Refugee Numbers

My last post got me thinking about numbers. About the 140, 000 Syrian refugees in Turkey, about the 20, 000 people Australia allows as it's annual refugee intake. About how I didn't offer sources for those numbers and I certainly didn't put them in any sort of context.

The Syrian conflict I discovered is tragically much larger than I knew. Over half a million people are registered as refugees with 140, 000 of them in Turkey. There may be more, these are just the official figures registered with the UN. Check out more here: http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=300807

Regarding Australia's refugee intake it has recently been increased from 13, 750 up to 20, 000 (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-23/government-announces-increase-in-humanitarian-intake/4217962), which represents a huge percentage increase (about 50% - Go Aussie!).

So that's the context; Australia still seems to be doing only a small proportion compared to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq however steps are being taken to do more. What about that 20, 000 though? I wanted to know a little bit more about it in terms of the world but also Australia. What I found out didn't exactly impress me though...

For a nice little overview I started here: http://static.moadoph.gov.au/ophgovau/media/images/apmc/docs/81-Refugees.pdf

I learned that like so much in the 20th century Australia's immigration policy was precipitated by the Second World War. Since that time Australia has accepted more than 700, 000 refugees. I worked out the average at (around) 11, 000 a year. So 20, 000 looks like a huge improvement and a positive movement by the government.

Twenty thousand refugees is the lot though. Onshore or offshore we don't intend to accept any more regardless of circumstance, and circumstance is everything when you consider displaced people who will risk death at sea and indefinite detention just to escape horrors we'll probably never know.

At the moment in Australia refugee boat arrivals are increasing. The political rhetoric seems to be that this is caused by failure on the part of... (insert your favourite pollies name here). There is little political discussion of global events precipitating this, nor of Australia's military presence in countries refugees are fleeing. Separating the onshore and offshore allowances in response to need does not seem to be on the table.

So finally I wanted to know a little more about the world. I know there's a civil war waging just to the south of where I am. There's displaced populations around the world, what does that mean for refugee movement and the number of people stuck without a country?

Apparently it's about as bad as we've ever seen it (http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120617/un-world-refugee-population-skyrockets-2011-high), worldwide refugee figures are changing and they're going up. This means that the pressure on every able country in the world is increasing. It also means a fixed figure makes no sense, we should be flexible enough to respond to changing world events as they happen. It also means there will be more people desperate enough to get on a boat to save their lives. Worth considering...