Asylum Seekers - a Contemporary Social Issues in Australian Society Essay Example for Free

Asylum Seekers a Contemporary well-disposed Issues in Australian Society EssayThe Oxford English Dictionary defines asylum as the shelter afforded by a country to virtuallyone who has had to leave their country of agate line delinquent to danger from political or other reasons (Oxford English Dictionary 2012). Structuralism, harmonise to Babbie (2006), is a theory supporting the establishment of communities of unlike cultures. This piece of music will discuss the concept of asylum follow upkers in Australia as part of multiculturalism within the global nation flow and critically examine the roles and values of the Australian passel towards uninvited immigrants and the policies in relation to the late(a) influx of asylum seekers. Specifically, this physical composition will first give an over horizon of Australians and asylum seekers, then discuss the score of asylum seekers coming to Australia and review the soundness of real policies in addressing the issues surrou nding admission of asylum seekers. The paper will also examine the arguments and issues surrounding the policies for, and attitudes towards asylum seekers, as viewed finished the lens of morphological functionalism. ultimately the paper will conclude with an overview of Australias current multicultural strategy for asylum seekers and what the future holds as globalisation increases.As the complex issues surrounding asylum seekers in Australia are increasingly challenged, constant changes due to globalisation and population flow affect Australias political, economical and social stance towards those seek asylum (Jupp, 2007). The broader field of population flows and multiculturalism is the topic within which the issue of asylum seekers looking for entry into a multicultural Australia is contextualised. The Settlement Council of Australia (SOCA) is the main organisation nationally representing the settlement service division and has a close works relationship with the Department o f Immigration and Citizenship.SOCA states that a refugee is a victim of oppression who fits the description of a refugee as set out in the 1951 agreement concerning the Status of Refugees, of which Australia is a participant, whereas an asylum seeker has already want protection from the government under international law and is awaiting a decision on their status. (SOCA, 2012). The current view of multiculturalism, and the approach to asylum seekers amongst Australians today, is still mixed (McMaster, 2001).It is difficult for some to accept what they perceive as outsiders adjust jumping in to the system to obtain status. Multiculturalism is a vital element of the settlement procedure, assisting in establishing the better(p) environment for settlement to occur (SOCA, 2012). To understand the desperation faced by asylum seekers is hard, and we can besides draw from media coverage or second-hand knowledge, if not personally experienced (Suter, 2001). Most will have fled from their motherland due to tyranny, warfare, or horrendous abuses of their human rights.As argued by Suter (2001), Australia has reacted with obstinacy over recent eld with the growing arrival of asylum seekers from countries, such(prenominal) as Afghanistan in 2001, where the refugees were ref utilise entry to Australia forced to relocate to Indonesia as the boat had initially foundered in Indonesian waters. International condemnation did nothing to soften the governments stance and interestingly, most Australians, according to surveys at the time, supported the governments hard line. The fear of invasion still seems pervasive amongst many (Suter 2001).The humanitarian element of protection is superseded by a circumstance that another(prenominal)(prenominal) person is attempting to get into the country and must be assessed. As SOCA states, the reinstatement of processing migrants off-shore will have a large impact psychologically on people who are vulnerable with a bleak and diffident o utlook surrounding their status in Australia. For those arriving by boat separation from their families is traumatic and the restoration of devastated families is a main element in settling successfully.Asylum seekers will need continued support from the union during difficult times of change while establishing a safer and to a greater extent protected life (SOCA, 2012). It is mansion houseificant that multiculturalism is a policy that recognises, and endorses, cultural diversity, not non-racism (Van Krieken, Habibis, Smith, Hutchins, Haralambos, Holborn 2006). Australia has received immigrants for many years, as Jupp (2007) discusses, emigrants from Europe arrived in 1788, opening the musical mode for 160,000 convicts.The Immigration Restriction Act, introduced in 1901 named the White Australia Policy, was to prevent the admission of non- Europeans into Australia. As the Australian authorities Department of Immigration and Citizenship state, Australia assesses claims made by a sylum seekers under the Migrations Act 1988 and Migration Regulations 1994. There is also an nonsymbiotic review process for people who arrive by sea know as irregular nautical arrivals and asylum is granted on individual circumstances after thorough background checks, which in some cases take years.Whilst waiting for their status to be recognised, asylum seekers are required to remain in cargo hold centres (Commonwealth, 2012). The statistics published by the Department of Immigration show that when the Refugees Convention was set up in 1951 well-nigh 1. 5 one million million immigrants existed worldwide. Towards the close of 2010 that figure had risen to 43. 7 million, comprising many refugees, some 15 million with over 838,000 seekers of asylum and 27million relocated from their country of origin (Commonwealth, 2012).Whilst it is difficult to broadside for exactly wherefore people are displaced, a large number may be foreign students and people looking for changes in lifesty le, due to globalisation and easier forms of transport (Xu, 2007). There are still many people from war disunite countries escaping from oppressive and deadly regimes looking for an improved lifestyle for their relatives and loved ones. (Lusher Haslam, 2007). Australia is a socially diverse country, which has grown to accept and embrace differing cultures.Race and racism were a fundamental part of the national Australian community, as in the case of the Aboriginal Australians, to be rid of those considered racially disagreeable, those who were not snow-covered. As Lusher and Haslam (2007) discuss, historically up to the First World War, the admission of Europeans to Australia was virtually unobstructed, so there was no motive to assess immigrants entry due to persecution in their country of origin. The Second World War saw the admission of many Judaic refugees from Nazi Germany with Australia assisting in an international aid scheme.Following on from the ever-increasing influx of refugees, Australia was one of the first to sign the United Nations document on the Status of Refugees in 1951 (Jupp, 2007). From then on, Australia accepted some refugees, and rejected others. Australias policy on refugees has consistently formed part of its immigration policy. The first major modern controversy, which sets the place setting for todays issues, was in 1977 when a boat carrying Vietnamese refugees arrived off the coast of Darwin.The media then used labels, such as queue jumpers and Boat people, names that hold to this day (Jupp, 2007). Historical incidents such as this give a background to the treatment of asylum seekers today and what some might see as Australias contemptuous and cold-hearted focussing towards them. The numbers of refugees and asylum seekers is growing annually, as statistics from the Refugee Council of Australia show fiver people arrived by boat during 1975 to 1976 compared to 4,730 on 89 boats during 2010 to 2011 (Refugee Council, 2012).Yon (2000) asserts that many Australians of old or white descent still do not identify with the multiculturalisms view of the raw(a) Australia. These fundamental ideas not totally marginalise heathen cultures, but also are destructive as they produce a role whereby old Australians position themselves as being on the outside of a multicultural Australia. To assert that the genuineness of the current Australian policy on asylum seekers is being questioned is understandable when viewed from a structural functionalism perspective. nation with different cultural beliefs and values come together, particularly in the strained circumstances of asylum seeking one party running for fear of their lives and Australian Immigration viewing this flight as another invasion (McMaster, 2001). Many, according to Tepperman and Blain (2006), believe that Australias multicultural policy should be restructured to accommodate the rapid advances in globalisation bringing together more ethnic cultures an d be in line with assimilation of ethnic cultures whilst working towards a common goal.Current policies in Australia to assist asylum seekers are not effective in this age of globalisation, and should be focused on as a matter of urgency (Lusher Haslam 2007). On July 21, 2012 in The Australian, Cameron Stewart discusses that the governments current policy on refugees and asylum seekers which has, until recently, been the one of the basic fundamental stones of Australias commitment to human rights and is now in danger of collapse. The ineffectiveness of the current policy is highlighted by the inability of the government to prevent people smugglers bringing more boats to Australian shores, hence more and more people are arriving.But, the government continued to maintain a policy, initiated in 1996 by the Howard government, which set a cap on the intake allowed each year and which is currently much lower than the influx of new refugees to these shores (Stewart, 2012). The United Nat ions Universal Declaration of valet Rights (UDHR) (Article 13) declares people should be able to leave their place of origin with a right to decent health care, food, housing and a right to the safekeeping in areas of public assistance such as unemployment, illness of death of a family member (Article 25).The UDHR also states (Article 2) that no one should be discriminated against based on of his or her viewpoint politically, or his or her status internationally (UDHR 2012, cited Xu, Q 2007). The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) advised Australia in April 2010 to seek out better options than the clasp of asylum seekers who arrive by boat. The UNHRC is still in discussion with the Australian government on the best way to reduce the recess of the mounting claims for asylum and compulsory detention, whilst concentrating on the wellbeing and health of asylum seekers in Australia (UNHRC, 2012).The theory of structural functionalism, argues that each of us is born, into se t communal structures that have fixed behavioural expectations, which people generally do not contravene (Van Krieken et al, 2006). Social issues are approached scientifically assessing changes in urban growth, population flow to rationalize the structures underpinning society. As Bessant and Watts (2007) assert, structural functionalists focus on statistics of given situations, which are then used to describe the increase of and structure of social development and may help to create the basis of a policy on multiculturalism.Babbie (2010) posits that it is pertinent to understand how a person who once fitted in to a different society with different roles and functions may have difficulties initially, or if ever, adapting to the structure and function which makes up Australian contemporary society. It is therefore recyclable using the structural perspective, to assess the asylum seekers who may appear disruptive when placed for months in detention centres, as people who are displa ced from their norm and are reacting against that displacement.Structural functionalism would be looking to understand why problems are occurring and what could be done to effectively integrate the asylum seekers into the Australian larger society, taking into account the adjustments that would be needed for those people to assimilate (Babbie 2010). According to Xu (2007), using the welfare benefit system is authoritative for helping the acculturation and settlement of all immigrants.Yet as Xu (2007) notes, resentment amongst many Australian citizens is make towards asylum seekers as they often take low-paid jobs, out of necessity, which contributes to employment issues and a sense of insecurity for many indigenous and natural born workers. As a result, over the last 20 years Australia has go its policy on immigration to focus more on assimilating asylum seekers and refugees with discussions about multiculturalism, and how that affects the intrinsic Australians, and less on the welfare of the immigrants arriving, sometimes under dire circumstances (Xu, 2007).In conclusion the depth psychology in this paper of the social issue of asylum seekers admitted into Australia suggest that many factors may disrupt feelings amongst primal Australians, and unless handled sensitively the deep rooted fear of invasion, which still endures for many, will not go away (Jupp, 2007). Multiculturalism does not have the legitimacy it was trying to assume and marginalisation of asylum seekers still exists.As Bessant and Watts (2007) show when viewed through the paradigm of the structural functionalism theory, the current Australian policies on the treatment of asylum seekers create maladaptation and malignancies. An irrefutable fact exists, asserts Jupp (2007), which is globalisation. More people daily are coming to and from Australia and continually communicating with other countries and cultures. The frenetic railway yard of globalisation and the ensuing and inevitable cultu ral change in the form of assimilation is inevitable (Xu, 2007).The emphasis, according to Xu (2007) should be on a tactical approach that creates a long-term solution to prioritise the management and protection of asylum seekers crosswise Australia, and adapting current policies on immigration to ensure that migrants skirting around current arrangements make no gain. The focus therefore should be on Australian observance of its international responsibilities concentrating on an improved policy for immigration, encouraging a reasonable and managed humanitarian programme which minimises fear and anxiety across all sectors yet creates an adhesive force for change.