Submission to the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (WGEPAD) 1. Immigration detention

Submission to the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (WGEPAD) November 2022 The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) is the national peak body for people from refugee and asylum seeking backgrounds and the organisations and individuals who work with and support them. [...] In May 2021, the Australian Parliament passed a law that increases the likelihood of indefinite detention. In cases where refugees cannot be removed from Australia to the country of origin due to a well-founded fear of persecution, the law gives the Government the power to keep refugees in detention indefinitely, potentially for the rest of their lives. [...] 2.2 Racism and political debate on refugees and people seeking asylum For several years, the tenor of the public and political debate on refugees has been one of the most consistent concerns raised in our consultations with refugee communities, service providers and community groups. [...] The Refugee and Humanitarian Program 3.1 Australia’s refugee and humanitarian intake In its latest Projected Global Resettlement Needs report,1 the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimated a significant increase in the number of refugees in need of resettlement — from 1.47 million in 2022 to over 2 million persons in 2023 (Table 1). [...] The Refugee Council has heard from refugee community members in Australia about their concern for refugees from the Great Lakes region of Africa – including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda, and Burundi – from Somalia, and from South Sudan.