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Australian immigration and asylum




AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT URGED TO EXPAND REFUGEE INTAKE AS AFGHANS SEEK TO FLEE
TALIBAN RULE

Scott Morrison says the 3,000 humanitarian intake places now allotted is ‘a
floor not a ceiling’ and the overall program could expand to ‘achieve more’

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An RAAF evacuation flight left Kabul with 26 people on board. Some Australians
and Australian visa holders have left Afghanistan on flights run by other
countries. Photograph: Sgt Glen McCarthy/Australian Department of Defence/Getty
Images
An RAAF evacuation flight left Kabul with 26 people on board. Some Australians
and Australian visa holders have left Afghanistan on flights run by other
countries. Photograph: Sgt Glen McCarthy/Australian Department of Defence/Getty
Images

Ben Doherty and Daniel Hurst
Thu 19 Aug 2021 09.30 BST

Last modified on Thu 19 Aug 2021 11.40 BST

 * 
 * 
 * 



Australia may expand its humanitarian migration intake to accept more Afghan
refugees fleeing the Taliban, after criticism it was doing too little to help
vulnerable populations and had moved too slowly to rescue Afghans who had served
Australian military and diplomatic missions.

So far, Australia has reserved 3,000 places within its existing humanitarian
intake of 13,750 places for Afghan nationals fleeing conflict in that country.



But the prime minister, Scott Morrison, said on Thursday the 3,000 figure was “a
floor, not a ceiling” and “we think we can achieve more”.

“If the overall program has to be expanded, it will be,” Morrison told reporters
in Canberra. He said Afghan nationals would also have “a strong presence” in the
humanitarian program in years to come.

Morrison has previously conceded Australia would not be able to rescue all of
the interpreters and guards who served Australian missions in Afghanistan, or
others with connections to Australia, after the rapid fall of Kabul to the
Taliban.

The government had not previously ruled out taking more than 3,000 Afghan
nationals in the humanitarian program, although Morrison’s latest comments
contrast sharply with Peter Dutton’s tone on Wednesday, when the defence
minister questioned whether other countries pledging large intakes of refugees
would live up to their promises.

Speaking after a roundtable meeting with Afghan community leaders on Thursday,
the immigration minister, Alex Hawke, said Australia would reserve the 3,000
non-additional places “as an initial number”.

“We are [resettling] 3,000 as an initial number. We know that will actually be
larger … we are announcing what we can do, we’re announcing what we think the
immediate demand is,” Hawke told the ABC.

In 2015, as the Syrian civil war sent millions fleeing over that country’s
borders, Tony Abbott’s government committed an additional 12,000 humanitarian
places for people displaced by conflict in Syria and Iraq.

Australia has set a figure of 13,750 humanitarian visas for this financial year.
The previous annual number of 18,750 was cut by 5,000 in last year’s budget,
with the government citing the impact of Covid.

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But even the 13,750 figure is unlikely to be met because Covid travel
limitations are particularly restrictive on humanitarian visa holders, who do
not receive a blanket exemption to travel to Australia. It has been estimated
about 7,000 humanitarian visas remained unallocated last financial year.

After Australia launched its first evacuation mission out of Kabul on Wednesday,
with 26 passengers on board, the government announced that 76 Australian
citizens, Afghans and other foreign nationals flew out of the Afghan capital on
a British plane.

Some Australians, and holders of Australian visas, have managed to board flights
run by other countries, such as the UK, out of Afghanistan.

In Australia, a petition to the government urging Australia to accept an
additional 20,000 humanitarian places for Afghan nationals has attracted more
than 100,000 signatures, arguing Australia “has a moral duty toward the Afghan
people and should not abandon them”.

That figure would match the commitment of the UK, which has offered 20,000
additional humanitarian places over five years to Afghan nationals endangered by
the Taliban’s return to power. Canada has also offered 20,000 resettlement
places, but these, like Australia’s commitment, are from within existing quotas.

“The forceful takeover of Afghanistan has also instilled fear and insecurity
impacting all Afghans,” the petition to the government says.



It argues there are fears for numerous groups inside Afghanistan, including
ethnic and religious minorities, locally engaged employees of western embassies
and military forces, human rights activists, employees working in Australian
government-funded schools and NGOs, Australian-educated Afghans, LGBTIQ+
Afghans, artists, journalists and others.

“After almost two decades of intervention and promises to the Afghan people,
promises of protection for persecuted groups, women, democratic freedoms and
rule of law, prime minister Scott Morrison has a moral obligation to act in
response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan,” the petition says.

Sajjad Askary from the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network said the persecuted
Hazara ethnic and religious minority would be targets of the Taliban.



“In the 1990s, thousands of Hazara were massacred in a number of days. The
Hazara are now at risk once again – as potential victims of genocide.

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“The Australian government can and must act now and grant humanitarian visas to
all those in Afghanistan who face violence, persecution and potential genocide.”

Sarah Dale, the principal solicitor at the Refugee Advice and Casework Service,
said the government could immediately commit to 20,000 additional humanitarian
places for Afghans, as a “reasonable and proportionate and achievable” initial
response.



“Australia could easily and sustainably support that community and give those
people safety.”

But she said the government could also assist Afghans already in Australia, by
giving those on temporary visas permanent protection, and by resettling their
family members from Afghanistan.

“The government promised to protect the vulnerable people of Afghanistan. There
are thousands here in Australia asking for that protection, thousands more of
their family members in Afghanistan who need it. Those are two steps that the
government could take tomorrow.”

There are currently 4,247 Afghan refugees who have temporary protection in
Australia.

The Catholics for refugees alliance has urged the government to offer sanctuary
to a far greater number of Afghans.

“We are grateful that the government is taking action, even if it’s too little,
too late”, Jan Barnett, Josephite Justice Network coordinator, said. “Malcolm
Fraser was able to bring in tens of thousands Vietnamese without internal
conflict. Even Tony Abbott was able to bring in 12,000 Syrians and Iraqis with
the stroke of a pen. Surely prime minister Morrison can do better than 3,000.”

Human Rights Watch has written to the prime minister arguing that anybody
“perceived as being associated with Australia” is potentially at risk of Taliban
persecution, and urged Australia to broaden its assistance to Afghans beyond
evacuation flights from the capital.

“Many in need of assistance are not at the Kabul airport, but may have already
left the country, or are in the process of doing so, and may require documents
and assistance in third countries.”



Topics
 * Australian immigration and asylum

 * Refugees
 * Afghanistan
 * Scott Morrison
 * Migration
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