As a democratic society we cannot perpetuate the unjust and inhumane treatment of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia who remain stateless, writes Congregational Leader Sister Catherine McCahill.
Stateless, yet born in Australia. Could this be true, I wonder. Yes, it is. In this country, Australia, despite our resources, our supposed commitment to human rights and our willingness to give each other “a go”, there are thousands of stateless children, women and men.
I am horrified, ashamed, perplexed. I wonder how naïve I have been.
During World Refugee Week last month, the Sisters of the Good Samaritan hosted two events which provided me with the opportunity to listen to firsthand accounts of refugees who have been caught in the limbo of mandatory detention.
The stories of cruelty and deprivation disturbed me. For more than a decade, anyone who arrives in Australia by boat is denied asylum here, even if they are found to be legitimate refugees.
Successive governments have deposited them in camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Those who are released into the community are left on Temporary Protection Visas for years. These visas provide little or no right to work, education or healthcare.
The dehumanising treatment and experience of detainees in closed facilities in Australia and offshore continues to leave many of the children, women and men traumatised. Participants in an online conference hosted by the Good Samaritan Refugee and Asylum Seeker Network on 22 June watched the short film, Australia’s ‘sadistic’ history of offshore refugee detentions. What I saw left me outraged. The witness of some detainees who have been locked up for years without an end date was raw and distressing.
I thought of the mother of the young man in the film. I imagined her and her family sacrificing their hard-won possessions to buy him a passage to freedom from oppression or even death. What is it like for her, knowing that he, now a mature man, is still locked in a room with less freedom than an Australian prisoner?
The reality of stateless children in Australia concerns me deeply. I cannot possibly imagine the anguish and heartache for parents whose child is born in some form of detention (closed or community) to know that that their child will not be afforded the basic right of any human person, namely citizenship. So many other rights follow, and will be denied.
The 2021 report by Katie Robertson and Sarah Dale, A Place to Call Home: Shining a Light on Unmet Legal Need for Stateless Refugee Children in Australia, outlines the situation and provides compelling accounts from parents of these children. In summary the authors conclude, “The precarious temporary basis upon which they remain in Australia means their chance to grow and develop as individuals in a secure environment — the opportunity to be children with hopes and dreams for the future — is overshadowed by a perpetual lack of certainty regarding their ability to remain here.”
Surely as a nation, we are better than this. As someone who professes to live the parable of the Good Samaritan I can no longer “pass by”.
After deep and careful discernment, as a Congregation we have decided that we need to join others in the campaign for a royal commission into immigration detention. So, we will add our name to the Open Letter to the Prime Minister.
As the letter argues, only such a commission will provide the safe space to hear from those who have been detained, those who are still in some form of detention, the thousands of Australians who have worked in this system, and the government officials who have overseen this policy.
Only a royal commission will provide the necessary legal protection for those who give evidence. The commissioner will have the authority to access contracts, agreements, evidence, and to subpoena witnesses.
I have no doubt that most Australians won’t like what they will hear and see. Most Australians do not want abuse, degradation and torture meted out in their name, nor do they want their taxes used for such dehumanising practices.
It is my hope that most Australians, if they really knew the truth, would speak out, would tell their elected representatives, “This has to stop! As a democratic society we cannot perpetuate these policies.”
As the Congregational Leader I will sign the Open Letter to the Prime Minister. I ask you, the reader, to look at the evidence, consider the consequences of not signing, and make your own decision.
We need to know the truth. We deserve to know the truth. These children, women and men deserve to have their truth known. As Jesus tells his disciples, “The truth will set you free” (John 8:31). May we be a nation of truth-tellers.
