Raising Australia's humanitarian intake

The issue in depth

Australia’s played an important role in resettling vulnerable refugees through the Refugee and Humanitarian Program, but we can be doing so much more. Due to the impacts of COVID-19, only 5,947 visas were issued out of an already historically low intake in 2020. Through campaigning efforts in 2023 the government announced an increase in the program to 20,000. 

While this is an important step, the numbers are in stark contrast to countries like the United States, which has committed to increasing their humanitarian intake to 125,000 places annually. Canada has a goal to resettle 50,000.

What’s happening?

Minority groups, protestors, opposition politicians and women are being killed, arrested and tortured by brutal regimes in countries such Afghanistan, Myanmar and Iran.

Civilians are suffering from conflict escalations in Sudan, Ukraine and Gaza.

Women’s and girls’ rights are being violated. LGBTQIA+ communities are at risk.

In our region people who have fled persecution are languishing in refugee camps and impermanent, poor living conditions in Bangladesh, the Thai-Myanmar border region and Indonesia.

Why do people leave their countries? 

There are many reasons why it might be too difficult or dangerous for people to stay in their own countries. For many children, women and men, they’re forced to flee from violence, war, hunger and extreme poverty, because of their sexual or gender orientation, or from the consequences of climate change or other natural disasters. Often people will face a combination of these difficult circumstances.

Who’s a refugee?

A refugee is a person who has fled their own country because they’re at risk of serious human rights violations and persecution there. The risks to their safety and life were so great that they felt they had no choice but to leave and seek safety outside their country because their own government cannot or will not protect them from those dangers. Refugees have a right to international protection.

Who’s an asylum-seeker?

An asylum-seeker is a person who’s left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country, but who hasn’t yet been legally recognised as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim. Seeking asylum is a human right. This means everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum.

What is Amnesty calling for?

Before the 2022 federal election, the Albanese Government made commitments to protect refugee rights. This included increasing the humanitarian program to 27,000 and to make private/community refugee sponsorship schemes additional to this number. While the government has started to increase the program it’s still short of the number promised and it has yet to make community sponsorship additional. 

What Amnesty recommended 

• The Budget to meet Australia’s commitment to address the worsening refugee crises, including in our region, by raising the Refugee and Humanitarian Program to at least 30,000 places a year.
• The Budget to make resettlement places under the Community Sponsorship Program (CSP) and Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Program (CRISP) additional to the intake, at least by 10,000 more places.

What was in the May 2023 Federal Budget

• The Government has failed to fulfil its promise to increase the refugee and humanitarian intake to 27,000 places per annum. 
• The Government has failed to fulfil its promise to make resettlement places under the CSP or CRISP additional to the intake.

What’s next?

Right now, more than 100 million people are displaced globally. There are countless stories of people forced to leave their homes, and their families, to escape persecution, trauma or death. 

Providing safety to more people seeking asylum is one of the most important things Australia can do. Finding safety in Australia has been life-changing for renowned singer and musician Husna Enayat and her two children who fled Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and recently arrived in Australia.

“I have my freedom, my children are safe and I can work freely in my profession again, but others need to be able to do that, too.”

A more expansive humanitarian intake would also make it possible for more families who have been split up by conflict and persecution to reunite.

We must continue to be relentless. Through upcoming community consultations, the government will have an opportunity to rectify this failure, and we must urge them to use it.

It’s crucial that we raise our voices now, and hold them to their promises.