(N.B. For years, even on this blog long ago, I have advocated for an information and 'affirmation' booklet for all prospective settlers in Australia,- whether immigrants, refugess or asylum seekers coming to Australian shores illegally! These booklets should be written in many languages and they should be signed by the individuals that they have read, understood and will abide by the laws and the cultural norms of this country over and above their native customs,- should they be in conflict.
Otherwise they should not remain here. This is particularly important in the areas of family, gender and personal status issues.
Now Hirsi Ali advocates for the same instead of the old-fashioned questions the refugees are being asked and which are meaningless to their resultant ability to integrate successfully into their new environment in a new country which is often completely different to the one they left behind, possibly simply for economic reasons.
MM)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/hirsi-ali-urges-refugee-testing/story-fn59niix-1225896772924
Hirsi Ali urges refugee testing
Rebecca Weisser
From: The Australian July 26, 2010 12:00AM
AYAAN Hirsi Ali has called for a radical change in the way refugees should
be assessed.
Ms Hirsi Ali, arguably one of the most high-profile asylum-seekers in the
world, believes the 1951 United Nations convention on refugees is out of
date and unable to cope with the scale of migration, and says Australia is
well-placed to lead moves to replace it.
Ms Hirsi Ali, a prominent critic of Islam, said it was futile for countries
to attempt to establish the bona fides of would-be refugees, not least
because many asylum-seekers will say anything in order to qualify for
asylum.
She said refugee claims should be rigorously assessed on the applicant's
ability to make a contribution to the host nation and to accept its values
and culture.
"Everybody lies," she told The Australian yesterday.
"So what I am trying to say is that we have to change the paradigm. You have
to say, 'You're welcome, we need immigrants but there are many conditions.
Here is the law, the culture, the customs. Here is what you agree to, and in
exchange you get to live in a peaceful, prosperous society where you have
all this opportunity. If you don't agree we will just return you'."
Ms Hirsi Ali speaks from first-hand experience. She successfully sought
asylum in The Netherlands in 1992, escaping a marriage arranged by her
father against her will. At the time, she told the Dutch authorities she was
fleeing the war in Somalia but later publicly admitted she had lied.
Ms Hirsi Ali speaks from her experience working as an interpreter with Dutch
immigration and naturalisation services investigating applications for
asylum from Somalis.
"The authorities wasted days trying to figure out if somebody actually came
from Somalia, and had not lived in Kenya, and had not stayed in Germany. And
ultimately these people stayed because Germany wasn't willing to take them
back, Kenya wasn't willing to take them back," she says.
Ms Hirsi Ali has called on Australia to begin an international dialogue on
the need to rewrite the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees.
"The convention is not the Koran," she said.
"The convention is man-made, it's a secular convention, and the convention
can be changed."
Ms Hirsi Ali says: "Australia should start the conversation that everybody
wants to have. You can take the leadership saying, 'This convention is from
a different era. It doesn't work for our time'."
Ms Hirsi Ali is in Australia to promote her latest book, Nomad, which
follows on from her first autobiographical book, Infidel.
"Since I wrote Infidel, many people have asked me about what happened to my
family. Nomad answers those questions."
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Ms Hirsi Ali is accompanied by her partner, economic historian Niall
Ferguson, a professor at the Harvard Business School.
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