“She [doesn’t] know that I’m in Nauru. I don’t want to tell her, otherwise, she’ll get upset. “When she’s upset, she cuts her hand because she misses me after 10 years apart.” Next week, Ali will fly to Australia as the federal government plans to empty the island of refugees by 30 June.
But despite their transfers, Australia will retain an “enduring” capacity for offshore detention on the island indefinitely.
RACS welcomes this opportunity to reflect on the Australian Government's Humanitarian Program (the Humanitarian Program) as our service focuses on assisting both onshore and offshore humanitarian applicants and entrants. As such we are well placed to discuss the following issues as part of our submission to inform the management and composition of the 2023-24 Program:
1. The role of legal service provision in the settlement journey of humanitarian entrants; 2. The size of Australia’s offshore Humanitarian Program; 3. Principles to guide the Humanitarian Program; 4. Australia’s role in responding to global and regional crises; 5. Other issues concerning onshore humanitarian applicants.
SUBMISSION TO THE HUMANITARIAN DISCUSSION PAPER 2023-24. By Refugee Advice & Casework Service
The Tamil asylum seeker family from Biloela — you may think you know their whole story, but You Have Been Told A Lie. In this series, we’ll explore the family’s journey from Sri Lanka to our shores, and everything that’s happened to them since, from their perspective, in their own words.
'You Have Been Told A Lie' (Blood, Borders, Biloela) - podcast
The Australian government is expected to move all remaining refugees and asylum seekers off Nauru by the end of the month, more than a decade after offshore processing restarted on the Pacific Island nation.
But Australia will retain an “enduring” capacity for offshore detention on the island indefinitely.
There are still about 82 asylum seekers held in Papua New Guinea, Abdel-Raouf said. They are not in detention, but live in impoverished and often dangerous circumstances and cannot leave the islands freely.
Australian protestors gathered outside the Brisbane detention centre calling for the freedom of Hamid, who had been held in a hotel and then the centre for months.
Hamid told RNZ Pacific's Lydia Lewis after almost nine years held offshore in Nauru he feels like the government of Australia is slowly killing him.
Protesters want refugee free from oppressive AUS detention. Presented by Lydia Lewis, Radio NZ
Mostafa Azimitabar and Farhad Bandesh say they've suffered immeasurable harm from Australia's offshore detention policy. They're using the release of a new documentary, in which they both feature, to call for it to end.
From jam sessions in Manus Island jail cells to an international soccer player ensnared in a fight between governments, Sydney Film Festival is shining a spotlight on the refugees who endured detention to find freedom.
The makers of two Australian feature documentaries screening this week, The Defenders and Freedom is Beautiful, are hoping to move audiences to look beyond their patch by examining the long-standing policy of offshore detention.
Refugee stories shine on the silver screen. By Farid Farid, The Canberra Times
Cohorts up for review include detainees assessed as a low risk to the community, to who Australia owes a protection obligation, who are stateless, have complex health or care needs, or have been in immigration detention for five or more years.
Priya, Nades, Kopika and Tharnicaa are now re-established in the community, with a book deal to reveal more about their family's story later this year, limiting media interviews until then.
Home to Bilo campaigner and lawyer Simone Cameron says, "I think the success of the campaign comes down to the fact that we were able to humanise [the family] after such a sustained campaign by successive governments to dehumanise people who seek asylum by sea."
"There's still a lot of work to be done in that space, despite the fact that there's been some really great steps in the past 12 months."
The exploitation of migrants is widespread in Australia. Our recent report for the Grattan Institute, Short-changed, found that as many as one in six migrant workers are paid less than the national minimum wage, which is meant to be the least a worker in Australia can be paid.
The reforms to tackle migrant worker exploitation are a big step in the right direction. But until we take exploitation more seriously, it isn’t going to stop.
Professor Sundram, who has conducted extensive research into asylum seeker and refugee mental health, said mental symptoms or mental disorders in refugees held by Australia in Nauru and those left in Papua New Guinea (PNG) continue to deteriorate.
He said Canberra wiping its hands of its responsibility for those still in PNG is not okay.
Muzafar Ali's first love is soccer, but photography comes a close second. His work, with the UN, took him to remote parts of his homeland, Afghanistan, where he marvelled at the beauty of the rugged landscape and the tenacity of its people. Muzafar made it his mission to capture these precious sights on camera, to give the world a window into an Afghanistan rarely seen. But after a few close calls, Muzafar was forced to flee from his beloved country. His journey to safety would eventually take him to Adelaide. As he set about making a new life with his family, Muzafar was surprised to learn about the long history of Afghan cameleers in Australia. He began a new journey of discovery to meet the descendents of these cameleers, and to share their story.
To read more about the school co-founded by Muzafar, see Cisarua Learning
View Muzafar’s photography here
'Muzafar Ali: from Afghanistan to Adelaide' on Radio National's Conversations with Sarah Kanowski
Kaldor Centre Senior Research Fellow Madeline Gleeson will today address United Nations human rights officials about the international treaty that aims to prevent the mistreatment of people deprived of their liberty in any setting, including in immigration detention centres.
The federal government has proposed law reform to stop workplaces breaching their responsibilities, which will be introduced to parliament when it next meets.
The proposed changes would make it a criminal offence to coerce someone into breaching their visa conditions, stop employers from hiring people on temporary visas where they have exploited migrants in the past, and increase penalties for employers who do the wrong thing.
Many migrant workers face a 'crisis of exploitation'. Will these reforms end it? SBS News
The first ones he mentions are hard truth stories. Freedom by Farhad Bandesh, the Kurdish artist who spent more than seven years in detention on Manus Island, was “very relevant. That’s a big Australian story of the last 20 years.” Bridie’s musical accompaniment is a hesitant, ominous pulse cut with spasms of pained guitar and chilling wails.
"We have a pandemic of suicidal thoughts in Afghanistan. The situation is the worst ever, and the world rarely thinks or talks about it," says psychologist Dr Amal.
"When you read the news, you read about the hunger crisis, but no-one talks about mental health. It's like people are being slowly poisoned. Day by day, they're losing hope."
Afghan women in mental health crisis over bleak future. By Yogita Limaye, BBC World News
Australian mothers and children held in a Syrian detention camp will take the Australian government to court in an attempt to compel the government to bring them home. The group members are all Australian citizens and argue they have a legal right to return to Australia.
People who force migrants into breaching their visa conditions could face jail time and businesses that exploit migrants would be barred from tapping more overseas workers under plans to overhaul the temporary visa system.
Jail terms and tougher policing to protect exploited migrants. By Shane Wright, The Age
Australian employers who exploit migrant workers will be banned from hiring other visa holders and will face new criminal penalties, as part of a government crackdown.
The Human Rights Law Centre welcomed the announcement as “a critical shift in the right direction”.
Refugee advocates are concerned about the slow implementation of a deal between Australia and New Zealand to resettle people detained by Canberra on Nauru for trying to enter Australia illegally by boat.
Refugee advocates concerned for Nauru refugees (Audio) Radio New Zealand
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