Dialogue: Afghans have proved to be diligent citizens

The Afghan asylum-seekers from the Tampa will make better citizens than some recent immigrants of dubious background, writes TERRY DIBBLE*.

I was in Australia when the MV Tampa arrived at Christmas Island with its load of mostly Afghan refugees. The public protest against allowing those people refuge in Australia was both strident and overwhelming.

It was a relief to hear the news from Helen Clark that New Zealand would accept 150 of the asylum-seekers. Her statement was in marked contrast to the intolerant approach of the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard.

Since the mid-1980s I have sponsored many Afghans as refugees to New Zealand and continue to do so. They have proved themselves to be very good citizens. With one or two minor exceptions, they are law-abiding, diligent and keen to make a contribution to the welfare of New Zealand.

In some cases, adults have had difficulty in finding work because qualifications are not recognised. Language difficulties are another hurdle.

Their children have been quick to grasp the opportunity of acquiring an education. Many are now gaining tertiary qualifications and finding good jobs. The families recognise the advantages available to their children and make the most of the opportunities.

They are only too well aware of the drastic situation that steadily worsens in Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world. The poverty is exacerbated by chronic drought that has brought malnutrition to many areas.

Twenty years of war have brought their own misery. Guerrilla warfare against invading Soviet troops has been followed by civil war since the withdrawal of those troops. No invader has ever been able to permanently subdue the Afghans. They have repelled every attempt to colonise them.

New Zealand supported them by boycotting the Moscow Olympics in 1980 in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The withdrawal left a politically destabilised nation ripe for internal conflict. The Taleban, the rulers in much of Afghanistan, show many of the hallmarks of the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot in Cambodia. What little of the economy that survived the Soviets has been destroyed.

Women are forbidden to work and girls are not given education. The schools for boys follow a narrow curriculum dominated by Islamic studies.

Medical facilities are scarce and under-resourced. Most Afghans live in the countryside where they survive on what they grow. Drought means starvation.

Understandably, Afghans see no hope in their own land and flee. There are some 3.2 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan alone. They live in squalor.

For these people, there is no queue they can join to find asylum elsewhere. Only a minute number will be processed for settlement in another country, unless they have a relative or other contact who can intercede on their behalf.

Those on the Tampa took the only course open to desperate people. They are not queue-jumpers; there was no queue for them to join.

They will have scraped together whatever money they could in a do-or-die bid to find some future for themselves and their families. Because they have been the victims of extortion all their lives, they will not be aware that paying over money for documents and unauthorised passage is illegal. It is simply user-pays in a corrupt environment. They have never known anything different.

Many may well have been involved in armed conflict. They come to countries such as ours to get away from war. They want to live in peace to give their children health, education and a stable life.

In the 1980s, bringing Afghan refugees into New Zealand met cooperation from the Immigration Service. However, in the early 1990s it suddenly became much more difficult. They were declared to be refugees from Afghanistan to Pakistan, but not from Pakistan to New Zealand.

The only classification available for entry to New Zealand was on humanitarian grounds. The criteria were mental or physical trauma. Poverty was specifically excluded as a reason to migrate.

Meanwhile, our immigration door was opened wide to anyone who could assemble enough cash to qualify for entry. No probing questions were asked as to how the money was acquired.

As a consequence, many people of dubious background have gained residency. It is no coincidence that we now have a special police Asian crime unit.

There is no reason to believe that the people on the Tampa will be any less valuable as citizens in our country than the Afghans who are here. The boat people have shown considerable initiative in getting themselves from the remote regions of Afghanistan to the shores of Australia. They will use the same resourcefulness to add value to our own society.

For the Australians, the issue of migrants arriving on leaky vessels is a problem that needs resolution. There needs to be negotiation with Indonesia to establish a more orderly process, even for the good of the refugees themselves.

In the longer term, putting strategies in place to reduce the gap between the affluent and poor countries will be the surest way to achieve an orderly process of migration.

It is an anomaly that once people are given refugee status and accepted into Australia, they are treated much better than refugees coming to New Zealand. I trust that the willingness of the New Zealand Government to come to the assistance of the people on the Tampa will be backed up by appropriate assistance to help them to integrate into this country.

Such investment will be returned many times by the industry and ingenuity of grateful residents.

* Father Terry Dibble, of Grey Lynn, is a Catholic priest.