Refuge and Migrant Sunday 2005 Editorial

Refugee and Migrant Sunday 2005 Resources

Sample Editorial

Australia’s Treatment of Refugees

Thinking as God does, rather than as human beings do, places us in the difficult position of living in the world, but, at the same time, living very differently from the rest of the world.

As Christians, we often face situations which challenge us because conforming to God’s will requires us to adopt a different view from many others around us. It is not a comfortable thing to do.

In the past few years, it has been impossible to avoid issues surrounding the arrival of asylum seekers and refugees to our shores. There has been much public debate over whether we should accept those people who have arrived without authorisation, whether and for how long they should be detained, and what rights they should have while they are here.

Without doubt, there has been much hostility towards asylum seekers and widespread support for and justification of the policy of detaining them, even if this has been for very long periods. This sentiment has been encouraged by many of our leaders and commentators.

It is only now that the tide is turning. It is only now that children are being removed from detention centres. It is only now that people who have been locked up for a number of years are being let out. It is only now that there is strong pressure to question the way in which asylum seekers have been treated while in detention.

Those who spoke out on behalf of the asylum seekers were saying things about the harmful effects of detention on asylum seekers and the unsatisfactory policies and practices of the Immigration Department for years, but their words did not stop what was happening because the unrelenting demonisation of asylum seekers created an atmosphere in which the suffering and mistreatment of our fellow human beings was ignored or condoned.

That is why children were allowed to suffer immense psychological an emotional trauma. It is why so many of them mutilated themselves and swallowed detergents and shampoos. It is why so many of them were allowed to witness riots, violence and suicides by adult detainees. It is why mentally ill people like Cornelia Rau could be locked up in detention. It is why a very disabled and ill woman like Vivian Solon could be deported to the Philippines even though she is an Australian citizen. And it is why detainees being transported to a detention facility could be deprived of food, water and toilet facilities.

The Gospel of love and compassion calls us to stand alongside our fellow human beings when their human dignity is threatened – even if that means going against the trend and facing the possibility of abuse and derision by others.

Many Christians responded to the plight of detained asylum seekers by visiting them, by writing to them and providing them with various needs, and by promoting changes which ended their detention. And that sometimes meant they had to endure criticism and attacks by others who supported what was happening to asylum seekers.

Conforming ourselves to the will of God is what Paul, in today’s Second Reading, urged us to do. The Gospel clearly stresses that love and compassion without discrimination is a sign of our conformity with the will of God; and this has clear implications for our attitudes to asylum seekers and refugees.

Let us hope and pray on this Refugee and Migrant Sunday that we as the witnesses of the Gospel of love may conform ourselves to the will of God when we are discerning how we should respond to those who seek asylum in Australia and to the content of our country’s refugee policy. May each of us be able to say with a clear conscience, as did the prophet Jeremiah in today’s First Reading, the will of our loving and compassionate God “becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones.”

Last Modified August 3 2005

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