Two years after Pope Francis went to Lampedusa to demonstrate his solidarity with refugees and immigrants, the compassion he showed is needed. The recent pushback of Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi immigrant workers by Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia has made it a call to the Jesuits of our region. Who can look unmoved into the eyes of the women, children, and men adrift on these boats as they are repelled by nation after nation?
The challenge of an inhumane policy that has popular support has been felt particularly in Australia. There the beginnings of the recent regional crisis can be traced and the shaping of a policy that is winning converts across the world.
Australian governments have always resented people who come by boat to seek protection from persecution. It has tried to deter future arrivals by detaining them on arrival and imposing increasingly harsh conditions on them while waiting for the resolution of their claim.
But more recently the lip service that Australia paid to the United Nations Refugee Convention and to its sharing a worldwide responsibility for refugees has been shut tight. For two years, boats carrying asylum seekers to Australia have been returned summarily to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The sole criterion that guides Australian policy has been narrow self-interest.
This has been seen also in the economic focus in immigration policy, where many overseas workers have been exploited by unscrupulous employers under lax government scrutiny.
Other nations of the region have toyed with the same brutal policy towards asylum seekers and migrant workers. So in Myanmar the Rohingya are denied citizenship and the attendant rights to security and development. Many have fled persecution in the last few years, and in recent weeks more have been arriving in boats on the shores of Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia – and been turned back.
International protest to this action has been loud with calls for the three countries and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which they and Myanmar are member states, to take action to address this humanitarian crisis.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott however has spoken up in support of the boat turn backs, saying “I don’t apologise in any way for the action that Australia has taken to preserve safety at sea by turning boats around where necessary. And if other countries choose to do that, frankly that is almost certainly absolutely necessary if the scourge of people smuggling is to be beaten.” He has also said that Australia will not offer resettlement to any of the thousands of migrants caught up in Southeast Asia’s refugee crisis.
The Southeast countries have since chosen to act with less self-interest and greater compassion. In urgent talks held on May 20, Malaysia and Indonesia agreed to provide temporary shelter to the refugees until they return home or are resettled in a third country, and Thailand has agreed to stop turning away boats.
But the policy remains on the books. And European nations around the Mediterranean are increasingly toying with the same policy.
When local self-interest reigns so brutally, it is important for international bodies like the Catholic Church and the Society of Jesus, represented in many nations, to think and act cooperatively. Together they must press for better ways of acting and caring for the victims of inhumane policies.
In Australia the Jesuit Refugee Service is advocating for more humane treatment of asylum seekers living in the community, and also for a compassionate and effective refugee policy. It has also worked cooperatively with Jesuit and other organisations in the region to gain support for a cooperative approach.
The Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum (CAPSA) coordinated by Jesuit Social Services, aims to animate the widespread Catholic educational, health, and social outreach organisations. That may build a groundswell of support for asylum seekers from all corners of the Australian Catholic community, inspire more people to become involved, provide relevant resources, and create connections between different groups around the country. It has recently launched its website: www.capsa.org.au
These are small plantings in scorched soil. But as Jesuits in our region own, our shared responsibility is to vulnerable people scouring our nations seeking protection. By working cooperatively, we may make the soil more fertile.
Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ is consulting editor of Eureka Street.
Photo caption: CAPSA participants during the walk for asylum seeker justice in Melbourne, Australia on Palm Sunday 2015
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