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https://theconversation.com/amid-a-worsening-refugee-crisis-public-support-is-high-in-both-australia-and-nz-to-accept-more-rohingya-199504>
"Nearly one million stateless Rohingya people who fled brutal ethnic cleansing
in Myanmar have been languishing in extremely congested refugee camps in
Bangladesh for the past five and a half years.
While the United States recently announced a resettlement program for Rohingya
refugees and the UK resettled around 300 Rohingya from the camps prior to 2020
under a now-defunct scheme, this hasn’t caused even a dent in the number of
people living in the world’s largest refugee camp.
No other countries have accepted refugee applications from the camps, but the
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has expressed optimism that a good
number of Rohingya may eventually be resettled by the US and others.
Since 2008, Australia has granted visas to just 470 Rohingya under its special
humanitarian program – a very small number considering the extreme need.
All of these refugees were accepted into the program from Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia and other countries in the region. This creates a perverse incentive
for Rohingya from the Bangladesh camps to get on rickety boats and make the
dangerous sea journey to those countries.
UN figures show a more than 360% surge in the number of Rohingya who boarded
boats to try to get to Malaysia and Indonesia last year, with 3,500 making the
journey, compared to just 700 in 2021.
In early February, Momen called on Australia to do more to resettle the
Rohingya stranded in his country.
Australia is relatively more resourceful, so I think it’s high time
Australia come forward and resettle some more of those distressed people.
[…] Australia has the capacity, it has the resources — there’s only a need
for a political mindset.
According to our new research, there is public support for this to happen. In
surveys conducted last year, a majority of Australians and New Zealanders said
they have positive views about the Rohingya and support the resettlement of
more Rohingya refugees in their countries."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
