ASYLUM INSIGHT HIGHLIGHTS - 2013 TO 2023

August 2023

Asylum Insight is marking 10 years since we began providing facts and analysis on Australian asylum policy. Over the past decade, Asylum Insight has become a trusted, impartial voice in the field. We are proud of our work as a non-profit, volunteer-run organization. We have published over 70 commentary pieces from experts, more than 40 timely, accurate and accessible explainers, developed a resource for schools and maintained a clear and up-to-date statistics page. In the past decade we have had 250,000 visitors to the site, with our statistics page attracting 100,000 views alone. We hope our readers have left the site with a better understanding of the policies affecting refugees and people seeking asylum.  
 
Reading through the commentary Asylum Insight has published in the last 10 years, we found a common theme: Australia’s laws and policies are not consistent with the right to seek asylum. As our explainers highlight, as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, Australia has obligations to protect those who fall under the refugee definition, as well as international human rights law obligations to those asylum seekers who fall outside the refugee definition but nonetheless face face a real risk of serious ill treatment.

Standout commentary pieces from the last decade remind us of the important events and policy changes that have occurred in the area of asylum policy. It is clear from reading Savitri Taylor on boat turnbacks that this practice is inconsistent with Australia’s treaty-based non-refoulement obligations. Spencer Zifcak discusses the failures of the Australian government to meet its international responsibility at the global level, while Jeff Crisp argues that the acceptance of the right to seek asylum means that there exists an obligation to find a solution for refugees.

Abul Rizvi assesses the various waves of people seeking asylum. This work makes it clear that the failure to provide a durable solution, leaving people in limbo without work rights, is changing Australian society. Our explainers on unsuccessful asylum claims and administrative delays facing the legacy caseload further unpack how Australian asylum procedures operate.

Mark Isaacs highlights the issue of how refugees and people seeking asylum were being treated on Nauru in a piece that shows the dangers of offshore processing. Jane McAdam and Fiona Chong further consider how offshore processing isolates refugees from the Australian community and encourages an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality and has allowed for media and politicians to control the narrative when it comes to the issue of refugees and people seeking asylum. Our explainers on the medevac legislation, private contractors and resettlement arrangements with Cambodia, New Zealand and the United States helped keep our readers informed about the newest developments in this complex and ever-changing area of policy.

Asylum Insight explainers have tracked crises around the globe that affect Australia’s approach to asylum, ranging from events in Europe in 2015, the treatment of Rohingya in Southeast Asia and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan following the return of the Taliban in 2021. Australia’s response to this Afghanistan crisis triggered a piece from Hafiza Zahidee, which argues for a response based on compassion to humanitarian crises by the Australian government. Our own explainer outlines what happens when foreign nationals already in Australia find their circumstances at home change in a way that means they cannot return.

Our statistics page has kept our readers informed of key statistical information on asylum seekers in Australia and internationally. It has provided an accessible, up-to-date overview of available statistics covering boat turnbacks, offshore processing, asylum seekers and refugees in Australia, as well as global refugee numbers. 

It would be remiss to reflect on the last decade without considering the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on refugees and people seeking asylum. While the global pandemic was a strain on the majority of the population, Daniel Ghezelbash and Nikolas Feith Tan consider the implications of the pandemic on the future of the right to seek asylum. 

Louise Oliff offers hope in the form of an Australian review measured against the recently established Refugee Response Index. This review aims to promote the accountability of states to ensure more humane, lawful and constructive responses to refugees and people seeking asylum.

While a large number of the pieces written for Asylum Insight have focused on policy issues relating to Australia’s treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum, Mozhgan Moarefizadeh highlighted the way in which refugee communities are standing together and taking initiative to improve the lives of their communities in Indonesia.

Asylum Insight could never have grown to what it is today without the thoughtful contributions of experts in the sector. We are incredibly fortunate to have had so many people use their time to help us achieve our goal: for people to have informed conversations and form nuanced opinions on Australia’s asylum policy.