Episode: KPN 24-09-2025 

Refugee Council urges Australia to reject US efforts to undermine protection for people fleeing persecution

The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) has joined more than 270 refugee and human rights organisations around the world in a joint letter urging governments to defend the rights of people fleeing persecution, in response to the United States’ attempts to undermine the international refugee protection system.

The US Government is inviting governments to a high-level meeting during the current United Nations General Assembly session to gain support for its plans to significantly weaken protection for people seeking asylum. Proposed measures include forcing people to apply for asylum in the first country they reach, regardless of safety or capacity, and making protection temporary — with governments deciding when individuals must return, even if it remains unsafe to do so.

RCOA CEO Paul Power says the Trump administration’s proposal represents a direct attack on the principles of the Refugee Convention.

“It risks setting a dangerous precedent that could unravel decades of international cooperation in protecting people fleeing persecution. Australia must not remain silent. We have a duty to defend the system of protection we helped to create.

“The Refugee Convention was created in recognition that millions of people died because their efforts to flee persecution by the Nazi regime in Europe in the 1930s were met with closed borders and pushback from the countries where they sought safety. After World War II ended, the world came together and said, ‘never again’.”

The letter calls for states to strongly oppose any denunciation, withdrawal, or attempt to weaken, reform or replace international refugee, human rights and humanitarian treaties with alternatives that deny people protection from persecution and human rights abuses. It urges governments to voice clear disagreement, restate the value of these treaties for human lives, peace and global stability, and highlight the harmful impacts of efforts to undermine them.

Australia was involved in drafting the Refugee Convention in 1951 and, by ratifying it in 1954, enabled the Convention to come into force. Australia later acceded to the 1967 Protocol, acknowledging the need to expand protection to refugees beyond post-war Europe.

RCOA is urging the Australian Government to continue this legacy by publicly rejecting any move to erode this vital system of protection, reminding the world not to forget the bitter lessons of history.

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