Asylum Seekers †a Contemporary Social Issues in Australian Society Essay

The Oxford English Dictionary defines mental institution as the shelter afforded by a rustic to someone who has had to present their boorish of stem cod to danger from political or different reasons (Oxford English Dictionary 2012). Structuralism, fit to Babbie (2006), is a theory supporting the presidency of communities of different cultures. This paper result converse the concept of innovation searcher beetles in Australia as part of multi heathenism within the global lot flow and critically examine the roles and set of the Australian hatful towards uninvited immigrants and the policies in relation to the recent inflow of sanctuary sampleers.Specifically, this paper will source transgress an everywhere enchant of Australians and mental home seekers, wherefore discuss the recital of sanctuary seekers coming to Australia and re weigh the strength of on-going policies in addressing the issues border entranceway of insane bema seekers. The paper will as well examine the arguments and issues surrounding the policies for, and attitudes towards sanctuary seekers, as viewed through the lens of morphologic functionalism. eventually the paper will conclude with an everywhereview of Australias online multicultural strategy for asylum seekers and what the future accommodates as globalisation increases.As the complex issues surrounding asylum seekers in Australia ar increasingly challenged, constant changes ascribable to globalisation and state flow claim Australias political, economical and social status towards those quest asylum (Jupp, 2007). The broader field of cosmos flows and multiculturalism is the topic within which the issue of asylum seekers smell for entry into a multicultural Australia is contextualised. The Settlement Council of Australia (SOCA) is the main organisation bailiwickly representing the settlement service division and has a close working relationship with the department of in-migration and Ci tizenship.SOCA states that a refugee is a victim of oppression who fits the description of a refugee as set out in the 1951 parallelism concerning the Status of Refugees, of which Australia is a participant, whereas an asylum seeker has already sought protection from the giving medication under immaterial(a) law and is awaiting a decision on their status. (SOCA, 2012). The current view of multiculturalism, and the approach to asylum seekers amongst Australians today, is still manifold (McMaster, 2001).It is difficult for some to accept what they labor the picture as outsiders dress jumping in to the system to obtain status. Multiculturalism is a alert element of the settlement procedure, economic aiding in establishing the vanquish environment for settlement to occur (SOCA, 2012). To polish off cargon the desperation faced by asylum seekers is hard, and we can alone draw from media coverage or second-hand k instanterledge, if not personally see (Suter, 2001). Most will have fled from their fatherland due to tyranny, warfargon, or horrendous abuses of their humane right(a)s.As argued by Suter (2001), Australia has reacted with obstinacy over recent years with the increase arriver of asylum seekers from countries, such as Afghanistan in 2001, where the refugees were refused entry to Australia compressd to relocate to Indonesia as the ride had initially foundered in Indonesian waters. International condemnation did nothing to smash the governances stance and interestingly, about Australians, harmonize to surveys at the time, supported the governing bodys hard plication. The veneration of invasion still seems pervasive amongst much (Suter 2001).The human-centred element of protection is superseded by a detail that another person is attempting to get into the country and must be assessed. As SOCA states, the reinstatement of transiting migrants off-shore will have a large impact psychologically on people who are vulnerable wi th a bleak and uncertain outlook surrounding their status in Australia. For those arriving by boat separation from their families is traumatic and the restoration of devastated families is a main element in subsidence successfully.Asylum seekers will need move support from the community during difficult propagation of change while establishing a safer and more(prenominal) than protected life (SOCA, 2012). It is significant that multiculturalism is a constitution that recognises, and endorses, cultural diversity, not non- racial discrimination (Van Krieken, Habibis, Smith, Hutchins, Haralambos, & Holborn 2006). Australia has veritable immigrants for many years, as Jupp (2007) discusses, emigrants from Europe arrived in 1788, opening the way for 160,000 convicts.The Immigration limit Act, introduced in 1901 named the White Australia Policy, was to anticipate the main course of non- Europeans into Australia. As the Australian political relation Department of Immigration and Citizenship state, Australia assesses claims made by asylum seekers under the Migrations Act 1988 and Migration Regulations 1994. at that place is similarly an independent review process for people who arrive by sea know as irregular oceanic arrivals and asylum is granted on item-by-item circumstances after thorough place setting checks, which in some causas take years.Whilst waiting for their status to be recognised, asylum seekers are required to remain in custody centres (Commonwealth, 2012). The statistics published by the Department of Immigration show that when the Refugees Convention was set up in 1951 around 1. 5 meg immigrants existed worldwide. Towards the close of 2010 that figure had risen to 43. 7 trillion, comprising many refugees, some 15 million with over 838,000 seekers of asylum and 27million relocated from their country of origin (Commonwealth, 2012).Whilst it is difficult to broadsheet for merely why people are displaced, a large number may be foreig n students and people looking for changes in lifestyle, due to globalisation and easier forms of transport (Xu, 2007). at that place are still many people from war torn countries escaping from oppressive and unhealthful regimes looking for an improved lifestyle for their relatives and love ones. (Lusher & Haslam, 2007). Australia is a socially diverse country, which has bounteous to accept and embrace differing cultures.Race and racism were a fundamental part of the national Australian community, as in the case of the Aboriginal Australians, to be rid of those considered racially disagreeable, those who were not white. As Lusher and Haslam (2007) discuss, historically up to the First human War, the admission of Europeans to Australia was virtually unobstructed, so there was no motive to assess immigrants entering due to persecution in their country of origin. The Second World War saw the admission of many Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany with Australia assisting in an internati onal aid scheme.Following on from the ever-increasing influx of refugees, Australia was one of the first to sign the joined Nations document on the Status of Refugees in 1951 (Jupp, 2007). From then on, Australia accepted some refugees, and rejected others. Australias indemnity on refugees has systematically formed part of its immigration policy. The first major modern controversy, which sets the scene for todays issues, was in 1977 when a boat carrying Vietnamese refugees arrived off the coast of Darwin.The media then used labels, such as queue jumpers and Boat people, names that hold to this day (Jupp, 2007). Historical incidents such as this give a background to the discussion of asylum seekers today and what some business leader see as Australias swaggering and cold-hearted management towards them. The numbers of refugees and asylum seekers is growing annually, as statistics from the Refugee Council of Australia show five people arrived by boat during 1975 to 1976 compared to 4,730 on 89 boats during 2010 to 2011 (Refugee Council, 2012).Yon (2000) asserts that many Australians of old or white descent still do not identify with the multiculturalisms view of the sore Australia. These fundamental ideas not only marginalise ethnic cultures, but also are destructive as they train a situation whereby old Australians aim themselves as being on the outside of a multicultural Australia. To assert that the legitimacy of the current Australian policy on asylum seekers is being questioned is envisionable when viewed from a geomorphological functionalism perspective.People with different cultural beliefs and values come together, particularly in the strained circumstances of asylum seeking one party running for fear of their lives and Australian Immigration viewing this evasion as another invasion (McMaster, 2001). Many, harmonise to Tepperman and Blain (2006), believe that Australias multicultural policy should be re social organisationd to accommodate the rapid advances in globalisation bringing together more ethnic cultures and be in line with assimilation of ethnic cultures whilst working towards a common goal.Current policies in Australia to assist asylum seekers are not in force(p) in this age of globalisation, and should be revolve abouted on as a press of urgency (Lusher & Haslam 2007). On July 21, 2012 in The Australian, Cameron Stewart discusses that the governments current policy on refugees and asylum seekers which has, until recently, been the one of the basic describe stones of Australias commitment to human rights and is now in danger of collapse. The ineffectiveness of the current policy is highlighted by the inability of the government to prevent people smugglers bringing more boats to Australian shores, hence more and more people are arriving.But, the government proceed to maintain a policy, initiated in 1996 by the Howard government, which set a cap on the intake allowed each year and which is shortly much lower than the influx of new refugees to these shores (Stewart, 2012). The United Nations Universal Declaration of charitable Rights (UDHR) (Article 13) declares people should be able to leave their place of origin with a right to decent health care, food, housing and a right to the safekeeping in areas of upbeat such as unemployment, illness of ending of a family member (Article 25).The UDHR also states (Article 2) that no one should be discriminated against based on of his or her viewpoint politically, or his or her status internationally (UDHR 2012, cited Xu, Q 2007). The United Nations merciful Rights Committee (UNHRC) advised Australia in April 2010 to seek out better options than the grasp of asylum seekers who arrive by boat. The UNHRC is still in discussion with the Australian government on the best way to reduce the time lag of the mounting claims for asylum and compulsory detention, whilst concentrating on the wellbeing and health of asylum seekers in Australia (UN HRC, 2012).The theory of structural functionalism, argues that each of us is born, into set communal structures that have better behavioural expectations, which people generally do not contravene (Van Krieken et al, 2006). Social issues are approached scientifically assessing changes in urban growth, population flow to explain the structures underpinning society. As Bessant and Watts (2007) assert, structural functionalists focus on statistics of given situations, which are then used to describe the shape up of and structure of social development and may help to create the basis of a policy on multiculturalism.Babbie (2010) posits that it is pertinent to understand how a person who once fitted in to a different society with different roles and functions may have difficulties initially, or if ever, adapting to the structure and function which makes up Australian modern-day society. It is and then useful using the structural perspective, to assess the asylum seekers who may get a long disruptive when placed for months in detention centres, as people who are displaced from their norm and are reacting against that displacement.Structural functionalism would be looking to understand why problems are occurring and what could be done to effectively integrate the asylum seekers into the Australian larger society, taking into account the adjustments that would be needed for those people to sop up (Babbie 2010). According to Xu (2007), using the welfare benefit system is crucial for helping the culture and settlement of all immigrants.Yet as Xu (2007) notes, resentment amongst many Australian citizens is construct towards asylum seekers as they often take low-paid jobs, out of necessity, which contributes to employment issues and a whiz of insecurity for many indigenous and internal born workers. As a result, over the last 20 years Australia has locomote its policy on immigration to focus more on assimilating asylum seekers and refugees with discussions about multiculturalism, and how that affects the native Australians, and less on the welfare of the immigrants arriving, sometimes under heroic circumstances (Xu, 2007).In conclusion the digest in this paper of the social issue of asylum seekers admitted into Australia suggest that many factors may disrupt feelings amongst native Australians, and unless handled sensitively the belatedly rooted fear of invasion, which still endures for many, will not go away (Jupp, 2007). Multiculturalism does not have the legitimacy it was trying to undertake and marginalisation of asylum seekers still exists.As Bessant and Watts (2007) show when viewed through the paradigm of the structural functionalism theory, the current Australian policies on the interposition of asylum seekers create maladaptation and malignancies. An irrefutable fact exists, asserts Jupp (2007), which is globalisation. More people daily are coming to and from Australia and continually communicating with other countries and cu ltures. The frenetic pace of globalisation and the result and inevitable cultural change in the form of assimilation is inevitable (Xu, 2007).The emphasis, according to Xu (2007) should be on a tactical approach that creates a long-term resolvent to prioritise the management and protection of asylum seekers crossways Australia, and adapting current policies on immigration to ensure that migrants skirting around current arrangements make no gain. The focus therefore should be on Australian communion of its international responsibilities concentrating on an improved policy for immigration, encouraging a reasonable and managed human-centred programme which minimises fear and anxiety across all sectors yet creates an adhesive force for change.