Illegal boat arrivals reflect global trend

Blaming the federal government's softened border protection policies for a surge in unauthorised boat arrivals is "nonsense" that ignores worldwide refugee trends, Australian researchers say.

The federal Opposition has attacked the Rudd Government's decision to abandon the Pacific Solution and relax immigration detention as the cause of a new wave in asylum seekers piling onto unseaworthy vessels and making the treacherous trip to Australia.

The latest boat, captured off Western Australia yesterday, was the seventh this year — bringing to 306 the total number of suspected asylum seekers to reach Australian waters since January.

For Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, it does not paint a good picture.

The wave in illegal boat arrivals began on September 29 last year when a vessel carrying nine Afghanis and three Iranians was intercepted in the Timor Sea — the first such boat in nine months.

By the end of 2008, a total of 163 asylum seekers and boat crew had arrived, records from Border Protection Command show.

This wave, as commentators point out, followed a series of announcements which marked a shift towards what refugee advocates describe as a more humane and fairer protection policy.

In March last year the detention centre at Nauru was closed, ending the Pacific Solution that saw illegal boat arrivals deported to Nauru or Manus Island for processing.

The federal government retains the policy of mandatory detention, using the centre at Christmas Island.

Then last May the government abolished temporary protection visas, which had required refugees to re-apply for a protection visa every three years.

Changes to Australia's onshore immigration detention system, announced last July, ensured more compassionate treatment of asylum seekers.

But experts in people smuggling and refugee law insist these softer policies did not launch the latest wave of boats — and the available figures back them up.

"It is arrant nonsense and even conceit to suggest that our policies are a magnet [for asylum seekers]," Dr Susan Kneebone from Monash University told ninemsn.

"Quite frankly desperate people and unscrupulous smugglers are not cognisant of Australia's policies. They resort to people smugglers because there are not sufficient legal channels to get here."

Australian National University's Matthew Zagor said the Opposition's continual portrayal of Australia as a 'soft' touch "has as much potential to attract arrivals as any objective analysis of the reality on the ground".

"A choice of destination can be based on what asylum seekers know about that country’s reputation, their links with family, religious and ethnic communities, and their means and capacity to travel at particular times," Mr Zagor, a former refugee coordinator for Amnesty International, said.

Andreas Schloenhardt, from Queensland University, said people smugglers do sell Australia and that this goes into the decision-making mix of the average asylum-seeker, but that refugees are often lied to.

"There may be some instances in which migrant smugglers inform would-be migrants or lie to them about opportunities that may or may not exist in Australia. But that is nothing new."

Although there is some autonomy in where to go, more and more asylum seekers have little choice but to flee, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

And this trend is being felt across the globe. The number of people escaping war-torn countries and making asylum claims in industrialised countries rose 12 percent from 2007 to 2008.

The UN says many of them come from Afghanistan, Iraq and Sri Lanka, the countries of origin for nearly all boat arrivals to Australia since last September.

As well, the sharp rise in boat arrivals here reflects Australia's rising number of onshore asylum claims — people already in the country who apply for protection.

In 2008 there were 4775 onshore asylum claims in Australia, a rise of 20 percent compared to the previous year — while the 163 people who arrived unlawfully by boat last year represent a 10 percent increase since 2007 (although that figure does not take into account this year's tally).

The upsurge in boat arrivals is also echoed in some Mediterranean countries which are targets for asylum seekers travelling via North Africa.

Illegal boat arrivals to Italy have soared 81 percent to 36,000 from 2007 to 2008, and arrivals to Malta have jumped 50 percent to 2700 in the same time period, according to the UN.

The refugee experts who spoke to ninemsn called for a more meaningful engagement with Indonesia to help stem the flow of boats and said that it was unhelpful to focus on Australia's domestic policies.

"It points us in the wrong policy direction," Mr Zagor said. "Away from international cooperation, focused aid, peace-building initiatives ... and back towards ineffective policies which run the risk of being unconstitutional, in breach of international law, and simply inhumane."