Australian kids have been giving raw accounts about what they know about asylum seekers.
The Kids Talk Refugees video series, produced by a team of journalists, shows 18 children from six to 11 years old speaking directly to the camera about an issue that continues to dominate the local political landscape.
They are innocent, opinionated and have empathy beyond their years — making statements that could teach an adult a thing or two. Two of the children are refugees, and speak candidly about experiences in their respective homelands.
The young Aussies may not be aware that Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s government has been accused of paying boats to turn around. They also may not know the appalling treatment children like themselves are subjected to in Manus Island and Naura detention centres.
But they do understand basic human rights and the need for acceptance.
They are also clear on the real reasons people flee their homeland for a safe harbour. Asylum seekers are “the people who run away from evil,” resettled refugee Karmel, 6, explains. Siti, 7, also a refugee, tells an anecdote about a boat she tried to board that broke and sank.
Galileo, who is eight years old, is confused by why he should worry about asylum seekers coming to Australia. “Why should I be scared of somebody who’s our species?” he asks.
“They are not doing anything wrong, they are just trying to go to another country because there are wars,” a young girl chimes in.
The videos were inspired by the Australian Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into children in detention. The team behind the project wrote on its website: “It really came home to us that children shouldn’t have to know about immigration policy, least of all the inside of our detention centres.”
The Australian government policy for refugees arriving by boat is to turn the vessels around or to resettle asylum seekers in offshore detention camps, on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. The government and former government have been accused of paying crew members up to A$5,000 to return the boats to where they came from, Fairfax Media reported.
On Monday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, told the human rights council in Geneva the treatment of asylum seekers by Australia is “hostile and contemptuous,” according to The Guardian.
“Australia’s response to migrant arrivals has set a poor benchmark for its regional neighbours. The authorities have also engaged in turn-arounds and pushbacks of boats in international waters,” he said.
He repeated the sentiment reported previously by the United Nations, saying the treatment within the offshore detention centres is “cruel, inhuman and degrading.”
“Given that most of today’s Australians themselves descend from migrants – and given that the country maintains sizeable regular programs for migration and resettlement – I am bewildered by the hostility and contempt for these women, men and children that is so widespread among the country’s politicians.”
It might be time for the politicians to listen to the children.
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