Ethical Approach to Australias Refugee Situation Impenetrable Borders
Impenetrable Borders Annan of the United Nations said, “Today’s real borders are not between nations but between powerful and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated” (Annan, 2001, p1). ... The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees defines a refugee as a person who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country. ... Australia has a set number of refugees that it takes in each year, however, in desperation, many people who have no other option arrive in Australia illegally without certified refugee status. These “illegal immigrants” often have no other choice- they have no time to go through legal channels to claim refugee status, and no time to obtain documents proving that they are being persecuted. ... Taking a situation ethics approach, where ethical decisions are made taking specific circumstances into account with love as an intrinsic value, Australians should treat refugees with greater consideration of their individual human rights. ... Australia should evaluate its attitude toward refugee and consider what is the most understanding and caring course to take. ... This is a non-consequentialist, or deontological, approach to this issue which stresses Australia’s duty to care for refugees who come into the country.