Race not reason behind attacks on India students: Report

Melbourne, Aug 11 (PTI) Indian students in Australia were
robbed more frequently and were more likely to be the victims
of assault as compared to other foreign pupils, but race was
not the reason for these attacks, an official report said
on Thursday.
The 72-page report released by the Australian Institute
of Criminology (AIC), which deals with the incidents of
assault and robbery crimes against overseas students in
Australia between 2005-2009, is a first of its kind against
the backdrop of Indian student attack crisis.
In essence, the study "indicates that international
students are less likely or as likely to be victims of
physical assault and other theft" as the general population of
the country.
"Further, the level of crime experienced by international
students of different nationalities varied, with Indian
students typically experiencing the same or a heightened
incidence of assault and other theft than other student
nationalities," it said.
"The findings for robbery were more concerning in
international students, again predominantly Indian students
(males and females), but also Chinese males, were
significantly more likely to be the victim of robbery for some
jurisdictions for some years compared with Australian
reference populations."
The report, however, rejected racism as a cause of the
higher theft rate.
One reason it offered was that Indian students had a
better grasp of English than students from China, Korea and
other source countries, and so were better placed to get jobs
where they were exposed to the public.
"Indian students in particular, are known to have a
greater proficiency in English and, as such, appear much more
likely than students from east Asian countries to find
employment in the service sector," said the report.
"This includes service stations, convenience stores, taxi
drivers and other employment that typically involves working
late night shifts alone and come with an increased risk of
crime, either at the workplace or while travelling to and from
work."
Key findings revealed that the rates of assault for
Indian students were lower than or on par with rates for the
general Australian population, it said.
However, it did found that rates of robbery against
Indian students were higher than average for Australians in
larger states for most years.
Over half of robberies against Indian students on
commercial premises occurred at service stations, it said,
adding that the proportion of robberies against Indian
students occurring at commercial locations was double than
that recorded for students from other countries.
The higher rates of robbery against Indian students,
compared with other international students, and Australian
comparison populations, appeared to be more likely to occur
because of a range of factors: in particular, differences in
employment, with large numbers of Indian students working in
higher-risk employment (taxi driving and in convenience/fast
food stores and service stations), working evening/night
shifts and their use of public transport.
"The Australian government takes very seriously any
allegations that people are being criminally victimised," an
official statement said.
In 2010, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen
Smith, had announced that the AIC would conduct independent
research into crimes against overseas students with particular
reference to crime rates against Indian students.