On 29 June 2023 Andrew Stroehlein wrote for Human Rights Watch a short obituary on ‘off-shoring refugees’, concluding “That offshoring refugees has been a costly, abusive, illegal failure should surprise no one apart from maybe a few politicians who believed their own slogans and a portion of the public who fell for the politicians’ expensive snake-oil cures”
Offshoring Refugees: A Costly, Abusive Failure. Australia no longer holds any refugees on the island country of Nauru. In welcome news, the last refugee kept there under the Australian government’s abusive offshore processing policy has finally been evacuated to Australia. The hope now is that Australia, and the rest of the world, will finally realize what an abusive failure such policies have been.The so-called “Australian model” – variously labelled “externalizing,” “offshoring,” or “outsourcing” – has been wrongly admired and repackaged elsewhere by unscrupulous politicians around the globe for years. In the EU, they bloviate over its supposed merits, and member state Denmark pushed plans to send asylum seekers to detention in Rwanda, a country known for torture in detention. The UK government’s efforts to mimic Australia have also focused on sending folks to Rwanda, with the UK home secretary bizarrely saying it was not only her “dream” but also her “obsession” to do so. The Court of Appeal has just ruled the scheme unlawful this morning – more good news. Of course, the US has been “outsourcing” for years. Under both Biden and Trump, US authorities force asylum seekers to wait interminably in Mexico, where they face kidnapping, rape, and extortion. And despite the good news about Nauru, Australia itself still holds about 80 refugees and asylum seekers in limbo in Papua New Guinea.The “appeal” of outsourcing was based on a kind of political sadism. Politicians promised to be “tough” on asylum seekers – meaning cruel and vicious toward powerless, desperate people. That, they told voters, would deter people from coming. The truth is, it’s been absurdly expensive, it’s led to appalling human rights abuses, and it hasn’t deterred anyone. Australia has spent billions on transferring 3,127 asylum seekers and refugees to Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Last year, the system apparently cost 22 million Australian dollars per person being held in Nauru (US$ 14.5 million). The abuses you get for that money are clear. HRW has documented how individuals and families with children spent years living in substandard conditions in these centers, where they suffered severe, inhumane treatment, violence, and medical neglect. At least 14 people subjected to Australia’s offshore detention system have died, half from suicide or suspected suicide. [re Australia, see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/07/21/australias-migration-detention-industry-again-denounced/] And offshoring hasn’t “worked” even in the most limited sense of what politicians promised. Desperate people searching for safety and the chance of a better life keep coming. They’re not going to stop fleeing war and oppression just because you threaten to send them to a third country when they arrive. That offshoring refugees has been a costly, abusive, illegal failure should surprise no one apart from maybe a few politicians who believed their own slogans and a portion of the public who fell for the politicians’ expensive snake-oil cures. But now, it should be obvious to everyone: cruelty is never a good policy.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 