The Pacific Solution

''We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.''

-Australian Prime Minister John Howard, 2001

Groups of asylum seekers without a visa started arriving to Australia by boat in 1976. In response to this steady influx of unapproved arrivals, the government enacted new legislation in 1992 by Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating that required that anyone who arrived without a visa must be detained until they were processed and approved.

In 2001, Prime Minister John Howard announcement a new policy regarding maritime arrivals called the 'Pacific Solution.' This policy was pushed as the answer to what Howard called, "the boat people" and has so far caused the detention of thousands of asylum seekers at immigration centers on small Pacific islands on Australia's neighbors. Proponents justified the policy on the grounds that Australian national security was being compromised when asylum seekers were accepted and housed on the island before being fully processed. For nearly the last two decades, the majority of asylum seekers arriving in Australia are from countries in the Middle East. After the terror attacks in the US earlier that year, it was easy to sell the 'security concern' to the Australian public. 

Prime Minister John Howard
(http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/howard-rates-as-our-best-pm-of-the-past-four-decades/story-fn59niix-1226849689572)

At that time border security was considered one of the two most important issues in Australia, and Howard encouraged fears concerning public safety during his campaign efforts that year, saying in a speech that the 9/11 attack was "an attack on Australia as much as it was an attack on the United States" as it "assaulted the very values we hold dear."

Under the Pacific Solution, asylum seekers who arrive by boat are detained in offshore immigration centers in Papua New Guinea and Micronesia. The conditions in these centers have frequently criticized by the few human rights groups that have been gained access to the centers and detainees have repeatedly gone on hunger strikes and self-mutilated by sewing their lips together.

Detainee at Nauru. Photo taken secretly by ABC News
(http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22953103)

Tony Abbott, while opposition leader, criticized the Gillard government for not doing enough to protect those attempting the dangerous sea journey, WikiLeaks cables revealed that at that same time, a senior Liberal Party strategist had told a US embassy official that boat arrivals were "fantastic" for their party and that "the more boats that come, the better." The Abbot team later used maritime arrivals to fuel their 2013 federal election campaign in 2013 by spreading the mantra "stop the boats" and boasting on March 14 that no asylum seekers had reached Australian shores in almost three months.

Offshore detention centers were closed in 2008 following the Labor party's Kevin Rudd's election promise to end the Pacific Solution, but reopened under the Labor party in September of 2012.  

Cambodian-Australian Resettlement Deal

The Australian Prime Minister and Cambodian Interim Minister recently signed a $35 million agreement regarding refugee resettlement. Under this new agreement, Australia will add $35 million to the already $79 million of aid for the 2014-15 financial year in exchange for Cambodia accepting asylum seekers who land on Australian shores. Hmmm people for money? Sounds uncomfortably like a "legal" version of human trafficking.

Currently, there are only 63 refugees living in Cambodia, and the nation has struggled to protect them. A recent report from Human Rights Watch pointed out some of the difficulties faced by the refugees living in Cambodia, which include discrimination, abuse from corrupt officials, poor access to health services and education, and low employment prospects. The director of the organization's Australian branch, Elaine Pearson, said that the UN refugee agency handed over responsibility for processing refugee applications to the Cambodian government in 2009, and since that time "not a single refugee has ever received a Cambodian residence card, let alone citizenship." Cambodian law entitles refugees to these documents, but the government has yet to issue any permits. Rather than citizenship or even residency rights, refugees are given a proclamation known as a "praka." This card is essentially useless, because in order to be employed, apply for a driver's license, open a bank account, receive a wire transfer, enroll their children in school, or lease a house residents need to show a passport or a residency permit. Refugees are often extorted by police and their children turned away from schools. 

(http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-54996/Nauru?)

(http://www.metrolic.com/travel-guides-nauru-156844/)

If Cambodia has failed to resettle a single person during its five years of processing refugees, how will it be able to process the thousand that Australia wants to send?

For now, no refugees will be sent to Cambodia. Those living in the Australian asylum seeker detention center located on the Micronesian island of Nauru must consent to being resettled in Cambodia. So far, none have volunteered.

Ghosts of Aleppo

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and has served as a commercial capital for over a thousand years. Today, it is the capital of the Syrian revolution. Many of the city's pre-revolution inhabitants have fled, and their places have been filled by rebels from the Islamic Front. Militants and civilians living in the city are at constant risk of aerial bombing and ground assaults from both the Assad regime and ISIL, and have built a maze of tunnels beneath the city. The following documentary program was produced by VICE News and follows rebels fighting in the city's destroyed medieval center during the summer of 2014.

War huh. What is it good for?

I've talked about Syrian refugees in previous posts, but I haven't discussed the conflict that has killed over 100,000 and forced 2 million from their homeland. 

Syria has been fighting a civil war that began with protests in Demascus in March, 2011. For a more detailed timeline of the 
events precipitating the outbreak of war, click here. Syrian protests were mostly peaceful, but protests in neighboring countries during the "Arab Spring' were not. To prevent a violent uprising, Bashar al-Assad repressed activists with violence and imprisonment, which of course lead to a violent uprising. Assad is part of the socialist Ba'ath party which has ruled Syria since 1949, and was considered by Western powers to be a stable dictator before protests broke out. Many leaders want him to be removed from power, but they fear the power vacuum that he would leave, especially with ISIS fighting for power.

Assad's soldiers holding the Syrian flag

Assad has been accused of using chemical weapons against fighters and civilians as well as other war crimes. For his part, Assad defends his actions and asserts that he and his army are protecting Syria from "new colonization" by the west on one side, and "dark" forces of religious extremism on the other. 

There are about 70,000-100,000 rebels fighting against the Assad regime, many of which are ex-Syrian soldiers. The rebel army (of which there are many factions) formed when seven Syrian military officers released a video on YouTube posted in July 2011 in which they declared that they had defected from the military and were forming a new group called the "Free Syrian Army" to fight against the Assad regime. 

Rebel fighters holding a Free Syrian army flag

The Free Syrian Army consists of military defectors, civilians, as well as members of Assad's Ba'ath party. In addition to these native fighters, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy estimates that there are also 2,000-5,500 foreign fighters actively fighting in rebel Syrian armies.  The Supreme Military Council unites the rebel groups, but so far no single, central leader has emerged. 

Many foreign nations and sympathetic Sunni groups from neighboring nations are assisting rebel groups by supplying weapons and training in order to "marginalize the extremists and assert their own authority" according to Elizabeth O'Bagy, a senior research analyst for the Institute for the Study of War. 

Sadly, the rebels have also been accused of committing human rights abuses including summary killing and torturing captives, as well as using chemical weapons including the nerve agent sarin. 

The final player in the Syrian conflict is ISIL (also known as IS and ISIS), a terrorist organization known for mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and dedicated to a campaign of shocking brutality. 

The goal of ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) is to form a hardline Sunni Islamic state. The group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has 30,000 fighters to spread the group's brutal 'convert or die' campaign.  ISIL is funded by a well-organized tax system, international donors, and from the sale of oil from wells in areas under their control. 

Lucy al-Khatteeb, a fellow at the Brookings Doha Center who has been doing research into ISIL's oil smuggling says the group has control of five oil fields of 40-70 wells each in Iraq, and earns about $1.2 million each day from selling 25,000 bpd at $25-$60 per barrel.  This large and steady cash flow allows the group to continue committing atrocities and fighting against Assad and rebels groups.

It is from this complex fighting that Syrian refugees flee, and unfortunately, it doesn't look like the violence it will stop any time soon.

Winter is Coming...

With winter fast approaching, aid organizations are struggling to provide the millions of people fleeing civil war and terrorism in Iraq and Syria. In many areas, refugees living in self-made shelters with inadequate insulation, heating, or winter clothes. In Lebanon there are 1.2 million refugees living outside of camps in informal settlements including unfinished or abandoned buildings, garages, and open worksites and warehouses, none of which offer protection from freezing winter weather. 

Yazidi families crossing into Turkey in August, 2014
(http://www.worldbulletin.net/haber/143166/yazidis-praise-tolerant-turkey-amid-iraq-crisis)

There are almost 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey with over 300,000 in Istanbul. Many of these individuals struggle to find and maintain satisfactory shelter because landlords either refuse to rent to refugees, or double the cost of rent. 

There are also rumors that the Bashar al-Assad regime sent Syrians to turn local Turkish populations against genuine refugees. The only support I found for these claims was in a statement from a man named Ahmed Gannam in an article on an English-language Turkish news site called Sunday's Zaman. Mr. Gannam, works as a public relations officer for the Syrian Society for Humanitarian Aid & Development, claims the regime sent men into Turkey to cause disturbances by committing robbery, begging, assault, among other illegal activities. 

Wether these rumors are true or not, and whether or not Turks are discriminating against refugees, the aid and housing being made available to refugees in Turkey and in neighboring nations is not meeting the demand.

The UN recently reported that they had a $58.45 million funding shortfall in refugee support funding. In combination with the steady growth in internal displacement, this funding deficit could leave 1 million Syrian and Iraqi families without help this winter. For some of those Syrians, it will be their fourth winter away from home, but for many others it will be there first, including the 1.9 million Iraqis who were internally displaced during the past year. 

Winter has already hit in Dohuk in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Soon, temperatures will range from 41°F to 3.2°F in the mountains.

Syrians in a refugee camp in Zahle in the Bekaa Valley last winter
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2522054/Britain-America-suspend-aid-Syria-refugees-face-freezing-winter.html)

The areas that will receive the most distributions within Syria will be Aleppo and other northern areas, since they experience the coldest temperatures. UNHCR had hoped to deliver aid 1.4 million over the course of this winter, but because of the funding deficit, it will only be able to provide winter kits to 620,000 through December. 

Unfortunately, Syria and Turkey aren't the only place where aid organizations are struggling to meet the demand for winter assistance. UNCHR and its partners estimate that over 660,000 refugees in Lebanon are in need of assistance to stay warm and dry. With insufficient funds and refugees spread over 1,7000 localities, some families are sure to be left in the cold. 

Syrian Refugees in Turkey

Over 1 million people have flooded into Turkey in order to escape violence in Syria. While Turkey has been applauded for its quick response to such a large and rapid influx of refugees, it hasn't been able to establish sustainable assistance programs. 

 (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/world/middleeast/syria-war-developments.html?_r=0)

Turkey is currently hosting 1.6 million Syrians--half of the total number of people who have fled Syria since March 2011--and spent over $4 billion to shelter, feed, and care for these refugees. 220,000 of these refugees are living in government-run camps that provide essential services such as food and basic shelter. The other 1.38 million (about 85%) are in communities along the Turkey-Syrian border.  

Communities often welcome refugees with open arms and residents joins together to provide their guests with assistance. Predictably, this generosity does not last indefinitely, and residents become frustrated with the strain refugees put on the community's resources and finances. Unfortunately, many Syrians feel that they have overstayed their welcome in Turkey, but are still unable to return home due to violence. Turkey is not awarding Syrians official refugee status, and therefore restricting their rights and protections. As a result, many refugees are opening their own unregistered businesses to compete with Turkish businesses. Overcrowding is causing rents to rise and leaving more Syrians destitute and completely reliant on limited welfare programs which Turks consider a financial drain. 

(http://www.unhcr.org/53ff76c99.html)

As is the case with the US/Mexican border, there are reports of refugees being refused entry and suffering abuse as they attempt to cross the border to safety. The difficulty of passing through official checkpoints caused many Syrians to attempt to enter Turkey illegally at unofficial crossings. Between December and August of 2013, there were numerous incidents (ten mentioned in the Amnesty report) when border guards allegedly beat 31 people trying to enter Turkey. At least 17 people were killed by border guards during that same period. 

(http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29314647)

Of course, there are other countries who could shoulder some of the cost of caring for Syrian refugees, but have so far slacked in their responsibilities. Only 28% of the $497 million allotted to Turkey for 2014 by the UN has been committed by international donors, and a recent Amnesty report notes that Turkey has received more refugees from Syria in September of 2014, than the entire EU in the last three years. 

To read the entire Amnesty report, click here or click here for interactive statistics regarding the flow of Syrians into neighboring countries from October.

O Canada!

Canada has recently taken steps to restrict access to social welfare programs and job opportunities to asylum seekers awaiting official refugee status. The new restrictions are hidden in Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 2015 budget, and would bring the nation's refugee policies closer to those of Great Britain. 

At the moment, asylum seekers in Canada have the same access to social assistance as Canadian citizens, as well as the ability to work and to decide where they will live. These rights are ensured by the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangement Act of 1985 which allows residents to qualify for social assistance regardless of their period of residence in the country. 

The new budget Bill C-43 would create a term of residency requirement to those requesting assistance. This bill would exclude citizens, permanent residents, human trafficking victims, and refugees, leaving only those who have not yet been granted refugee status. 

In the United Kingdom, asylum seekers have only limited access to social assistance programs, a highly restrictive employment policy, and are placed together into pre-selected, and often substandard, housing. This policy rests on the opinion that asylum seekers are not entitled to certain aspects of British society until the legitimacy of their claim of persecution has been proven.

While this policy is publicized as a protection for tax-payers, its affects are harmful for both asylum seekers and British residents. The government policy of segregating asylum seekers until their claim is approved delays integration, an already lengthy process, for years. When claimants are accepted (40% of British asylum seekers are approved, not including those who are successful in appealing rejections) after living in the country for years, they have often lost faith in national and local authorities, have only a tiny social network, and haven't learned English.

On the other hand, Canadian applicants are granted access to social assistance as soon as they enter the country, which allows them to feed, cloth, shelter, and educate their children, and integrate into Canadian neighborhoods. The ability to work and therefore support themselves reduces the strain on homeless shelters and charities, and allows applicants to be an active, contributing member of their new community. If Canada does implement a minimum residency requirement, asylum seekers would settle in areas where such laws are yet to be enforced, which would put an unequal strain on provinces, overwhelm refugee agencies in those areas, and increase the dependency of claimants upon the state. 

(http://coastlinejournal.org/2013/08/15/post-second-education-the-sri-lankan-immigrant-experience/)

7 minutes

According to estimates, there are 11.7 million undocumented immigrants in the United States with at least 50,000 trying to enter the country each month. U.S. employs 21,000 border patrol agents, spends $18 billion on these employees annually, and deports around 1,000 people from the country every day. While the nation has increased spending on immigration enforcement by 300% since 2002, it has only increased its spending for immigration courts (specifically the Executive Office for Immigration Review) by 70% during that time. As a result, cases have piled-up and courts are overwhelmed. Since March 2014, these courts have suffered from a backlog of over 367,000 cases with an average wait time of 578 days.  

Trials for undocumented immigrants are unlike criminal proceedings in that the individual "on trial" is not guaranteed legal representation. About 40% of those in immigration court are representing themselves, and are much more likely to be ruled against than those with an attorney. 


(http://weaselzippers.us/194332-texas-18-out-of-20-illegal-immigrant-minors-skip-their-immigration-court-hearings-on-tuesday/)

For most--regardless of whether or not they are represented by an attorney--court proceedings are unbelievably brief. A recent Washington Post article profiled a family's experience attending their father's immigration trial in which the judge spent only about 7 minutes per case. 

Here are some things that will take more than 7 minutes to complete.

Putting on smoky eye make up,



cleaning your shower or bathtub



drying your hair,



or putting icing on a cake

1. 
   

•