DIMIA Annual Report 2002-03
OUTPUT 1.2 - REFUGEE AND HUMANITARIAN ENTRY AND STAY
The Humanitarian Program is an important element of Australia's contribution to the system of international protection of refugees.
The offshore component of the program provides resettlement in Australia to people overseas who are in the greatest relative need of this durable solution.
The onshore component provides protection in Australia to people who engage Australia's protection obligations under the Refugee Convention.
In 2002-03, 12,525 visas were granted under the offshore and onshore components of the Humanitarian Program.
This number comprised 11,656 visas granted offshore and 869 visas granted onshore (including three Temporary Humanitarian Concern visas).
The total number of Humanitarian Program visas granted compares with 13,223 places that were available for the program at the commencement of the 2002-03 program year.
1.2.1 Offshore Humanitarian
Performance Information
| OUTPUT COMPONENT | MEASURES | RESULTS |
| 1.2.1 - Offshore Humanitarian | Quantity: 55,947 applications (persons) finalised. |
65,750 |
| Quality: Finalisation time taken for offshore applications reduced by 10% from 2001-02. |
Finalisation time reduced by 40% |
Objective
To:
- assist people in humanitarian need overseas for whom resettlement in another country is the only available option
- share the responsibility for refugee protection with the international community.
Description
Through the Humanitarian Program the government provides resettlement for refugees and others who are in the greatest need of this durable solution.
This output provides for the delivery of the offshore Humanitarian Program as set out by the government in a way that enhances settlement outcomes and supports Australia's role as a cooperative international player in the area of responsibility sharing.
Analysis of Performance
The available offshore resettlement places for 2002-03 were 12,223 comprising:
- 3,878 refugee places
- 8,345 Special Humanitarian Program places (subject to the number of places being required onshore)
As a result of successful efforts to reduce unauthorised arrivals in Australia, the notional allocation of program places for onshore protection need decreased from an estimated 6,300 at the commencement of 2001-02 to 1,000 places at the commencement of 2002-03, an 84 per cent reduction.
Total visa grants under the offshore humanitarian program were 11,656 comprising:
- 4,376 refugee grants, including 504 Woman at Risk grants and 311 persons resettled from offshore processing centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea
- 7,280 Special Humanitarian Program grants.
The 11,656 offshore grants in 2002-03 constituted an increase of 38 per cent over the 8,458 offshore grants in 2001-02.
This increase in grants was achieved despite challenges in the operational environment overseas as a result of disruptions to processing in the Middle East and Pakistan due to post closures, security concerns and travel restrictions.
The 504 Woman at Risk grants (11.5 per cent of refugee grants) exceeded the annual target of 420 places (10.5 per cent of refugee places), and represents the highest number of grants in a program year in the last five years.
In line with regional priorities as recommended by the UNHCR, priority was given to resettlement of people from Africa, the Middle East and South West Asia in 2002-03. The regional composition was as follows:
- Africa - 47 per cent of total offshore grants (an increase of 16 per cent of the total offshore program in comparison with 2001-02)
- Middle East and South West Asia - 37 per cent of total offshore grants (an increase of five per cent of the total offshore program in comparison with 2001-02)
- Europe - 10 per cent of total offshore grants (a reduction of 22 per cent of the total offshore program in comparison with 2001-02).
In 2002-03, the average visa grant times for 50 per cent of Humanitarian Program applications reduced by 22 per cent in comparison with 2001-02.
In 2002-03, a total of 63,073 applications were made offshore, an increase of 9,320 applications in comparison with 2001-02. Applications from 65,750 persons were finalised.
The Humanitarian Program can be managed flexibly between program years. In 2002-03:
- the significant reduction in places required onshore resulted in greater numbers of Humanitarian Program places available for the Special Humanitarian Program (SHP) component. This resulted in 7,280 SHP visa grants in 2002-03, a 69 per cent increase over SHP visa grants including a small number of SAC grants in 2001-02 (4,298). An additional 1,196 SHP places will be carried forward in 2003-04.
- Four hundred and ninety eight refugee places were brought forward from the 2003-04 program year to allow the grant of visas to refugee cases which had reached finalisation.