In the media
Nauru and PNG
The first six people, under New Zealand’s resettlement scheme with Australia, arrived from Nauru. The Home Affairs Minister said that letters telling asylum seekers to leave Australia were sent in error. Her department disagreed.
Detention
Information provided to senate hearings and reported by the commonwealth Ombudsman revealed that, since 2018, around 170 places were designated as detention facilities, including 77 hotels. Eight asylum seekers were released after ten years in onshore immigration detention. Australian officials were questioned by the UN Committee Against Torture, at its November session. The former PM, Scott Morrison, secretly held the Home Affairs portfolio at the time that he told journalists that any decision about the Nadesalingam family was the responsibility of the relevant Minister.
Community
A Kurdish refugee captained Australia’s blind football team in their debut international tournament. Afghan refugees reflected on the experience of seeing their national cricket team compete at the MCG. Participants in a NSW bushwalking program shared how the program boosted their wellbeing.
United Nations
The UNHCR has called for refugees and displaced people to be given seats at COP28. It warned that Haiti is on the verge of collapse and urged countries not to forcibly return people there. Similarly it demanded countries not to forcibly return people to the Democratic Republic of Congo where ongoing violence has caused huge numbers of people to cross the border. The UNHCR appealed for more aid to support the more than 200,000 Burundian people who have returned home in the last five years. UNRWA warned that its ability to support Palestinian refugees has reached a crisis point. In the world’s most densely populated refugee camp, young people have led projects to improve the local environment.
International
The EU agreed a new migrant plan and is prepared for an increase in Ukrainian people seeking sanctuary over winter. Kenya’s move away from an encampment response to refugees has shown better self-reliance among refugees when they can choose where they stay and have work rights. First responders in Syria blamed Russia for deadly drone attacks on displaced persons camps. A whistleblower revealed that the UK Home Office is recruiting retail staff to conduct refugee interviews with little training and support. An asylum seeker sued the UK government over the condition of the reception centre where asylum seekers are accommodated on arrival. A person at the accommodation centre died in what is believed to be a case of diphtheria.
In policy
An Afghan man was invited to his citizenship ceremony, but then suddenly stripped of his permanent residency when the immigration department claimed that his original Afghan identity document was a fraud. The government announced that refugees on temporary protection visas would get more rights to travel overseas and those who came by boat before 19 July 2013, and have permanent residence, would no longer be the lowest priority when it came to family reunion applications. The government committed to prioritising protection applications from Myanmar nationals. A briefing document revealed that the former government was advised, in 2020, to develop an individualised risk assessment capability so that more people could be released from immigration detention. Additionally it revealed that the current government is considering electronic monitoring as an alternative to immigration detention. The Refugee Council of Australia published its annual report.
In research
Research by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and Human Rights Law Centre confirmed that asylum seekers on bridging visas were at a higher risk of labour exploitation. The Melbourne Social Equity Institute published the papers that were presented at the 2022 Migration, Statelessness and Refugees Interdisciplinary Conference.