Critics claim the groundbreaking treaty, which turns 75 this month, is no longer fit for purpose. Without it, however, there would be chaos.
- Scientia Professor and ARC Laureate Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW
This is a moment to take pride in our history of moral national action – and demand more humane policies for those continuing to seek refuge here.
Anti-immigration rallies across Australia are the culmination of years of political scaremongering. But better immigration messaging could change the trajectory.
The rush for ‘climate visas’ to escape Tuvalu shows the extraordinary need for schemes that enable people to migrate in a warmer world.
While the Australian government has frequently helped its citizens flee crises overseas, it is not legally obligated to do so. And repatriating citizens is complex.
The Australia–Tuvalu Falepili Union, as it is known, is the world’s first bilateral agreement to create a special visa like this in the context of climate change.
We don’t need to reinvent the wheel and can dispense with unhelpful terms like ‘climate refugee’. Existing laws, applied correctly, can protect people.
The government needs a more streamlined, equitable and effective response to assist people facing persecution and danger to take refuge in Australia.
The government has failed in its attempt to ram unprecedented changes to the migration act through parliament. The laws, now being reviewed by a senate committee, could be disastrous.
Historically, most Pacific visa programs in Australia have been tied to labour mobility. And none has specifically referenced climate change as a driving rationale.
Israel’s warning to civilians in Gaza of impending attacks must be ‘effective’ under international law, meaning it must not only reach people but allow them sufficient time to evacuate safely.
Eleven years is far too long for a final decision on asylum claims. The government’s vision is for a new system that will be both faster and fairer.
Helping our Southeast Asian neighbours make conditions better for refugees there will reduce the need for them to make dangerous journeys elsewhere.
As climate change amplifies the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, evacuations are likely to become increasingly common and costly – in human and economic terms.
Australians who normally live overseas will face an even tougher time coming back to Australia, under new rules that start this week.
Two international law scholars explain the history of the ‘right to enter’ provision and how this applies to Australians stuck overseas.
More than two-thirds of requests to go to the UK were approved, compared to just 46% for trips to India and 59% to China.
It could be argued Australia’s travel caps are an arbitrary restriction on Australians’ right to come home. But the UN’s Human Rights Committee is not a quick fix.
If only 1% of the Pacific’s population was permitted to work permanently in Australia, this would bring more benefits to the region than Australia’s annual aid contribution.
A refugee policy built on deflecting the issue, rather than confronting it, is not sustainable. We cannot continue to ‘contract out’ our international obligations.
In 2017 18.8 million people were displaced by natural disasters, with floods accounting for 8.6 million. Climate change is poised to drive those numbers higher still.
Natural disasters are on the rise due to climate change, displacing millions of people each year. A new international initiative is aiming to improve the way governments respond to such crises.
In the 1960s, with the phosphate boom over and Nauru’s economy in ruins, Australia offered to move the entire nation to Queensland’s Curtis Island. But with no sovereignty on offer, the deal collapsed.
Ethicist Peter Singer told Q&A that climate change-related sea level rises are “estimated to cause something like 750 million refugees just moving away from that flooding”. Is that accurate?
Earlier this week, immigration minister Scott Morrison introduced the Migration Amendment (Protection and Other Measures) Bill in response to a High Court decision that ruled invalid his move to cap the…
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