Not quite right.
Reader comment on item: [Australia's] Crisis of illegal immigration
in response to reader comment: Australia

Submitted by Mary Connor (Australia), Sep 5, 2008 at 09:03

On a per head of population basis Australia is neck and neck with Canada in accepting the most refugees. As there are more than 40 million potential refugees in the world ( in China alone practitioners of Falun Gong number between 11 and 40 million and they are persecuted) it is not possible for Australia, or even a group of countries to take all these people.

Overpopulation is the main source of much of the civil, ethnic , religious violence. Many of those in power who are driving much of the strife are quite happy for the "West" to act as a kind of social welfare for their unwanted citizens.

The United Nations has enunciated that individual countries should take responsibility for their own populations and n ot unload them onto other countries. I do not know the best way to achieve responsible behaviour of the people of Africa and other countries that are spawning these refugees/asylumseekers/illegal migrants. Obviously we should help, but just opening the borders of a country to all who wish to enter will end up with those countries also having similar problems.

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