of 2011.
UNHCR estimates there are over 1.5 million Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Iraq, as of January 2010.
UNHCR said: “the Iraqi refugees who choose to return home are faced with many challenges, including lack of security, of livelihood prospects and of social services. Many IDPs, too, live in deplorable conditions, deprived of essential assistance, and with their need for humanitarian support increasing the longer their displacement continues. There are also occasional reports of new displacements, particularly among the minority communities.”
Sources
Refugee Council of Australia
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Australian Government Department of Immigration
*All information correct at time of publication in 2011
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