Making up for lost time : young African refugees in Western Sydney high schools

Abstract

The Africa region is currently the focus of Australia’s humanitarian program and is likely to remain so for some time. During 2003-04, 63 percent of people assisted under the Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy (IHSS) were from the region, and African countries comprised eight of the top twelve countries of birth for humanitarian settlers. The majority are proposed by relatives and friends in Australia before entering under the Special Humanitarian Program (SHP: visa subclass 202); meanwhile, smaller numbers enter under the Refugee Category (especially visa subclasses 200: Refugee and 204: Woman at Risk)