Submission to DIAC: 2009-10 Refugee & Special Humanitarian Programme
In the past 12 months Amnesty International Australia has been able to witness first hand the situation facing refugees in camps in Syria and Iraq as well as urban refugees in Damascus. AIA was also able to attend the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Annual Tripartite Consultation on Resettlement (ATCR) in Geneva in 2008. Combined with field research undertaken by AIA in 2007, this has provided valuable insights into the challenges facing both refugees in countries of first asylum and those challenges facing UNHCR and the resettlement countries.
Resettling of refugees from countries of first asylum is a fundamental element in a well functioning and robust international protection system. Traditionally the offshore component of Australia’s Refugee Humanitarian Programme has been one of the most positive and well-resourced refugee resettlement programmes in the world. Australia has consistently remained one of only three countries to offer significant resettlement places each year.
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I hope that Australia is bringing diplomatic pressure to bear in the fight against this prehistoric legislation.
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8 February 2012, 11:02PM