Food For Thought is a public theology & Bible advocacy blog from Sophia Think Tank, gathering top Christian thinkers to take a closer look at how the Christian faith addresses matters in society at large every week. For the next two weeks, Robert Martin looks at asylum seekers and detention.

Asylum seekers on Christmas Island often makes front page news. In an election year this topic will no doubt be at the forefront of political discussion. It arouses much controversy and emotion. In our country there is great fear, dislike and almost hatred of ‘boat people’.

I had the privilege of spending two months on Christmas Island three years ago. In my time there I regularly visited the detention centre and I met some of these ‘boat people’ from Sri Lanka. Very few non-Government people enter the detention centre and as a result of this, I feel in a privileged position to comment.

So how should we respond?

This is a highly complex issue and it requires time to understand the various complexities involved. Hence I’ve written two articles. The first helps us understand some of the common questions raised in this topic. In the next article I’ll outline some thoughts on a Biblical perspective by reflecting on how Jesus would respond. This issue brings with it plenty of food for thought.

Are these people really refugees? It is commonly suggested that these boat people are not refugees, but wealthy economic migrants.

The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as:

‘any person who, owing to a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality…is unable…or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country’.

Many of those on Christmas Island satisfied this definition. The people I’d met had fled Sri Lanka for their lives. One man shared that he’d been shot when his workplace was targeted by the majority group.  The bullet miraculously avoided his kidney and he survived. He showed me the gunshot wound and it made the persecution he’d experienced much more real.

I saw other scars and heard other stories of torture, kidnapping and extortion. They feared for their lives if they returned to Sri Lanka. Why? They told me it was because they were Tamil.

These people satisfied the definition of a refugee – a well founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race. Most of the asylum seekers on Christmas Island end up classified as refugees.

Aren’t they illegal immigrants? Another confusion in this debate lies in the distinction between ‘illegal immigration’ and ‘refugee movement’. This distinction is very often misunderstood by politicians, the media and the general public. Whilst entering Australia unlawfully, if found to be refugees, these people aren’t “illegal immigrants”. There is a sharp distinction as the UNHCR states:

Refugees may not be able to obtain the necessary documents when trying to escape and may have no choice but to resort to illegal means of escape. Therefore although the only means of escape for some may be illegal entry and/or the use of false documentation, if the person has a well-founded fear of persecution they should be viewed as a refugee and not labeled an ‘illegal immigrant’.

(http://www.unhcr.org.au/basicdef.shtml)

Many on Christmas Island have entered Australia without proper documentation but they aren’t necessarily illegal immigrants.

Aren’t these people jumping the queue? Possibly the most emotive aspect of this issue for many Australians is that these people have arrived uninvited and have appeared to have avoided due process – they have jumped the queue.

This is a complex issue and the notion of a ‘queue’ is ambiguous. There is no orderly line in which refugees should ‘queue’ as many asylum seekers come from countries where there is no UNHCR office and no Australian embassy.

Furthermore, even if there were a ‘queue’, it is incredibly slow moving. It commonly takes refugees six, seven, ten, twelve or even twenty years to be repatriated.

Moreover, the conditions in the refugee camps, particularly in Indonesia and Malaysia, are appalling. These camps are not all safe and often have terrible sanitation with unclean drinking water.

This long slow wait in third world squalor creates a market for people smugglers. Can you see why someone would pay a people smuggler to jump on a boat to be processed in months in humane conditions rather than years?

Life as a refugee is hard and complex. You can seek refuge in the squalor of an unsafe refugee camp or you can jump on an unlawful boat to seek refuge on Christmas Island. This is a very complex issue.

Yet not all refugees are saints. Further complexities arise as the asylum seekers themselves are not perfect and may have mixed motivations in coming to Australia. Some are demanding while others are manipulative and deceptive.

Also some asylum seekers have mixed intentions in coming to Australia. This problem is illustrated by the concept of secondary movement. A refugee may flee their country to seek the protection of a country closer to home, but instead took this opportunity of flight to seek a more beneficial migration outcome where life would be much better. It’s crucial not to assume that ALL asylum seekers arriving by boat are secondary movers. Yet determining motivation can sometimes be very difficult.

Summary so far

‘Boat people’ have arrived in Australia unauthorised and uninvited. These people are perceived by many Australians as avoiding due process, cheating the system, ‘jumping the queue’ and their arrival in our country will mean negative consequences to our nation.

Yet many of these people are genuine refugees fleeing their homelands searching for safety from persecution – I’ve seen their scars. These people have fled danger and are often stuck in refugee camps for years in appalling conditions. The allure of faster and more humane processing becomes too much and many jump on boats to seek asylum in Australia – and they arrive on Christmas Island.

So how should we respond? I’ll provide some more food for thought in my next post.

Food for Thought

Photo: Courtesy of Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC)