Published: 4 March 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
The scenes of African youth getting into brawls in Melbourne and stealing cars in the suburbs are alarming. Indeed, there is no justification for the violent behaviour that has taken place. Alcohol should not be used as an excuse, and neither should being a refugee.
While Melbourne might currently feel like a war zone – if you believe the media coverage - the statistics tell a different story. In February the Australian Bureau of Statistics released new crime data that showed Victoria is “safer than it has been at any time for the past decade”.
Specifically, there was a significant drop in youth offenders: 8280, well down from 14,757 in 2008-09. Sudanese youth are responsible for less than two percent of overall youth crime figures in Victoria.
Most of the Sudanese refugees who have migrated to Australia fled their country's civil war, which officially ended in 2005 after 23 bloody years, and many have struggled to adjust.
They grew up in the constant shadow of war and violence, seeing family members tortured, raped and killed. After escaping persecution in Sudan many spent over a decade in refugee camps where life was anything but normal and safe. The post-traumatic stress disorder experienced by most of the refugees is profound and no doubt has had a big impact on their integration process, as well as their parenting capacity.
Often when young people from refugee backgrounds arrive in Australia, they face a severe lack of social, economic and political opportunities and life choices, making integration into their new homes and new communities difficult. For example, young people with Sudanese heritage have said that incessant racism towards them is one of the key causes of early school leaving and dropout.
What can be done to better integrate the Sudanese community into Australia as opposed to further alienating them
The Torah’s advice is straight to the point: “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Inspired by this exhortation to embrace the stranger and show compassion towards them, Stand Up has been working closely with a group of refugees from Darfur and the Nuba Mountains, two areas of Sudan that were decimated by the war. We started building the relationship with them 13 years ago with monthly picnics and outings, and today we have homework clubs, women’s groups, and youth leadership programs. Every week over 60 Stand Up volunteers work in one of our programs with the aim of empowering the refugees to thrive in Australian society.
Many of our volunteers are children and grandchildren of Jewish refugees who arrived 80 years ago, and they feel a real sense of mission in helping newly arrived refugees find their feet.
Many of our volunteers are children and grandchildren of Jewish refugees who arrived 80 years ago, and they feel a real sense of mission in helping newly arrived refugees find their feet.
We can all do our bit to prevent Sudanese youth becoming disenfranchised and disconnected members of society. As employers, we can offer them work experience, or better still, employment opportunities. As teachers and educators, we can volunteer our time to provide extra tutoring to students who may be falling behind their peers and whose parents may not have high levels of English.
We should also not be lumping all Sudanese youth into one negative stereotype. If we do this we may risk disenfranchising the many law-abiding Sudanese youth who are focused on doing well at school, getting into tertiary education and becoming community role models.
As one young person responding to the negative media stories commented: “Imagine opening up your newspaper only to find a headline which suggests that all young people like me, who have my skin colour, are criminals. We’re not all criminals – in fact very few of us are. And we’re not all disengaged, although every time we see another instance of racial discrimination or stereotyping, it makes us feel just a little bit more disconnected.”
The anti-social behaviour displayed by some Sudanese youth needs to be condemned and punished. At the same time, we should double our efforts to help these youth and their parents deal with their trauma and build a new life in Australia.
Visit Stand Up
Photo: Kurnai students Athay Deng, Tethloach Pel Kum and Bafel Wal, from the LaTrobe Valley in Victoria (Latrobe Valley Express)
