Recently I've developed an interest in Yemen, a small country on the Arabian Peninsula. It's the poorer of the Arab states because it doesn't possess the same level of natural resources, notably oil. But it's a fascinating place, rich in history and culture, and so far removed from anywhere else I have experienced. I would love to visit one day.
I was thinking about Yemen this morning when reading some Aussie blogs. These characters were discussing the recent arrival of a few dozen asylum seekers in Australia and, besides blaming the government for it, predicting an influx. The usual fears are there, and I have heard them so often in Australia: open floodgates, erosion of our culture, crime and terrorism, Muslims. So what has this got to do with Yemen?
Yemen is an interesting counterpoint to Australia. By that I mean it provides a point of reference so that issues, like that of asylum seekers, can be placed in a proper, global perspective. You see, in some ways Yemen and Australia are kind of similar. They are both countries with a generally arid climate and not too much water (although Australia is much bigger and has more water resources). Yemen's population of 23 million is not too different to Australia's 21 million. In terms of their physical capacity to accept refugees, at least, there are some similarities.
Of course, there are differences, too. Yemen is a poor country compared to Australia; it's GDP per capita is about $2,500 compared to Australia's $37,000. Yemen's unemployment rate (35%) dwarfs Australia's (4.5%) and almost half of its population lives below the poverty line, many of them in the country's growing slums. Clearly, Yemen's financial capacity to accommodate large numbers of refugees is far smaller than Australia's.*
In Australia at present, the sight of Iranians, Afghans, and Indonesians arriving in boats has caused some people concern. In the past two months, the arrival of 31 "suspected asylum seekers" has been enough to prompt a familiar chorus of whining about how Australia will soon be over run. Some argue that Australia has too few people and too few resources; it simply can't afford to be "generous" to the world's needy.
This is where Yemen provides such a useful contrast, because it has a similar sized population to Australia but far fewer resources. Yet during the first week of October, Yemen received one thousand asylum seekers, most of them people fleeing the chaos and violence in Somalia. This year Yemen has received around 32,000 refugees, most from Somalia. These are in addition to the 113,000 already there at the end of 2007.**
Why is it that a nation like Yemen, struggling with poverty and internal armed conflict, can find the resources to provide shelter and refuge for tens of thousands of people, while a rich nation like Australia has a fit when a few dozen asylum seekers appear on the horizon? Yemen can muster the resources to show a bit of common decency and humanity, why can't Australia? Australia can and should do a lot more than it currently does. It's time for the whingers to get some bloody perspective.
* All these figures are from the CIA World Factbook.
** Figures taken from IRIN 2008, 'Yemen: Influx of migrants strains resources', IRIN News, 13 October. Retrieved on 21 October 2008.
23 October 2008
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2 comments:
The inability that so many Australians have to place our circumstances in any broader global context bewilders me. It's like the constant complaints about our foreign aid which is resented "because we have so many problems that need fixing here" ... as if our problems were remotely comparable to the situation facing much of the rest of the world.
Pakistan and Indonesia and Iran and other countries have to cope with floods of refugees on per capita resources that are many times lower than ours yet they do it with a simple acceptance of humanitarian obligation. Yet our government prefers to waste hundreds of millions of dollars on a camp at Christmas Island to prevent a few thousand refugees even getting to Australia. It's hard to believe that Australians are so self-centred because they are generous in other ways; maybe it's just a complete incapacity for empathy.
I would bet that nearly every refugee in Yemen is Muslim.
Furthermore, do they have welfare and free healthcare to all in Yemen? Obviously if they don't provide universal protection, any refugees will be far less of a financial burden on the rest of the community.
It's all very well to point out a couple of isolated facts to make a point, but there's often much more to the story.
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