Page 52 - Geopolítica del Mundo Actual. Una Visión Multidisciplinar

GEOPOLÍTICA DEL MUNDO ACTUAL. UNA VISIÓN MULTIDISCIPLINAR:
Cultura de Paz, Conflictos, Educación y Derechos Humanos
Therefore, this article will not only elaborate the situation faced by asylum seekers and refugees, but the most important is how a country’s domestic policies have an impact on bilateral relations with another country. Moreover, the importance of the sovereignty of a country and the laws that protect it will also be discussed. The data and information for this article taken from journals, mass media news articles, as well as the source of the relevant Department of the Indonesia and Australia, UNHCR and various associations and NGOs from both countries, also from interviews.
Economic Migrants and Asylum Seekers in Australia
The phenomenon of migrants in Australia was begun in 1788. At first, they came with economic motives. Today, this country remain as one of the destination countries preferably by the economic migrants. This is understandable, considering that Australia is one of the developed countries with higher levels of prosperity than the other countries in Asia Pacific. Basically, economic migrant occurs because of the desire to get a job for better proper pay and higher income than their country. The following chart is Australia Disposable Income in AUD Million in 2008-14.
Source: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/australia/ disposable-personal-income
Based on the chart above, the personal income every year tends to always increase, although it also experienced lowering, but in general it increases every year.
In 1954, Australia ratified the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 and signed
the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees 1967. This is a sign that Australia has obligations to accept refugees and asylum seekers who arrive in the country. Since the Vietnam War, the refugees started come to Australia.
At the end, the increasing number of immigrants each year has become one of the most important issues in the Australian government. The policies offered by the party also raised in the election. Therefore, this has influenced Australia’s party and parliamentary policies. Furthermore, the “turn back boats” policy submitted by Tony Abbott to the Australian parliament right before he became a Prime Minister of Australia in 2013. The surge in the number of IMA’s that entered throughout 2012-2013 is believed to be one of the reasons this policy emerges in Australian parliament. The following is a graph of the number of IMAs that have entered Australia since 1976.
Source: Boat arrivals in Australia: a quick guide to the statistics, Research Paper Series, 2016-17, Parliament of
Australia - Department of Parliamentary Services (p.4)
The above chart shows the escalation of number boat arrivals during some years, mostly of them claim as asylum seekers. Approaching the year 2012 there is a drastic increase. Therefore, the Australian government seeks to overcome the wave of immigrants, especially IMA’s through various domestic policies. This became the concern of the Australian government until finally resulting in the issuance of OSB policy in 2013.
The following table is refugee status determination requests received by top 5 countries of citizenship (IMA) according to the data from Department of Immigration and Border
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