This article appeared in the Spring issue of Enhance magazine.

The policy around processing asylum seekers arriving by boat has changed since this article was written, so I've omitted that information, and just left the basic statistics. For a bit more information on what is happening now in Australia and those who are helping make a difference, here is an article about the Salvation Army missions on Nauru and Manus Island. 

It was a small, half broken boat that bought Ajmal* to the shores of Australia. The leaky boat flirted with death, as the ferocious ocean carried the tiny vessel and 80 or so desperate souls further from their nightmares and closer to their dreams.

“We spent, maybe, 5 or 6 days in the sea. You lose count. But every minute we were expecting a drama because of the sea,” says Ajmal, “it was about 50 per cent chance that I didn’t expect to get here”.

Sitting in a small, dimly lit room, Ajmal describes his journey from Afghanistan to Australia, seeking asylum. Leaving his wife and young family in Afghanistan, he risked his life in order to find safety and security. He planned to eventually bring them over, where they could be raised in freedom and opportunity away from the terrors of Afghanistan. The journey took six months, including the life-threatening week at sea. That was three years ago. Since his arrival, Ajmal has remained locked up in a detention centre, while the Australian government processes his application for refugee status.

Ajmal’s story represents the plight of so many other desperate men, women and children fleeing their homeland, seeking asylum and placing their hope for a better life in the Lucky Country. Contrary to what our media may lead us to believe, only 2 per cent of the world’s asylum seekers arrive in Australia each year. We have 0.21 per cent of the global share of refugees, ranking us 79^th in comparison to our wealth (GDP) per capita. 

If you are surprised by those statistics and expected them to be a lot higher, you’re most likely among friends. 

Many of us barely understand the difference between an asylum seeker and refugee and the media is quite rash in telling us our borders are being flooded by ‘boat people’, illegal immigrants and queue jumpers.

Perhaps you oscillate between a compassionate heart, moved to love these strangers, yet your fears hold you back; What if they’re from a terrorist group? Aren’t they all going to come if we allow a few in? If Australia can’t deal with its own issues such as homelessness or indigenous issues, how can we help these foreigners?

Here’s the thing; these people aren’t illegal. Nor are they queue jumpers. Seeking asylum from persecution is recognized internationally under the UN Refugee Convention, to which Australia is a signatory. Even arriving without documentation (sometimes it’s too dangerous in their country of origin to access their documents) is completely within their rights if their fears are well-founded. And as for queue jumping, there is no queue to join when you are fleeing persecution with your life in danger. Many are sent to wait in Malaysia, where waiting for resettlement is like winning the Lotto. Statistically, it will take 150 years. To make matters worse, places like Malaysia and Indonesia aren't signatories to the UN Refugee Convention, so asylum seekers have no support, protection and can't work. What choices are they left with? 

A very small margin of people seeking asylum come via boat. Australia’s borders are among the most secure in the world. The majority of these people are arriving by plane, not boat. And plane arrivals typically have a 40 per cent success rate, 85-90 per cent of those arriving by boat are granted asylum. 

The concept of a refugee is quite a foreign concept to many Australians. It is not a choice. It is about life or death. They have to flee for their life. That is the foreign thing about it. 

Ajmal is still awaiting the outcome for his application, but fears return to Afghanistan will surely mean death by the Taliban.