In the media
Afghanistan
The Australian Defence Force participated in the evacuation of people from Afghanistan, but the government rejected calls to grant permanent residency to Afghan refugees already in Australia and launched a social media campaign warning Aghans not to attempt entry by boat. Australian civilians collaborated to evacuate female Afghan athletes and their families and the Mount Isa community called for Afghan refugees to be resettled there to assist with persistent workforce shortages. A court ordered the Immigration Minister into mediation with an Afghan man who argued that his continued detention has prevented him from being able to get his family to safety. He has since pleaded with the Government to allow him to return to Afghanistan to evacuate his family. A Hazara refugee risks deportation after the Afghan ID document that he was required to submit for his Australian citizenship application could not be verified. Afghan refugees stranded in Indonesia rallied for countries, including Australia, to resettle them.
In detention
A number of refugees were moved from locked detention to community detention. This includes 33 in Brisbane and Melbourne, and the last family who were detained in Darwin. A security guard at the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation centre tested positive for COVID-19. The government refused to release information about vaccinations to people and staff in immigration detention and ignored a UN Human Rights Committee plea for the release of a refugee who has serious health complications after a hunger strike that has since been abandoned. Two refugees who were teenagers when they were sent to offshore detention launched proceedings against the government.
In the community
The High Court refused to hear an appeal brought by the Murugappan family that sought to overturn a ruling that their youngest child’s visa application was invalid. The Tamil community mourned the death by suicide of a Melbourne refugee who feared deportation to Sri Lanka.
International
The humanitarian situation in Ethiopia’s north deteriorated and the conflict expanded into the Amhara and Afar regions. In anticipation of an increase in Afghan refugees, EU member states considered activating resettlement mechanisms. Turkey and Greece constructed border walls. The UK launched ‘Operation Warm Welcome’ for evacuated Afghans, a contrast to the poverty faced by asylum seekers already in the UK.
In policy
The UNSW Kaldor Centre proposed a strategy for how the evacuation of Afghan refugees can continue into the medium term and published an explainer on the terminology surrounding the situation. Twenty years after the so-called Tampa affair, media outlets revisited the event and its ramifications today. Australian Story commemorated the 40th anniversary of a rescue at-sea of 99 Vietnamese refugees. The UNSW Kaldor Centre published a policy brief on offshore processing.
In research
A small study in Sydney found that refugees have a high level of trust of government and the police. The UNSW Kaldor Centre launched their 2021 Annual Conference program, which will focus on climate induced displacement. The Refugee Council of Australia published recordings of their 2021 Refugee Alternatives Conference.
New releases
After the Tampa by Abbas Nazari, published by Allen & Unwin
The Walk, a journey from the Syrian border to the UK by a 3.5-metre-tall puppet