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4.2.15

Newsletter for 4 February 2015 RAR Bellingen and Nambucca

Valla Community Markets Saturday 7 February 2015

"Don’t forget that our first market stall of 2015 is this coming Saturday at Valla Beach from 8.00 am until 1.30 pm. Come along and say hello and sign our petition to Minister Dutton" - Mike

This newsletter is stored here for archive purposes. To read the complete newsletter click below



New display boards and photos - we need you come and have a look

Market details are at this link http://www.vallabeachmarkets.org.au/ and the markets are at Valla Reserve, at the end of Ocean View Road, Valla Beach.


We now have a Twitter Account   @RARBellingenNam


Human Rights Watch World Report 2015 

Australia’s global reputation as a defender of human rights is being undermined by its continued “harsh” treatment of asylum seekers, persistently high Indigenous incarceration rates, and “draconian” new anti-terrorism laws that restrict citizens’ freedom, the Human Rights Watch annual global report says.
Guardian Australia article on the blog http://bellorar.blogspot.com.au
Chilout Newsletter January 2015

Update on the Release of Children 
Despite the Minister for Immigration’s promise that children would be released in the early months of 2015, hundreds of children remain in detention.
According to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s latest statistics, dated 31 December 2014, there are:
  • 420 children in locked detention facilities in Australia; and
  • 135 children in a locked detention centre on Nauru.
In addition, there are also still approximately 28 unaccompanied children living in the community on Nauru living in fear for their safety and having limited opportunities for education, work or play.
ChilOut will continue fighting until there is no child left in detention and until the law is changed so that children can never be locked up again. The Government has said that the children held in detention on Nauru are not part of its planned release of children and remain subject to its offshore processing policy. However, unlike the Government, ChilOut will not abandon these children. We are currently working on our 2015 strategic plan of which a key component will be getting children off Nauru and ensure that no child seeking asylum is sent offshore in future.

full newsletter click on http://bellorar.blogspot.com.au

Darwin Onshore Detention Centre
extract from email from Jan Govett 
DASSAN UPDATE 30 January 
Dear friends,
As many of you know Darwin is the centre of onshore detention, and is now becoming a hub for asylum seekers who are sick, and have been brought here from offshore for urgent treatment, who have been redetained or whose cases are complex. For the first time ever DASSAN is making a major funding appeal to enable us to employ an advocacy coordinator.  We are sending out an appeal letter by email to our supporters and have a crowd funding appeal on chuffed. Donations can be made through the chuffed site or by direct deposit to DASSAN , Bendigo Bank, BSB: 633-000, Account Number :143875664 - please write ' DASSAN advocacy appeal' in donation details.
Please help. We need to raise $25,000 to fund this vital position for 6 months.
Let's work together to make 2015 the year that ends the shameful practices of our government in offshore and onshore detention. There are many ways you can take action and get involved – come to our next meeting, come to hear Julian Burnside in conversation next Thursday, join the health advocacy group, come to the annual DASSAN planning day, visit someone in detention, join our letter writing program, stand witness with us at our weekly vigils, join A Place to Call Home, help on our stall, get involved in our advocacy work, (including supporting our drive for an advocacy worker) , and much more. See below and our website for more, as well as links to latest news. You can also visit our Facebook page,  follow us on twitter @dassan12, or contact us at dassan2011@gmail.com
Together we can create change.
The DASSAN Team and more detail    www.dassan.org  
We acknowledge the Larrakia people, traditional owners and custodians of the country on which we live and work  

More information on the blog  http://bellorar.blogspot.com.au


National RAR Information

  • Have you discovered the New National RAR Website -  note the "AU" on the end of the web address.
  • Now there is the National RAR Facebook page
  • And of course you can email us at - 



Jan Govatt (National RAR) - Let's close Manus Island Detention centre  

 
View this email in your browser
Let's close Manus and Nauru
and bring people to safety in Australia.

It's the right thing to do.
Manus Island has been in the news a lot lately, as the men locked up there have peacefully protested the terrible situation they've been put in by the Australian Government.

Just like the children, women and men locked away on Nauru, they are scared and anxious about their future and desperate for answers.

1930 people, including 135 children, are being forced to live in these unsafe, unhygienic detention institutions where two men have died and there have been reports of children and women being abused.

The Government is desperate to keep the horrors of Manus and Nauru a secret from Australians, but we know the truth – this is another botched Abbott Government policy.

It's time they faced up to what's happening, shut these institutions of horror and brought people to Australia to ensure their safety.

Manus and Nauru need to be shut down immediately

People are being left to languish in these centres for years, waiting for their claims to be assessed.

It's created an environment where institutional abuse thrives. The Government simply isn't fulfilling its duty of care to people.

Some of the reports out of these institutions are alarming. Women forced to provide sexual favours to guards in return for access to showers. Children forced to perform sexual acts in front of guards.

One fit young man on Manus Island died from a foot infection because he didn't receive proper medical treatment in time.

Families are living in mouldy tents, water is scarce, the toilets rarely work and people are known by a number, not their name. *

Regardless of where you stand on asylum seeker issues, it's a grave concern that our Government sanctions this kind of ill-treatment and abuse in its own institutions.

And it's costing us a fortune.  Every year, Australian taxpayers are forking out $1.2 billion to keep these centres open – that's more than $600,000 a year for each of the 1930 children, women and men forced to live there.

That money is going into the pockets of large multinational corporations charged with running these centres of horror.

Meanwhile the Government wants you and me to pay more to visit a doctor and is stripping money out of universities.

People must be brought to Australia for their safety     

The Government has had 18 months to sort out this mess.

So far, only a small number of people have been resettled on Nauru and Papua New Guinea.

Refugees settled on Nauru have endured physical and verbal abuse. Children have been beaten; their attackers shouting that they're not welcome.

The men in detention on Manus are living in fear of what awaits them if they are resettled in PNG.  They say they have been subjected to death threats and abuse from local people who don't want them living in their country.

One man has already been murdered in detention.

The Government cannot guarantee the safety of refugees resettled in Papua New Guinea and on Nauru.

It's time to draw a line and end this mess before more people are hurt.

It's the right thing to do.
Help us get a message to the Government that Manus and Nauru must be closed and people brought to Australia to ensure their safety:
  • Call, visit or write to your Federal Member
  • Send a Letter to the Editor to your local paper or call your local talkback radio show and tell people what you think
  • Share this email with your friends and family and ask them to take action as well
  • Keep in touch with our campaign on Facebook and Twitter and use the hashtag #RightThingToDo
Share
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Blog http://bellorar.blogspot.com.au  includes articles from many sources and letters to politicians.Click on the buttons at the top of the blog  to get ideas for and to see letters already sent to politicians and newspapers  (3774 page reads)

Chilout Newsletter January 2015

DASSAN - Darwin Detention Centre

Guardian Australian article on Human Rights Watch World Report

New button "Peter Dutton" with start of letter campaign to influence the new Minister - please join in 
(188 likes)

Twitter Account  @RARBellingenNam



Email Address bellingen.rar@gmail.com

David Wallin
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