He says that is one of the reasons the Federal Government decided in August to reduce the intake of African refugees from 70 per cent to 30 per cent over the last two years, in favour of increased numbers from the Middle East and Asia."
The Ethnic Communities Council has slammed the Federal Government's decision to cut the intake of African refugees into Australia, the council's chair Phong Nguyen says deciding to cut the refugees on those grounds is shocking.
"It departs from convention and also from the commitments that all nations had with the United Nations towards refugees," he said.
"That they will take them based on need and not based on how well these people will settle in the new country."
These are excerpts from articles on the ABC NEWS
This is likely to become an interesting debate.
I guess there are at least two questions I would like to ask before we descend into an arena of hype and over-reaction:
- What (if any) rights do countries who are signatories to various agreements about refugees have in selecting from the millions of people who have been classified as refugees by the UNHCR?
- What if any rights do refugees have in selecting the country that they would like to settle in?
If refugees have "rights" to stipulate the country in which they would like to be settled then let's see where this has been agreed and what those rights are.
If countries have a right to determine the nature and the number of refugees that they welcome into their countries, then let's hear what has been agreed and what those rights are.
Once these matters have been exposed to a public airing THEN I suspect we will be in a position to make informed comment.
Until then we are at risk of making ignorant comments. Would anyone care to provide some information about these matters?
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