Title: Settling refugees in Australia: achievements and challenges

Authors: Farida Fozdar; Susan Banki

Addresses: The University of Western Australia, M257, 35 Stirling Hwy, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia ' Department of Sociology and Social Policy, RC Mills A26, School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

Abstract: This article examines the extent to which Australia fulfils its legal obligations for resettled refugees. This necessitates noting both the international frameworks that inform the rights accorded to refugees as well as applicable Australian law and policies. But while laws provide us with a point of departure, a thorough analysis of how these laws are upheld requires a focus on the lived experience of settlement, and identification of where law, policy and practice are disjoint and where they conjoin. The paper concludes by noting the opportunities provided by, and limitations of, law and policy, as means to facilitate integration of resettled refugees, and offers some thoughts on how refugee resettlement in Australia might be improved.

Keywords: refugee settlement; refugee resettlement; refugees; integration; Australia; refugee policy; acculturation; settlement policy; asylum seekers; legal obligations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMBS.2017.081197

International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 2017 Vol.3 No.1, pp.43 - 66

Published online: 26 Dec 2016 *

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