OLD assumptions, including a fear of massive Asian migration, seem to have resulted in a trenchant and overly austere Refugee policy in Australia. It is characterised by some cruel practices, especially towards children in detention, and defies a proper debate, clamped together as it is by the political exigencies of the main parties.
In Europe too, in response to the massive movement of refugees, countries are closing their borders.
This is called a ‘crisis’ but the massive and generalised movement of large numbers of people appears to be a permanent problem.
Although the right to asylum has, in Hannah Arendt’s words, ‘a sacred history’, powerful states now consider this right an anachronism. The European Union may have guaranteed free movement across borders but member states Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia have opposed the policy.
Australia, and even the Americans, act as though their countries have been or are being invaded by prospective refugees. While respect for a State’s sovereignty is the key argument to trump all other considerations of human rights, it is precisely that sovereignty turned feral, that tramples the human rights of citizens, that causes people to flee and seek safety elsewhere.
Making hospitality a right would help to craft a more human policy towards refugees and could generate a change in the Australian community. It could be more cost effective and it is long overdue. We can all play a role, if we wish, in this new approach.