Monday, August 20, 2007

Reduction in African Refugee Numbers



The Australian Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, has recently announced a significant shift in the country’s refugee and humanitarian program for the 2007-08 financial year.

Consequently, Australia’s refugee intake from the African region will fall from 50 per cent in the last financial year to 30 per cent.

This is partly due to the official concern that African refugees have failed to integrate into the Australian society - although this point is debatable.

Meanwhile, 35 per cent of the new intake will come from Asia. And 35 per cent of places will be reserved for the resettlement of Iraqi Christians.

The Minister acknowledged that African refugees have faced particularly traumatic experiences for prolonged periods of time. And this will make successful settlement and integration difficult.

www.adelaidenow.com.au



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post! This is a great thing! Iraq has millions of refugees, I wonder why only the Christian ones, or how they will identify who is Christian and who is not? Take care! I really like your blog! I will be back soon to see what's new!

Anonymous said...

I am gobsmacked by Kevin Andrew's misguided comments. And angry. And sad.

Bring on the African refugees!!!

I live in Moorooka and, while I am not friends with any of the Africans who live there (all my African friends live in Africa!), I love living in this true cosmopolitan area.

I recently read more about Dafur in New Internationalist and cried and cried and cried.

If only more people read New Internationalist rather than the gossip served up by Kevin Andrews through the mass media.

Vote Liberals Out!

Love and solidarity,

Elissa.

xx