Voice of America
16 Aug 2022, 21:35 GMT+10
SYDNEY - Australia's immigration minister Andrew Giles is reviewing Canberra's response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan a year after the Taliban reassumed control. Campaigners are calling on Australia to grant more visas to refugees seeking to flee the conflict-torn country.
It's been a year since the United States-led alliance left Afghanistan.
Tens of thousands of Afghans have been resettled in the U.S. and Europe.
Australia said earlier this year it would allow the resettlement of 16,500 more refugees from Afghanistan over the next four years.
But the number of Afghan nationals trying to reach Australia far outweighs the number of places available.
Authorities in Canberra have received applications for more than 200,000 Afghan asylum seekers, but almost half are yet to be considered.
Andrew Giles, Australia's immigration minister, has acknowledged that the processing system has been overwhelmed. He has ordered a review into Australia's handling of the asylum crisis.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said that Australia remained "committed to supporting the Afghan community at this distressing time and asks for patience with visa application processes.
But Josephine Langbien, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Center, an independent rights organization, is demanding Canberra do more.
"The Australian government promised to help the people of Afghanistan, but help is not coming fast enough. We [were] promised additional humanitarian visas, but we know that only a few thousand of those visas have actually been issued."
Australia has been granting around 14,000 humanitarian visas each year.
The government hopes to increase the annual refugee intake to around 27,000 people. However, asylum seekers who arrived by boat were treated differently than those who applied and were supported under different international programs. Those who arrived by boat were detained in Australian-funded offshore camps in the South Pacific with no prospect of resettlement in Australia. The policy was condemned as inhumane by rights groups, but the government said it had prevented them from risking their lives at sea.
A detention center in Papua New Guinea has closed, and around 100 migrants remain on the island of Nauru.
Get a daily dose of Sierra Leone Times news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Sierra Leone Times.
More InformationNEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks wavered on Thursday as strong economic data gave further impetus to the Fed ...
AUGUSTA, Maine: On April 12, the Maine Legislature passed a bill to join an interstate compact for social worker licensure ...
AUSTIN, Texas: Reuters reported this week that Tesla will make more than 10 percent of its global workforce redundant amid ...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: On April 13, U.S. Steel shareholders voted in favor of the company's proposed US$14.9 billion acquisition by Japan's ...
NEW YORK, New York - A downturn in Nvidia, and a continuation of Tuesday's sell-off following Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's ...
SAN FRANCISCO, California: Wells Fargo reported a seven percent decline in first-quarter profit, surpassing analysts' forecasts despite increased costs associated ...
Until recently, many Americans of Middle Eastern or North African descent were categorized as "white" in government surveys, making it ...
jakarta, indonesia - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticized the United States on Thursday for its votes on previous United ...
(Photo credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports) No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland swept past Belgium's Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-4 ...
Nairobi [Kenya], April 19 (ANI): Kenya's military chief, General Francis Ogolla, died in a helicopter crash in the country's western ...
Gaborone, Botswana - A coalition of churches in Botswana has voiced its opposition to parliament's latest effort to amend the ...
NAIROBI - Kenya's military chief was among nine people killed in a helicopter crash Thursday, according to Kenyan President William ...