Oct. 23--Europe and Australia are culturally and economically similar, but they differ drastically in their approach to the treatment of refugees.
While the European Union is struggling to cope with the arrival of more than 600,000 people from Syria and other danger zones this year, officials have a clear, decent-hearted plan: temporarily care for all, then allow those who qualify as political refugees to stay permanently.
Australia's strategy: Keep the doors shut.
Those trying to reach Australia -- from Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere -- come by smuggler boat via Indonesia or elsewhere. It's a perilous journey with no likelihood of success. The Australian navy intercepts vessels at sea and either turns them back to the country of origin or takes passengers into custody. Where do they end up? Not Australia. The government says no one picked up at sea will be brought ashore there and no one will be allowed to permanently resettle Down Under.
Instead, many of the asylum-seekers are delivered to an immigration detention center in Nauru, an impoverished Pacific island nation happy to take Australian money. There the migrants languish -- some for more than two years, despite qualifying for refugee status. Others end up at a center in Papua New Guinea.
Reports from Nauru are bleak, troubling and hurt Australia's reputation as a compassionate, responsible democracy. Australia funds the Nauru center, but it's operated privately under local jurisdiction. An Australian Senate committee investigation found the Nauru processing center was "not adequate, appropriate or safe" for asylum seekers. There were claims of "unreasonable force" and alleged misconduct by employees that included trading in contraband and threatening and sexually harassing asylum seekers, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Offshore detention is being challenged in Australia's courts.
A 23-year-old Somali woman who was raped at the Nauru center this summer, according to her lawyer, has become a disturbing symbol of Australia's decision to outsource its refugee crisis. Not all details of the woman's case are clear, but she was flown to Australia for an abortion, then returned to Nauru without the procedure taking place. Her lawyer described her as physically and mentally unwell, while a refugee advocate who met briefly with the woman said she was in anguish. He criticized the government for returning her to where she'd been raped.
The Australian government says it refuses to allow migrants who arrive in Nauru or New Guinea permission to settle in Australia because it wants to stop asylum-seekers from risking their lives at the hands of smugglers at sea. "You could say it is a harsh policy, but it has worked," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in a radio interview last month. "We will not tolerate people-smuggling."
But Turnbull -- who took office just weeks ago -- also seems to acknowledge trouble with the system. Nauru has relaxed rules to give asylum-seekers freedom of movement on the island. Turnbull said in another interview that he was concerned about the plight of the estimated 1,600 asylum-seekers now in Nauru. "All policies change, but when we do make changes we will do so in a considered way."
Australia is reportedly considering a deal to permanently settle migrants in the Philippines. A similar effort to send asylum-seekers to Cambodia fell apart. Neither country is capable of taking in and supporting refugees through the delicate process of adjusting to life in a foreign culture. In the short-term, it's imperative to protect and improve living conditions for those people now marooned on Nauru. Longer term, Australia will have to reconsider its draconian ban on accepting refugees from sea. As Europe has shown, nations can't select their crises, but they can choose how to respond.
