A guest lecture on refugee resettlement was presented by Ms. Dewani Bakkum, the CEO of Migrant and Refugee Settlement Services.. She began her presentation by defining the key terms “refugee” and “resettlement”, and their clarifications. The lecture deepened into the prospects of resettlement in Australia, which was shown from a humanitarian view. The lecture ended with the emphasis of the role of the Humanitarian Settlement services in the management of migrants, in the near future

The Presentation – A Critical Review

The aspects of the presentation which I found particularly interesting were the changing trend in refugee accommodation and resettlement. As of 2015, Australia was ranked third in the list of preferred countries for resettlement, after the United States of America and Canada. Upon reflection, I realized that this was due to Australia’s large landmass; which has a low population density. The geographic location of Australia, which has no land borders and therefore no major border disputes, could also be one of the reasons why people choose to move in to Australia. (Fozdar & Hartley, 2013)

However, there are strict immigration policies in the wake of the terrorist attacks that are shaking the world’s peace in the recent times, thus restricting the number of refugees and immigrants. One point that set me thinking was the rise of refugees in need for resettlement. This is a clear indicator of the rising global terrorism and civil wars. Of the countries that needed help with refugee resettlement, Syria had topped the list; reflecting the grim situation of the people over there. Upon reflection, I realized that it would be hard for the people to have to leave their motherland, but harder to settle in another country, with no link whatsoever to their origins

The guest speaker was objective in her approach; she catered to the audience not from the authoritarian perspective as a CEO, but as a teacher who would make her students understand the reality of the world outside of their country. As she represented the Settlement Council of Australia, she had deep background knowledge of the issue. This helped her explain the situation of why wars happen, why are people made refugees, why is resettlement needed, etc, in a manner everyone could follow. However, there was very less time for reflections, and the lecture was carried on with a hurry to complete the topic in the stipulated time. This time crunch led to a few assumptions on Australia’s stance in world peace, which, upon reference, was factually incorrect. Upon given time to reflect and produce this report, I could revisit and rectify some of the points which I had misinterpreted during the lecture.

The speaker’s entire perspective was from a humanitarian angle. She spoke at length about the Humanitarian Programme, its components – both onshore and offshore protection, the migrant settlement and the refugee settlements of the Australian Capital Territory, the humanitarian settlement services, its volunteers and its outcomes. Although there was an extensive coverage of this, what I felt lacking was a brief history of the programmes, and not just the year of establishment. To put things into perspective, the lecture could have been integrated with the current scenario of the world rather than just providing statistics.

As of the ACT, the organizations sharing views on refugee resettlement are the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), (UNHCR, 2016) Migrant and Refugee Settlement Services (MARSS), and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). They are sequenced to work as a link to refugee safety and permanent resettlement. In this lecture, the views of the first two organizations were mentioned in detail, but the third organization DIAC was left out. Upon further reading, I found out that the DIAC administers the Humanitarian programme, and all its components, to the immigrants for resettlement.

As far as the lecture was concerned, I felt it focused on the humanitarian aspects of refugee resettlement, and what are the basic humanitarian aids that must be provided to the refugees. However, I felt that the political scenario around the world, the changing stances of the governments, the immigration policies of the Australian government, etc were not mentioned. For example, the mandatory detention of immigrants’ post 90’s, the controversies surrounding the Pacific Solution, the temporary termination and recall of the offshore processing, permission to selective refugees, refusal to accept certain refugees etc, were not mentioned. Even though it might seem off-topic, the complete history is needed in order to appreciate a particular topic.

My Reflections

This lecture has definitely enriched my understanding of the world refugee crisis. After the lecture was over, I surfed the internet for more information on refugee crisis. I also remembered to have read about the crisis in Iraq and Syria in the news, some time ago. It is said that only during times of adversity you would know who your friends are. I read articles on how many countries, including Australia, have refused refugee entry into their countries to certain refugee groups of certain religions, (Corcoran, 2016) and how a few of them have drastically limited the refugee entry for the next five to ten years. This set me thinking about the poor mobilization of resources. From my understanding, countries refuse or limit refugee resettlement due to two main reasons – fear of terror attacks (Medhora, 2015) and the lack of resources to provide for the refugees and sustain the help offered.

However, the Australian humanitarian programme was very heartening to read upon. It provides all the basic and essential facilities to the refugees to make them feel at home. (Benson, 2004) It is very difficult to imagine the psychological trauma that the people face when they are uprooted from one’ origins and transplanted in a foreign location. However, the service provided by the humanitarian volunteers is above par in providing the best services to the refugees. Services like providing the refugees with temporary housing and shelter, provision of jobs, orientation of them to the local areas, to the basic customs, cultures, laws and systems of the country, etc are done by the volunteers, which boost the confidence of the refugees, in starting a life afresh.

Conclusion

The lecture on Refugee resettlement in the ACT, though missing out on a few points, was very enlightening. Usually, the refugees are innocent victims of war, terrorism and political unrest. Refusing a place to them based on religion, caste, and race is inhumane, as misery knows none of the above parameters. It set me thinking on the different ways the United Nations could mitigate the issue of refugee crisis. In my opinion, the countries who have the money, should give it to the countries that have the land space, and the immigrants must be moved there. The issue of refugee crisis – war – must be destroyed at its roots. Even though warmongers might have their own intentions, it is no way ethical to uproot people from their own lands.

It is my dream that, just as the borders of the states within countries are easily accessible, international borders too must be friendly and approachable, especially in times of need. This way, World peace can be maintained. I thank the lecturer for providing me the opportunity to reflect on the refugee crisis, and how humanitarian measures can help humans live in peace.