Legal and Non-legal Combat Cultural Diversity of Migrants?

Discrimination is very a very common and obvious problem that migrants face. In view of this, both legal and non- legal organizations have attempted to address these injustices.

Legal organizations have done a lot concerning this issue such as governments introducing law so that people discriminating will face a penalty. Laws such as the Anti- Discrimination Act 1977 state that it is against the law to discriminate in employment when a migrant goes to apply for a job, employers cannot discriminate against migrants and not choose these people because of their race or background.

Also at work there cannot be any discrimination against migrants by fellow employees because of their background. For example, it is against the law for an employer to make a person wear a uniform that does not meet their ethnic or religious dress needs – unless doing so is reasonable for the particular job.

It is also illegal for an employer to insist that a migrant speak English fluently and/or without an accent – unless this type of English/accent is reasonable for the particular job. When a migrant gets,

or tries to get, most types of goods or services- for example, from shops, hotels, entertainment places, banks, lawyers, government departments, doctors, hospitals and so on there must be no discrimination here and goods or services must be provided to the migrants just as any other person would. There can also be no discrimination when a migrant enrols for education in an education institution such as government school, non-government school, college or university.

They cannot be refused acceptance into these places unless there is a justifiable reason. For example it is against the law to stop a person from speaking in their own language at their place of study like at a college, university or so on – unless speaking in your language stops the work or study being done properly.

When renting or buying accommodation such as a unit, house, a commercial premise, hotel or motel room, or a caravan, the landlord cannot refuse accommodation to migrants because of their racial background. If any of this happens the Anti-Discrimination Board investigates and conciliates complaints of discrimination, harassment and vilification. They are impartial in this process and do not take sides. The Board tries to help both parties involved come to an agreement about how the problem can be resolved. It also informs and educates the people of NSW, employers and service providers about their rights and responsibilities under anti-discrimination law. And it makes recommendations to the government about amendments to anti-discrimination law.

In these ways legal organisations such as the Government or the Anti-Discrimination Board have dealt with discriminatory injustices against migrants. Non- legal organisations also try to do this. Non-legal organisations such as Amnesty International, ChilOut, and Save the Refugees try to lobby against discrimination brought upon the migrants or refugees by the government. They often use protests which are very large and often very unusual to get the government to hear their message and take it into consideration. These non-legal lobby groups have succeeded in pressuring the government to change the way that they deal with migrants.

To fund their protests, they ask for donations to be made so that they can look after the migrants as well as protest. They ask for people to join their groups so that they are larger which can put more pressure on the government. Usually their protests are near the Embassies of countries including Australia. They can also protest on television by the way of using advertisements to get their message across. There are a number of ways that these lobby groups use to try to get government to change legislation dealing with migrants.

They also have a number of migrant or refugee support programs. They have call centres that migrants can call for help or to make a complaint if they are discriminated against. Upon hearing these calls serious action is taken if the call is believed to be true. Protests may be held in support of the migrants. They most likely will use the migrant who called as an example of what all refugees and migrants are facing. This will appeal to some of the community and this will stop discrimination from some people and also may stop discrimination from the government.

Legal and non- legal organizations have attempted to stop discriminatory injustices through a number of ways and with continuing effort they will get rid of a lot of discrimination against migrants.