Sustainable Development for Health and Livelihood of Asylum Seekers in Australia

This paper discusses sustainable development in terms of health and livelihood of asylum seekers in Australia, addressing social, economic, and environmental concerns. Solutions are suggested based on the framework provided by the World Health Organization.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

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Introduction
Most of the countries around the world are dealing with problems of refuge migrants
who seek asylum in these countries. The major concern of these countries is to address these
issues in a sustainable manner since with the more number of asylum seeking individuals,
impact on the community is also more. There may be a disruption in the cultures, the local
employment and the services that ate provided because of the increase of the number of
refugees. These are reasons for which there is an immediate requirement of sustainable
solutions to such problems that would have a long-term impact. This paper aims to discuss
about the sustainable development in terms of health and livelihood of the asylum seekers.
This has been discussed in context of the refugees and asylum seekers of Australia.
Additionally the paper illustrates the sustainability concerns in terms of environmental, social
and economy. In conclusion the paper suggests solutions for better sustainable development.
Sustainability in terms of health and livelihood
Sustainability reflects the idea of individuals using resources but not letting these
resources run short. When described in terms of health and livelihood, sustainable
development refers to the relationship of health and livelihood with the environment. A
sustainable livelihood describes the process which has the capability to recover from the
shock and stress and is able to maintain its assets for better health promotion (Holden,
Linnerud & Banister, 2017).
This paper focuses on the health and living conditions of the asylum seekers in the
Australian community. A number of approximately 27,000 asylum seekers have been
reported to reach Australia by boat and these people now reside within the Australian
community, who are now in wait for the processing of their protection application (Martin et
al., 2016). Most of these refugees are deprived of income assistance, hence have to struggle

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for the basic necessities of livelihood. There are about 62,100 people who have stayed
beyond the validity of their visa which may be tourist, business or student visa. For those who
arrived by plane, there was protection visas for 9,646 such applications. Although their
asylum application was being assessed, this group was allowed to stay in the community
(Sanggaran, Haire & Zion, 2016).
Key sustainability concerns
In the environmental point of view, it can be seen that the asylum seekers in
Australia have been staying in poor conditions with lack of proper housing conditions and
basic utilities, as assessed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The
services provided by this body, have experienced the degradation of these refugees during the
tenure where the services were being provided (Mcloughlin, 2017). They continue to live in
the state of crisis, facing difficulties such as unexpected bill and health issues, leading to
deleterious conditions. These individuals are often below the poverty line, lacking even the
basic necessities such as doctors, medicines, nutrition, and transportation.
Economic concerns mainly include problems of limited income. The asylum seeking
individuals in Australia are ineligible for the mainstream Centrelink payments. Settlement
Resolution Support Services (SRSS) programme has been planned through which they can
apply for payments, although there are several clauses under which assistance by SRSS can
be denied to such individuals. These include rejection of the application during the process of
refugee determination. If it is determined that the individual is not ready to cooperate with the
requirements of SRSS. The last clause being losing of job by the asylum seeker as being the
condition for applying for SRSS income support (Riggs et al., 2015).
The social concerns imply the restricted work rights and employment conditions of
these asylum seeking people. Although there is a provision for the support from the charities

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as well as government assistance, most of these individuals desire to support themselves
through employment. However they have been without the work rights for the past few years.
For seeking employment, most of the times these individuals face hindrance. B=such barriers
are due to lack of traineeships and apprenticeships assesses for them, language barriers and
unavailability of resume. Discrimination is a common problem that is generally faced by
these refugees (Neumann, 2015).
Approach though policies
Australia is obliged to provide protection to the asylum seekers, as stated under the
Refugee Convention. According to this Refugee Convention, the country is prohibited to
discriminate and penalise the individuals on the basis of their mode of arrival to the country
(Holden, Linnerud & Banister, 2017). However for several years, there has been
implementation of rigid penalization for those asylum seekers who were coming to Australia
by boat and forcing women, men and children to leave Australia instead of continuing them
through the refugee determination process.
Implementations that require immediate effect in the Australian context includes
equivalence of income with the mainstream population provided through Centrelink
payments, provision of Health Care Card that can be accompanied for ensuring the access to
the several government honour range for those with low income (Martin et al., 2016).
Additionally, assistance should be provided for obtaining employment and gaining work
rights. Mental health services might be accessed in a greater amount in order to recognize the
increasing rates of mental health problems for the people seeking asylum. More assistance
should be provided in order to secure an affordable housing. Care should be given so that
they are provided with the accession to the English language classes. It is of great importance
to promote a just and efficient legal process for fair examination of each case of the

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individuals. Implementations should be brought about for providing educational opportunities
within the community standards. Finally there should be provision for public transport that is
concession-based in all of the states of Australia (Black, 2016).
Potential solutions
Solutions can be provided for sustainable development in terms of the health and
livelihood conditions of the asylum seeking people in accordance to the framework provided
by the World Health Organization (WHO). This framework was design with the aim of
providing Sustainable Development so that no person is left behind in the commitment of
health. According to this framework, the guidelines suggesting betterment in the
sustainability includes:
 The right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health- This guideline aims to provide the fundamental rights to the
refugees, enabling them to enjoy the basic necessities such as health standards,
religion, no racism and upholding the respective political beliefs.
 Equality and non-discrimination- Health standards can be attained if there is lack of
discrimination. It should be exercised through comprehensive laws and provision of
social protection through certain policies and practices.
 Equitable access to health services- the refugee seeking individuals should be
provided with promotion of health facilities, prevention of diseases and care which
might be subjected to the laws of the nation. Discrimination should be avoided in
terms of gender, religion, originality or ethnicity. The health of then refugees should
be considered in similar terms as the health of the overall population. Consideration
must be given to include refugees and migrants into existing national health systems,
plans and policies, wherever appropriate. The aim should be to reduce the health

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inequities and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (World Health
Organization, 2015).
 People-centred, refugee- and migrant-and gender -sensitive health systems- the
centre of focus of the health systems should be the refugees or migrants who seek for
asylum. The health needs to these individuals is very similar to that of the overall host
population, inspite of the difference in the legal status of the asylum seekers. Often
they undergo experiences of distress, harassment and violence that s gender-based,
which may be a result of the conflicting movements (Al-Husban, & Adams, 2016).
 Non-restrictive health practices based on health conditions- Arbitrary restrictions
should not be imposed on the freedom of movement, stigmatization, deportation and
other such practices that promote discrimination. Safeguarding should be present for
the health screenings in order to make sure that there is no such incidents of
stigmatization and invasion of privacy. The procedure of screening should be
implemented that is based on the informed consent of the individuals. It should also
benefit the public, providing a link to risk assessment accession, treatment, care and
support (de Rooij, Wascher & Paulissen, 2016).
 Whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches- The of solidarity,
humanity and sustainable development should be of prime focus when addressing the
complications in migration. There is a major role of the health sector which it play to
ensure the safeguarding of the health aspects of the refugees while migration. This
includes finding of the solutions for the health service provision to the asylum seekers
(Mcloughlin, 2017).
 Participation and social inclusion of refugees and migrants- With the aim of
engaging the refugees and migrants in appropriate decision-making process, the
policies of health and the strategies for the migration and displacement cycle should

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be made participatory. This should be implemented in the countries of origin, transit,
and destination.
 Partnership and cooperation- In order to manage large movements, there is a need
of shared responsibility for providing the refugees and migrants a humane, sensitive,
compassionate and people-centred behaviour. There should be greater partnership and
international cooperation among countries, the United Nations system including
WHO, IOM and UNHCR, and other stakeholder. This is important in order to assist
the countries in addressing the health needs of refugees and migrants and to assure a
harmonized and coordinated response. The World Health Organization, in
collaboration with other relevant international organizations, plays a lead role for the
coordination and promotion of health services to the refugees’ and migrants’ health,
in accordance to the international agenda (World Health Organization, 2015).
Conclusion
In order to conclude the discussion, it can be stated that the rising importance of
sustainable development must be immediately addressed by all the nations around the world.
An immediate implementation of the sustainable development is required I terms of the heath
and livelihood conditions of the asylum seeking people in Australia. Inspite of some of the
steps taken by the policies of the countries, more measures are required to be implemented
for ensuring sustainable development in order to address the social, economic and the
environmental factors. Suggestion to these problems are provided in accordance to the
framework developed by the World Health Organization. These agendas provide guidelines
which promise to bring about sustainable development in the countries all round the world in
terms of the health and livelihood of the asylum seekers.

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