95 dead from hunger, disease in W. Sudan's refugee camp during past 40 days: volunteers, Zinhua

In a statement, the Abu Shouk Camp Emergency Room said 73 children under five and 22 elderly individuals had died from hunger and illness among camp residents.

"The security and humanitarian situation in El Fasher remains dire, with residents facing severe shortages of food, water, and healthcare, especially displaced people cut off from aid and basic services," the statement said. The group warned of a looming health crisis, citing unburied bodies across the city amid ongoing insecurity, and urged international organizations to establish safe corridors for civilians fleeing the conflict.

https://english.news.cn/africa/20250929/c7b66313645a4bc2afd88a2d87a30db0/c.html?mc_cid=0809445e3e&mc_eid=63743e84d5

“Night is dark for us”: Rohingya refugees need protection before repatriation, The New Humanitarian

Today, the UN General Assembly is hosting a high-level conference on the situation of the Rohingya and other minorities in Myanmar. While the overall goal is for Rohingya to be able to go home to Myanmar, few are under any illusion that it can happen any time soon. Northern Rakhine State, where most of the Rohingya in the Bangladesh camps are from, is now under the control of the Arakan Army, which is engaged in active conflict with the Myanmar military and Rohingya armed groups………….

…In the meantime, Rohingya children, who make up almost half the population of the camp, face urgent protection needs. But the funds to meet them are disappearing. As the US under President Donald Trump pulls back from the humanitarian landscape, the aid response in Cox’s Bazar is, as of August 31, only 37% funded for this year, the lowest level since 2017.

https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2025/09/30/myanmar-rohingya-refugees-need-protection-repatriation?utm_source=The+New+Humanitarian&utm_campaign=956c9d91fe-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_10_3&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d842d98289-956c9d91fe-75551421&mc_cid=0809445e3e&mc_eid=63743e84d5

What we've learnt about the 'ISIS brides', as federal police anticipate more returns. By Ewa Staszewska, SBS

Home Affairs and relevant security agencies, including the AFP and ASIO, have been aware of the individual's intent to return since June.
It remains unclear whether the women had committed any terrorism offences.
Nutt reassured the public that they were being monitored as part of Operation Howth, which has been going on since 2014, in coordination with other agencies.
"We will leave no stone unturned in understanding, identifying and investigating any activity, and if there are criminal offences, we will proceed as appropriate," he said.

What we've learnt about the 'ISIS brides', as federal police anticipate more returns. By Ewa Staszewska, SBS

'Heartbreaking': The children Australia won’t bring home from a Syrian detention camp. By Sara Tomevska, SBS News

A drawing of 'Rapunzel' surrounded by blue skies and roses is how six-year-old Yara imagines life in Australia.
Yara, whose name SBS has changed, has spent her entire childhood in al-Roj detention camp in northeast Syria and has never smelled flowers.
"It was heartbreaking," says Greens senator David Shoebridge, who was given the drawing while visiting the "high security desert prison" in September.

'Heartbreaking': The children Australia won’t bring home from a Syrian detention camp. By Sara Tomevska, SBS News

Women and children stranded in Syria return to Australia after smuggling themselves from country By political reporter. By Jake Evans, ABC News

A group of six women and children have smuggled themselves from Syria and have returned to Australia.

The cohort, who were among those stranded after the fall of Islamic State Group, escaped to Lebanon without Commonwealth assistance.

Women and children stranded in Syria return to Australia after smuggling themselves from country By political reporter. By Jake Evans, ABC News

Asylum seekers on Nauru going hungry despite government spending $1.5m a year for each person. By Ben Doherty & Sarah Basford Canales, The Guardian

Refugees and asylum seekers held on Nauru claim they can’t afford to eat and are forced to skip meals. Their plight comes despite Australia spending $1.5m per person for a US prisons operator to house them, although the contract does not provide food.

One asylum seeker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed he often skipped meals to make his fortnightly stipend of $230 from Australia’s home affairs department last.

Asylum seekers on Nauru going hungry despite government spending $1.5m a year for each person. By Ben Doherty & Sarah Basford Canales, The Guardian

US private prisons operator to be paid $790m to hold 100 people on Nauru in quiet expansion of contract. By Sarah Basford Canales and Ben Doherty, The Guardian

At the current rate, MTC’s contract on Nauru is worth $157m a year: to hold 105 people on the island, at nearly $1.5m per person per year. If the contract does not increase further in cost before its expiry, Australian taxpayers will have paid $430,512 a day to process asylum seekers offshore.

US private prisons operator to be paid $790m to hold 100 people on Nauru in quiet expansion of contract. By Sarah Basford Canales and Ben Doherty, The Guardian

A US fascism expert warns: Australia is not immune and undoing the damage is ‘very, very hard’. By Ben Doherty, The Guardian

Much of the US’s political upheaval is idiosyncratic to its own history and political moment, but Australia, far distant, perhaps, with a different political culture, is not immune from a descent into fascism, Stanley insists………………..

…………….“You guys had a White Australia policy until the 1970s. That’s a terrible sign. And you attacked your universities ages ago.”

Stanley cites, as well, Australia’s history of Indigenous displacement, its “performatively vicious” treatment of asylum seekers and the fierce “anti-woke” rhetoric that pierces public discourse.

“A lot of what you’re seeing in the United States must seem familiar to you, even though you’ve come nowhere close to what we’ve seen in the last few months; but the ideological preconditions are certainly familiar to you.”

A US fascism expert warns: Australia is not immune and undoing the damage is ‘very, very hard’. By Ben Doherty, The Guardian

Over to you: The man who had to follow Trump’s wild UN speech. By Zach Hope, SMH

“Every day we witness suffering, genocide, and a blatant disregard for international law and human decency,” he growled. “In the face of these challenges, we must not give up. We cannot surrender our hopes or our ideals. We must draw closer, not drift further apart.”

The Trump-drained audience loved it. With rounds of applause from the delegates, Prabowo offered the UN Indonesian peacekeeping forces for Gaza and “other parts of the world”. One of his ministers had previously announced the proposal, but Prabowo came to New York with numbers: at least 20,000 men and women………………

……..Some will find Prabowo’s platitudes pretty rich. The strong-armed and often brutal activities of Indonesia’s security forces in Papua have been condemned by human rights groups for decades.

The country also refuses to sign up to the UN’s 1951 Convention and the 1967 protocol on refugees, leaving thousands of persecuted people who have fled to Indonesia languishing destitute and helpless.

Over to you: The man who had to follow Trump’s wild UN speech. By Zach Hope, SMH

UNHCR official warns that the 1951 refugee convention is increasingly under threat'. By Renata Brito, AP News

The U.N. refugee agency said Wednesday that governments around the world, especially in the Global North, which includes the United States and countries in Europe, are increasingly undermining the global convention on refugees and asylum-seekers — even threatening its very existence.

The stark warning by UNHCR came on the 75th anniversary of the U.N. Refugee Convention, a 1951 document that defines who refugees are and outlines the responsibilities of countries hosting them.

UNHCR official warns that the 1951 refugee convention is increasingly under threat. By Renata Brito, AP News

Israel must end its genocide in Gaza. But Australia must act too. By Chris Sidoti, SMH

Deciding to take all possible action to prevent Israel’s genocide should not be complicated, especially when, as our reports have found, the majority of victims are children, women and the elderly, when children are intentionally targeted and sexual violence is weaponised to terrorise all Palestinians and undermine their right to self-determination, and when starvation is used as a weapon to destroy the group.

Israel must end its genocide in Gaza. But Australia must act too. By Chris Sidoti, SMH

UN genocide finding makes global obligations clear, Sydney Peace Foundation

“This report provides the clarity we need to courageously live up to our obligations under international law and act to stop the genocide. A failure to stand up for peace with justice in Palestine will ultimately be failure to stand up for peace with justice everywhere,” said Melanie Morrison, director of the Sydney Peace Foundation.

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/09/un-genocide-finding-makes-global-obligations-clear/?utm_source=Pearls+%26+Irritations&utm_campaign=c28eea3529-Daily&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0c6b037ecb-c28eea3529-583167479

Pay to deport. Australia’s shameful return of penal colonies. By Alison Battisson & Janet Pelly, MWM

Follow the money

The reality is that Australia has entered into a binding, decades-long arrangement, and the $2.5 billion price tag is only the most visible cost. With interest, Nauru stands to make more than $7 billion from the arrangement.

Less visible, but more corrosive, is the damage done to our democracy when secrecy is used to avoid scrutiny. The public still doesn’t have access to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) underpinning this arrangement, despite it costing the Australian taxpayer billions. Both the Labor and Liberal parties supported the decision not to publicly release the MoU.

Pay to deport. Australia’s shameful return of penal colonies. By Alison Battisson & Janet Pelly, MWM

Politicians have scapegoated immigration for decades. It’s time to flip the script. The Conversation, Jane McAdam, UNSW

Political language about immigration wasn’t always so negative.

At the end of the second world war, then-Prime Minister Ben Chifley welcomed 170,000 refugees and other displaced people from Europe.

In the 1970s, when the first boats of Vietnamese asylum seekers arrived in Australia’s north, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser insisted they be treated humanely and processed fairly.

Politicians have scapegoated immigration for decades. It’s time to flip the script. By Jane McAdam (UNSW), The Conversation

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price saga highlights Coalition's challenge in diverse communities. By Patricia Karvelas, ABC News

There is open despair inside the Liberal Party about how to rebuild its standing in multicultural communities after its new colleague in the party room Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's inflammatory comments about Indian migrants put the brakes on that already monumental task.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price saga highlights Coalition's challenge in diverse communities. By Patricia Karvelas, ABC News

Migrants, refugees make up worker shortfall in Ararat. By Tim Lee, ABC News

Filling empty jobs

Ararat, like most regional towns, has an ageing population and a drift of young people to the cities.

The program is reinvigorating the town and creating a vibrant, multicultural community.

"It gives our local employers confidence that they can invest and grow, which is really giving a boost to this community," said Tim McDougall, the council's economic development lead.

"Not only in [the] workforce but the way that they live and integrate with this community."

Migrants, refugees make up worker shortfall in Ararat. By Tim Lee, ABC News

The paradox at the heart of calls to end 'mass migration' in Australia. By Angelica Waite & Alexandra Koster, SBS News

Jane McAdam from the Kaldor Centre said migration should be seen as a key part of solving — not causing — national challenges.

"We really need to take a good, hard look at the evidence when it comes to looking at what is driving those pressures and looking at how the government at all levels needs to be addressing things like the housing crisis without wrongly demonising migrants in the process," she said.

"Australia is a country full of migrants and it's migration that has made us. Multiculturalism has made us such a flourishing, diverse, and successful society and country that we are."

The paradox at the heart of calls to end 'mass migration' in Australia. By Angelica Waite & Alexandra Koster, SBS News

Labor and Coalition pass deportation laws set to make Nauru a ‘penal colony’ for Australia, critics say. By Sarah Basford Canales and Ben Doherty, The Guardian

The major parties have been accused of “stitching up” a deal to transform Nauru into Australia’s “dumping ground and penal colony” as parliament passed laws stripping basic legal rights from a group of noncitizens set to be deported.

The home affairs legislation passed the Senate on Thursday, after a snap three-hour parliamentary hearing the night before.

The bill amends the Migration Act “to provide that the rules of natural justice do not apply” for noncitizens on a removal pathway and validates government visa decisions – made before the high court’s NZYQ ruling in November 2023 – that could subsequently have been deemed unlawful.

Labor and Coalition pass deportation laws set to make Nauru a ‘penal colony’ for Australia, critics say. By Sarah Basford Canales and Ben Doherty, The Guardian

Back to Bilo is an immigration story that needs to be told and retold. By Velvet Winter, ABC News

The Nadesalingams and Biloela community's tandem story has been transformed into a work of theatre that has been meticulously crafted by Brisbane-based Belloo Creative theatre company over the past four years, and will have its world premiere as part of Brisbane Festival.
Back to Bilo is an immigration story that needs to be told and retold. By Velvet Winter, ABC News

Community leaders say weekend rallies stir memories of White Australia policy. By Isabella Higgins, ABC News

Multicultural Australians have described the fear, hurt and disappointment sparked by the anti-immigration rallies held across Australia this weekend, even comparing it to memories of the White Australia policy.

March for Australia demonstrations took place in capital cities and regional centres on Sunday, with known neo-Nazis speaking at events in Sydney and Melbourne and large counter-protests formed in many locations.

Meanwhile, experts are raising concerns about the strategies far-right groups are using to attract ordinary Australians. 

Community leaders say weekend rallies stir memories of White Australia policy. By Isabella Higgins, ABC News