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Najeeba's story

Najeeba Wazefadost
“Leaving your country for good is one of the hardest decisions you can be forced to make.”
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Fact 1

Fact 1
It is not illegal to seek asylum in Australia, even if arriving by boat.

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Farida and Hussain's story

Hussain Dad
“My children are safe and we can finally sleep well for the whole night, without fear and bomb blasts.”
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fact 2

Fact 2
In Australia, there is 1.1 refugee for every 1,000 people.

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John's story

John Jegasothy
“I’m really concerned about the misconceptions about refugees coming to this country.”
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Fact 3

Fact 3
In 2010, 6,879 asylum seekers arrived in Australia. That’s only 6.8% of the seats in the MCG.
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Chaman's story

Chaman Shah Nasiri
“After I left, my father was tortured so badly he died in prison… The same would have happened to me.”
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Fact 4

Fact 4
Australian Centrelink benefits for an asylum seeker? $0.

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Ashane's story

Ashane
“We knew the boat would be very dangerous, but there was nothing else. Everything else was hopeless.”
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Fact 5

Fact 5
The number of refugees who have arrived by boat, and who have been terrorists? Zero.
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Dinh Tran’s story

Dinh Tran
“When we left, mum & dad had already accepted that we were all going to die. You risk everything on a boat.”
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Fact 6

Fact 6
In 2009, 8,427 sought asylum in Australia – compared to 45,197 in the United Kingdom.
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Boat plan could spark navy deaths, Indonesia backlash

22/01/2012

Publsihed by The Australian

View the article

The story said

Opposition leader Tony Abbott’s plan to turn back asylum seeker boats, has been called “reckless” by the labor party. The navy has also voiced their concerns, with navy Admiral Griggs, warning that if Australia adopted a policy of turning boats back at sea, that they would be endangering the lives of navy personnel and asylum seekers as “fires, sabotage and desperate passengers leaping into the ocean” were serious possibilities. Indonesian authorities have also expressed their concern, saying that if the opposition were to implement the policy, there would be a serious backlash from Indonesia, with hostility already existing around the issue of asylum seekers. Dr Ikar, a professor at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, saying that “it was clear in international law that Indonesia had no responsibility to take back asylum seekers who were headed for Australia” and that if Australia were to turn around boats it would give the country a bad name as an international citizen.

Did you know

In 1951 an international treaty was created, the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. All countries who have signed the declaration have an obligation to provide asylum or refuge to people fleeing persecution. Australia is one of the many countries to sign the declaration, which is why seeking asylum in Australia is legal, even if arriving by boat. A cornerstone of the convention is the principle of non-refoulement, in which a person seeking asylum should not be returned to a country in which that person’s life and freedoms are at serious risk.

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Join the conversation

Let's reject the myths and think again about asylum seekers and refugees. Join the conversation by adding #rethinkrefugees to your tweets or click on a link below to get involved in your local area.

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