Nature of Asylum Seekers
An asylum seeker is a person who has fled his or her own country and applied for protection as a refugee. The United Nations defines who a refugee is and sets out the basic rights that countries should guarantee to refugees. The Convention states that a asylum seeker/refugee is a person who is outside their own country and is unable to unwilling to return due to a well-founded fear of being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, and membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Australia has international obligations to protect human rights of all asylum seekers and refugees who arrive in Australia, regardless of how or where they arrive and whether they arrive with or without a visa. There is a lot of diversity in relation to Asylum seekers/Refugees which will be explored throughout this website.