Bateteba left what once felt like ‘the safest place in the world’ to build a life in Australia. Thousands hope to follow. By James Norman, The Guardian

Bateteba Aselu describes her former life in Tuvalu as like living in the “safest place in the world” where the community looked out for each other, there was no homelessness and you rarely heard the sirens of police or ambulances.

But rising sea levels and extreme weather have created such an immediate existential threat to the tiny South Pacific island nation that when a new visa lottery to migrate to Australia closed last Friday, 8,750 people in 2,474 family groups – more than 80% of Tuvalu’s population of 11,000 residents – had applied for the world’s first “climate visas”.

Bateteba left what once felt like ‘the safest place in the world’ to build a life in Australia. Thousands hope to follow. By James Norman, The Guardian

Britain encouraged to look to Australia's 'tough' border policies. By Elias Clure and Adrian Wilson in Calais, and Syan Vallance in London, ABC News

For asylum seekers, reaching the UK puts them in a ferocious political storm.

Just before sunrise, about 50 people, including young children, hurry along a boardwalk towards the beach. People smugglers have arranged an inflatable dinghy that's moored about 20 metres offshore.

These refugees are trying to reach it before police spot them. Most in this group have made a long and dangerous journey from the African nations of South Sudan and Eritrea to France's northern coast.

The looming 30-kilometre water crossing to the United Kingdom they're trying to make is the final leg, but it's also the trickiest.

Britain encouraged to look to Australia's 'tough' border policies. By Elias Clure and Adrian Wilson in Calais, and Syan Vallance in London, ABC News

'Australia's worst policy': Refugees plead with government to resolve 13-year limbo. By Tys Occhiuzzi : SBS News

A group of refugees who say they've been living in limbo in Australia for 13 years have taken their fight for permanent residency to federal parliament in Canberra.
They are part of a group of more than 8,000 people who had their refugee protection claims rejected under a now-abolished visa system.
The delegation of four refugees from Sri Lanka and Iran are representing a group of thousands of people in Australia who've had visa claims rejected under a now-defunct system.

'Australia's worst policy': Refugees plead with government to resolve 13-year limbo. By Tys Occhiuzzi : SBS News

Israel has succeeded in starvation, and the global moral edifice has collapsed sharply, By Refaat Ibrahim, Pearls & Irritations

This hunger is not a natural consequence of war. It is a calculated tool within a military framework. Food is deliberately blocked. Water is cut off. Electricity is denied. Aid trucks are bombed. Bakeries are targeted. Those approaching aid convoys are shot at.

This famine is not a side effect. It is a direct objective, the quietest and deadliest of weapons.

Refaat Ibrahim is the editor and creator of The Resistant Palestinian Pens website, https://resistant.blog/ where you can find all his articles. He is a Palestinian writer living in Gaza, where he studied English Language and Literature at the Islamic University.

Israel has succeeded in starvation, and the global moral edifice has collapsed sharply, By Refaat Ibrahim, Pearls & Irritations

Ceasefire talks collapse – what does that mean for the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza? By Mohammed Saber/AAP, The Conversation

The failure to reach a truce means there is no end in sight to the Israeli siege of Gaza which has devastated the territory for more than 21 months.

Amid mounting fears of mass starvation, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Gaza is in the grip of a “humanitarian catastrophe”. He is urging Israel to comply immediately with its obligations under international law:

Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored.

According to the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, more than 100 people – most of them children – have died of hunger. One in five children in Gaza City is malnourished, with the number of cases rising every day.

Ceasefire talks collapse – what does that mean for the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza? By Mohammed Saber/AAP, The Conversation

The penalty for being late is to be doomed forever. By Duncan Graham, Pearls & Irritations

Ponder this fact: One in every 67 people on the planet has been forcibly displaced, a victim of war and political policies imposed by crazed psychopaths, usually old men. That’s the equivalent of Canada’s population - desperately unhappy, homeless humans going mad as they seek escape from intolerable situations rarely of their making. Asylum seekers who arrived in Indonesia after 1 July 2014 hoping to reach Australia are now detained in the Republic, stateless and seemingly unwanted. Under the warped policy, asylum seekers “who arrive by plane are generally not subject to mandatory detention.” Australia does give refugee and humanitarian visas – 20,000 last year – but not to boat asylum seekers without a visa held in Indonesia who came after the cut-off date.

The penalty for being late is to be doomed forever. By Duncan Graham, Pearls & Irritations

Bibi’s father sold everything to save his daughter. He died before he could see her live. By Zach Hope, SMH

It’s not often enough in journalism that you can follow up a heartbreaking story with a positive outcome. This is one of those times. Reality, though, is never far behind.

Bibi Rahimi is the exception – one of the fortunate few who qualified for resettlement in Australia.

Only the day before she left (a coincidence), more than 200 of the 5000-plus refugees stuck indefinitely in Indonesia demonstrated peacefully outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta.

Bibi’s father sold everything to save his daughter. He died before he could see her live. By Zach Hope, SMH

How Australia became home to a million refugees. By Brittany Busch, The Age

Faqihi continues to advocate for the almost 12,000 displaced people in limbo in Indonesia.

“There is a lot Australia can do as a leader in the region,” she said. “Australia can respond by expanding resettlement visas, especially for those who are stuck in the region and our neighbourhood regions.”

Tran said: “I just hope that Australians continue to take refugees, not because we might add value or anything, but ... because it’s the right thing to do, and the best thing you can offer someone is a chance to be Australian.”

How Australia became home to a million refugees. By Brittany Busch, The Age

Starved, Ruined, and Displaced: What’s Next for Gaza? By Mohammed Samhouri, Arab Center Washington D.C.

In a post on social media, the country director of American Near East Refugee Aid described GHF’s distribution method as follows: “Place the food in an open space and then let the starving masses come and fight for some rations. Those who are strong enough, determined enough, and able enough will get the prize. This is not some scene from a movie. This is Gaza.” A more detailed and even more horrific account, with graphic photos, from inside one of the GHF sites was reported by National Public Radio’s producer living in the Gaza Strip.

Displaced: What’s Next for Gaza? By Mohammed Samhouri, Arab Center Washington D.C.

12 years on, are we not yet tired of cruel policies towards asylum-seekers? By Sophie Singh, Pearls & Irritations

This failure to confront the damaging impact of our policies is again evident as we mark 12 years since Kevin Rudd’s 2013 avowal that asylum-seekers who arrived by boat would never settle in Australia. We urgently need an honest assessment of the devastating impact that Rudd’s policy has had. Far from the kindness and compassion that Albanese spoke of on election night 2023, for those who risked all to come by boat seeking safety in Australia the reality is vastly different.

12 years on, are we not yet tired of cruel policies towards asylum-seekers? By Sophie Singh, Pearls & Irritations

Strong demand from Tuvalu for Australian residency as visa lottery closes. By Sara Tomevska, SBS News

Some have speculated the entire population of the Pacific Island of Tuvalu could live in Australia within forty years if demand for a new visa lottery holds - but Pacific Minister Pat Conroy says unlike a lot of permanent resident visas, Tuvalans have a lot of freedom of movement back to Tuvalu.

Strong demand from Tuvalu for Australian residency as visa lottery closes. By Sara Tomevska, SBS News

Rebuilding lives in the shadow of Khmer Rouge terror. By Neary Ty, SMH

In 1975, a four-year genocide began in which 2 million people were murdered or starved to death. The bloody chapter wiped out a generation of educated Cambodians and still haunts the country’s people.

Dictator Pol Pot’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime murdered and starved millions in pursuit of Year Zero, brutally targeting anyone with perceived privilege. Fifty years on, while the scars of war persist, Cambodian Australians are reflecting on their journey, embracing their identities and preserving their culture.

Rebuilding lives in the shadow of Khmer Rouge terror. By Neary Ty, SMH

Twelve years later, $13 billion, no plan: Offshore processing drags into its thirteenth year. ASRC (Asylum Seeker Resource Centre)

More than 130 people are still trapped offshore after being sent there by the Australian Government — with no plan for the vast majority of people there, no resettlement, and no end in sight.

On the 12-year anniversary of offshore detention, the ASRC is releasing updated data showing that Australia’s offshore processing regime has now cost taxpayers over $13 billion, while people continue to suffer. The devastating toll of offshore detention is well-documented – over 14 deaths, life-threatening medical neglect, and a systemic pattern of sexual abuse, including against children. In January this year, the UN Human Rights Committee found that Australia was responsible for violations of human rights and called on the Government to offer compensation. 

Twelve years later, $13 billion, no plan: Offshore processing drags into its thirteenth year. ASRC (Asylum Seeker Resource Centre)

Palestinian woman released from immigration detention in Sydney a week after assistant minister cancelled her visa. By Jordyn Beazley and Daisy Dumas, The Guardian

Last Thursday, Maha Almassri, 61, was awoken by Australian Border Force officers at her son’s home in western Sydney and taken to Villawood detention centre. She was told her bridging visa had been cancelled after she failed a character test.

Palestinian woman released from immigration detention in Sydney a week after assistant minister cancelled her visa. By Jordyn Beazley and Daisy Dumas, The Guardian

Traditional textile skills provide work opportunity for Afghan refugees. By Andrew Mangelsdorf, ABC News

Ms Rahimi grew up in Afghanistan, but her family was forced to flee to Iran when the Taliban took over in the 1990s.

Still a child when she fled as a refugee, she was unable to attend high school, limiting her opportunity to pursue the career she longed for in textiles.

Despite this, she continued her craft and brought it with her when she and her husband came as refugees to Australia in 2014.

Traditional textile skills provide work opportunity for Afghan refugees. By Andrew Mangelsdorf, ABC News

Australia’s multiculturalism lives mostly on the surface. Inclusion without voice is tokenism. By Shadi Khan Saif, The Guardian

Yes, multiculturalism in Australia is visible, celebrated, and often delicious. But sometimes it feels like it lives mostly on the surface – in food stalls, colourful festivals and speeches on special days. When it comes to shaping narratives, policies or power structures, diversity tends to fade from the frame.

Australia’s multiculturalism lives mostly on the surface. Inclusion without voice is tokenism. By Shadi Khan Saif, The Guardian

West Bank: Israeli state-backed settler violence drives mass displacement of Palestinian communities, Norwegian Refugee Council

“We are watching Israel annex the West Bank, as entire Palestinian communities are driven from their land through violence, intimidation, and an environment deliberately shaped to force people out,” said Angelita Caredda, NRC Middle East and North Africa Regional Director. “This cannot continue. The international community must act to stop displacement and support the safe, dignified return of those already forced to flee.” 

West Bank: Israeli state-backed settler violence drives mass displacement of Palestinian communities, Norwegian Refugee Council

After 'merciless' torture, Ahmad now lives in a hideout — waiting on a call from Australia. By Sam Dover, SBS News

Nearly four years after being captured and tortured by the Taliban, Ahmad can still vividly recall the cell he was held in.

The 31-year-old Hazara refugee is speaking with SBS News from a hideout in Pakistan, where he and his family have been living in secret for the past three and a half years, awaiting approval for humanitarian visas from the Australian government.

Before fleeing Afghanistan, Ahmad had been living a fulfilling life fighting for social justice.

After 'merciless' torture, Ahmad now lives in a hideout — waiting on a call from Australia. By Sam Dover, SBS News