In 2010, there were 6897 asylum seekers that arrived in Australia; most of them, if not all, came from war-torn and ravaged countries, where their only hope of survival is to flee their country, sail for thousands of kilometres in a leaky boat. Some of them left their family (in the hope of someday reuniting with them in the country of asylum), some of them are children without parents, some of them are lame, deaf, illiterate or mentally-incapacitated--but they all have one thing in common; they are scarred, helpless and  in need of immediate help.

But what do we do to them in Australia? We jail them. Yes, we lock them away somewhere far (even offshore) away from the prying eyes of the community. We used to send them to Nauru in inhumane and abhorrent conditions no human being (or even animal) would tolerate. We now send them to Christmas Island, Northam and Inverbrackie: places far away from civilization in order to ensure that every day Australians do not see them as HUMAN BEINGS and have sympathy towards them (which is not a bit better than Nauru).

Yes. Australia jails innocent people. We lock them up for an indefinite amount of time and give them no certainty about their future. Its worse than being guilty of murder. But these are innocent people whose only 'fault' is that they were asking for help.

Shamefully, our 'representative' politicians label them as illegal and queue-jumpers in order to justify their mandatory jailing; where both titles are extremely inappropriate and full of glaring flaws. Firstly, they are not illegal. We, as signatories to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, has an obligation to accept anyone that comes into our territories seeking asylum from their country where it is almost certain that their life will be in danger. It is our international, and most importantly, humanitarian obligation to accept them and offer protection. Secondly, to label them queue jumpers is to suggest that there is a queue; there is none. And if there is one, it would not be your first option when your life is in danger. These are nothing but political and vote-catching stunts.

This is a shame, a stain on Australia's human rights track record. And the people in power whinge about the 'large numbers' of asylum seekers arriving. That is a lie. Australia hosts about 1 refugee per 1583 Australians; Britain hosts 1 per 530 British citizens; Tanzania 1 per 76  of their citizens.

Above all these, let us remember that they are humans as well; more importantly, let us acknowledge that they experienced things far worse than what we can imagine (or even experience in our lifetime), and the last thing we want to subject them to is indefinite and repugnant mandatory detention. There are a lot of justifications that the people in power say to cover-up this mess; this shows that none of them has the guts to make the tough and right decisions.

Let US stand up, and help those who are helplessly detained to be free. Politicians are very sensitive to public outcries, and if we raise enough attention through this petition, they might change their minds. Let us free the Refugees!