Australian Aid and Resettlement Critical To Bali Process Talks

Suite 4A6, 410 Elizabeth Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010 Australia The Refugee Council of Australia represents
Phone: (02) 9211 9333 Fax: (02) 9211 9288 non-government organisations and
info@refugeecouncil.org.au Web: www.refugeecouncil.org.au individuals working with and for refugees
Incorporated in ACT ABN 87 956 673 083 in Australia and around the world
28 March 2011

AUSTRALIAN AID AND RESETTLEMENT
CRITICAL TO BALI PROCESS TALKS

Australia must be prepared to offer additional aid, logistical support and resettlement places to advance
discussions on improving conditions for refugees in the Asia-Pacific region, the Refugee Council of Australia
(RCOA) says.

Ministers from governments in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond will gather this week as part of the Bali
Process, at which ideas for a regional cooperation framework on refugee protection will be discussed.

RCOA Chief Executive Officer Paul Power said his organisations annual submission to the Australian
Government emphasised the importance of Australia showing leadership by offering concrete proposals
aimed at improving protection for refugees and asylum seekers in Asia.

The Refugee Council does not support the idea of Australia pushing for a single refugee processing centre in
the region but believes that Australias focus in the Bali Process meeting should be on finding more effective
collective responses to the needs of people seeking asylum in the region, Mr Power said.

Australia is well placed to offer financial and logistical support to neighbouring countries responding to
numbers of asylum seekers far larger than Australia has ever experienced. As a significant country of refugee
resettlement, Australia can also promote the case for increased resettlement from the region, taking the lead
by expanding its own resettlement program.

A responsible offer for Australia to put on the table at the Bali Process would be the expansion of our
offshore resettlement program to take more vulnerable refugees from within the region. It would be realistic
for Australia to present a five year plan for expanding the program to 20,000 places each year a figure
similar to the annual resettlement program in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

For Australia to show regional leadership domestic changes are needed. An immediate step would be for the
government to live up to its own stated policy that detention should be used for the shortest practicable time
while health, security and identity checks are conducted.

Australias failed system of indefinite, mandatory detention in remote locations is not something we wish to
see replicated anywhere in the region or the world. The system is not the mark of a cooperative regional
partner looking for solutions.

It is a reality that some people seeking asylum will be found not to be refugees. The Bali meetings could be
used as a platform for human rights advancement in the region if participants work to guarantee non-
refoulement.

In future years RCOA hopes to see meaningful NGO input become a feature of the discussions associated with
the Bali Process. The involvement of civil society in each country in the region is critical to building
cooperation and public support for increased refugee protection.

Media enquiries: Media enquiries: Media enquiries: Media enquiries:
Sophie Peer 0488 035 535 Sophie Peer 0488 035 535 Sophie Peer 0488 035 535 Sophie Peer 0488 035 535
Further information and statistics Further information and statistics Further information and statistics Further information and statistics

The Refugee and Humanitarian Program remains a small part of overall immigration to Australia, making
up just 7.0% of permanent additions by migration in 2009-10.
Australias share of international refugee support remains modest. In 2009, Australia hosted just 0.22%
of the worlds refugees and received just 0.53% of asylum applications.
UNHCRs 2009 statistics record around 5.17 million people in Asia requiring protection, the largest groups
being stateless people in Thailand, Nepal and Burma. Within Asia, there are unknown numbers of people
(perhaps millions) who have been displaced primarily by persecution but do not appear in UNHCR
statistics, having no official status as asylum seekers or refugees. Many of these people are from Burma
and are regarded as illegal foreign workers or illegal immigrants with very limited rights and in very
vulnerable positions.
Australias humanitarian intakes for the last 34 years are listed in Table 2 on page 14 of RCOAs 2011-12
submission on Australias refugee and humanitarian program.
1

For further information please see RCOAs full submission to the 2011-12 humanitarian program - in
particular, section 4 entitled Developing an Asia-Pacific Protection Framework
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/docs/resources/2011-12_IntakeSub.pdf

1 RCOA submission on Australias refugee and humanitarian program 2011-12
Table 2, pg 14 http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/docs/resources/2011-12_IntakeSub.pdf

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