For‌ ‌many‌ ‌years‌ ‌asylum‌ ‌seekers‌ ‌have‌ ‌had‌ ‌to‌ ‌face‌ ‌many‌ ‌difficulties‌ ‌that‌ do not often rise to the forefront of public discourse.‌ ‌The‌ ‌tragedies‌ ‌that‌ ‌they’ve‌ ‌had‌ ‌to‌ ‌face‌ are as if they’re trying to comprehend something that is beyond comprehension. ‌It may not seem like an intriguing nor important case, but the results show that situations asylum seekers have dealt with are terrorizing. The rights of neglected and detained asylum-seekers under the human right in UN’s Article 3 are viewed through the conditions of torture on asylum seekers, personal experience stories, and how it still occurs today.

After researching how asylum seekers in Australia have been tortured through the years, I encountered an article written by David Berger, a doctor, and an executive committee member, stating that Australia abuses and mistreats its asylum seekers on the Pacific Island of Nauru. The author wrote, “The so-called Nauru files, published on 10 August, describe alleged assaults, sexual abuse, self harm attempts, and child abuse” (Berger). This sentence provides evidence of how Australia’s asylum seekers are inhumanely treated and neglected from a doctor’s perspective. Australian doctors have observed many of their patients being abused as they are pending to become refugees, or some may be detainees. Most of these immigrants have dealt with traumatizing events that could never be recovered. For example, in a journal article by J. D. Kinzie, a psychiatrist, an African refugee named Sarah had witnessed her father being killed in front of her, her son burning alive in a locked house, and lastly, her daughter being shot next to her but luckily survived. Not only that, but in the Somali war of 1991 Sarah “...was attacked by the rebels again and threatened with rape” (Kinzie 43). Sarah must’ve felt as lost as a predestined soul experiencing these events physically and having to process them mentally. The results of these traumatizing events led Sarah to be diagnosed with “severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder” (Kinzie 43).  Asylum seekers are humans too, but they’ve had to confront many unforgettable and terrorizing situations that others wouldn’t expect. Immigrants shouldn’t have to fear and endure these dreadful occurrences when they should be protected instead. 

Immigrants arriving in Australia have to experience similar situations where they aren’t allowed protection within the country, or the process has been overlooked many times. Retrieved from an article published by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science, asylum seekers who arrived in Australia with visas that were permitted to them by Australian administrators abroad were allowed to join the community. On the other hand, some asylum seekers weren’t as lucky. Written in the journal article, “Accused of supporting the separatist Tamili Tigers, Jay was arrested and tortured so badly that he couldn’t walk. Marion was herself beaten by the government authorities leading to a miscarriage” (Corlett 27). These asylum seekers continued to face tragedies as they applied for visas but were declined by the “Immigration Department and the Refugee Review Tribunal”, as well as the “Migration Review Tribunal and Immigration Minister” (Corlett 27). Although it was illegal for them to work and earn money, they still did so to support their family. Many immigrants had to deal with limited rights, especially the right to work. For instance, “But while he remained in Australia he was denied work rights. Yet because he had a family to care for, he continued to work illegally and got caught - twice” (Corlett 30). Australia wasn’t the only place where asylum seekers were limited to rights and freedom of work. From a chapter from the book “Towards a Decent Labour Market for Low Waged Migrant Workers” by Conny Rijken and Tesseltje de Lange, it states how asylum seekers in the Netherlands have restricted rights to work. There is a job shortage in the Netherlands which means that asylum seekers have a lower chance and wait longer for the application to be confirmed. In other areas, asylum seekers are either allowed to work immediately after registering an application or wait only a span of 4 months. Although the working conditions have gotten better for immigrants, “...in 1995, asylum seekers were not allowed to work, nor was there a specific policy for granting work permits to employ them” (Rijken and de Lange 173).  While their immigration status was pending, the first six months of the asylum system they are not allowed to be paid for their work. Recall that those asylum seekers have to wait six months before being able to work or paid for their work. Immigrants also have to apply for a work permit to be fully entitled to work and earn money. There have been many work restrictions, along with restricted rights on asylum seekers. Their rights are not often mentioned but rather overlooked causing these conditions to make it hard for them to maintain a stable life and job. 

The rights of asylum seekers in the present day continue to be observed as they are limited to freedom and are unwelcome to the U.S. for protection. From an article written by Amnesty International, a global movement that campaigns for human rights, many families were separated and detained because of President Trump’s immigration policies. It was said that these policies intervened with asylum seekers’ rights under U.S. law and international law. Amnesty International stated, “Based on public statements by US government officials, those policies and practices were indisputably intended to deter asylum-seekers from requesting protection in the United States, as well as to punish and compel those who did seek protection to give up their asylum claims'' (USA: “You Don’t). An asylum seeker is provided with the natural rights that were granted to them and are allowed protection if they seek so from another country, though that doesn’t seem to be the case in the US. A recent 2020 article by the International Rescue Committee, a nongovernmental organization that aids humanitarian globally, stated that Trump has used the Covid-19 pandemic as a way to eliminate asylum seekers in the U.S. By detaining asylum seekers and keeping them in overcrowded areas increases the conditions of poor health, as well as insanitation, especially during this pandemic. A study that was made by ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, included in the article says, “But the little data we do have suggests that over twenty percent of the asylum seekers and migrants tested while held in detention are coming back positive” (How the Trump). The public health of asylum seekers seems to be worsening as some are in arbitrary detention and separated from their families. If one is held in arbitrary detention it means that they’ve been unjustifiably arrested without any evidence of a crime. Asylum seekers in the present day are still suffering equally as much as before because they don’t have equal rights and are neglected by the government. 

As a result of researching and learning more about the struggles that asylum seekers have confronted it seems that they’ve endured illegal actions upon themselves because of their disadvantages. The rights of neglected and detained asylum-seekers under the human right in UN’s Article 3 are viewed through the conditions of torture on asylum seekers, personal experience stories, and how it still occurs today. Both in Australia and the Netherlands, asylum seekers have been limited to rights, neglected, and mistreated in many ways. The personal experience stories of Sarah, Jay, Marion, and Janath as asylum seekers have expressed a clear image of the difficulties they’ve had to face throughout the years of becoming a refugee. Immigration also still occurs in the present day, but people are encouraging others to be involved and eliminate it. For many decades, asylum seekers were not able to live the life they planned to. Whether it was leaving their home country to seek protection from another, or entering a new country for a better future, they’ve encountered many situations that the public are unaware of. Many organizations have been established to raise awareness about asylum seekers and provide for them. Though the problem hasn’t been fully resolved yet, people are working day by day to make the world a better place for asylum seekers. 

Works Cited

Berger, David. “Australia’s Torture of Asylum Seekers.” BMJ: British Medical Journal, vol. 354, 2016. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26943887. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.

Corlett, Dave. “The Forgotten Asylum Seekers.” AQ: Australian Quarterly, vol. 77, no. 5, 2005, pp. 27–32. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20638363. Accessed 15 Dec. 2020.

De Lange, Tesseltje. “Asylum Seekers’ Limited Right to Work in the Netherlands.” Towards a Decent Labour Market for Low Waged Migrant Workers, edited by Tesseltje De Lange and Conny Rijken, Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2018, pp. 169–186. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv6hp34j.10. Accessed 15 Dec. 2020.

“How the Trump Administration Is Using COVID-19 to End Asylum.” International Rescue Committee (IRC), 16 Sept. 2020, www.rescue.org/article/how-trump-administration-using-covid-19-end-asylum   . Accessed 7 Jan. 2021. 

Kinzie, J. D. “The Traumatic Lives of Refugees and Asylum Seekers.” GPSolo, vol. 30, no. 5, 2013, pp. 42–44. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23630744. Accessed 15 Dec. 2020.

“USA: ‘You Don’t Have Any Rights Here.” Amnesty International, www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2018/10/usa-treatment-of-asylum-seekers-southern-border/#:~:text=Pushbacks%20of%20asylum%2Dseekers%20are,along%20the%20US%E2%80%93Mexico%20border. Accessed 7 Dec. 2020.