Once again Australian Prime Minister John Howard has displayed his characteristic no-nonsense approach to those who head for the country's shores in the hope of being granted refugee status. Australia has not covered itself in humanitarian glory over its recent treatment of the mainly Afghan refugees. But in truth its government had little choice but to act as it did. And the sight of commandos boarding a Norwegian ship and turning it away from Australian waters at least raised an issue around the world that is in urgent need of debate. It is all too easy to say that John Howard is acting tough because he must soon seek re-election. Any Australian politician would almost certainly be eaten alive by the electorate if they advocated unrestricted access to immigrants, including those who claim refugee status. And Australia is not unique. The same is true in Europe, where governments are grappling with a problem of equal dimensions - tens of thousands of displaced people - some genuinely fleeing persecution, others who are simply economic migrants. All desperate for a better life. Even Hong Kong - which no longer considers refugees' applications for permanent settlement here - is feeling the effects of this exponential growth in the number of people who are prepared to flee homelands riven either by wars or political and religious intolerance. While the numbers coming here are not yet huge, they are significant; and they are likely to grow. Generally it is not immigration that electorates fear; it is the uncontrolled nature of the surge in the numbers of those trying to gain entry. The consequence of these fears is that no government wants to be seen as a soft touch. The main reason for countries' reluctance in accepting refugees is the length of time it can take to process their applications: to separate the genuinely persecuted from the false claimant can take years. In the meantime governments envisage resources being overwhelmed and tensions developing between the host population and asylum-seekers. However sympathetic a country is, such tensions are, eventually, inevitable. Western countries need to formulate a common policy towards sharing the burden of the refugee problem and common guidelines for processing refugees without undue delay. Without such co-operation, countries are likely to become increasingly harsh in their determination to close their borders. The consequence of that will be refugees who are forced to take ever greater risks to escape persecution.
