Next Roadside Demo - Thurs 20th April Bellingen 3pm
Next Market - Coffs Harbourside Sunday April 23rd
No business in abuse
Health care on Manus Island in disarray
Roadside demonstration : Thursday 20th April in Bellingen from 3.00 pm to 4.30 pm.
Sadly, owing to the forecast of rain for the whole of the day last Thursday, we cancelled the planned roadside demonstration outside the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour. But worry not, we have another planned for Thursday 20th April in Bellingen! You will find us in the usual spot on Waterfall Way, adjacent to the library, between 3.00 pm and 4.30 pm. Please consider coming to join us if you can. As always, we have lots of banners and placards to share, we just need some willing hands to hold them aloft. Please put the date in your diary.
Market Stall: Coffs Harbourside market, Sunday 23rd April from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm
Our next market stall will be in Coffs Harbour on Sunday 23rd April. We have had a run of bad luck with the weather for our stalls in recent months, so let’s cross our fingers and hope that the sun will shine. The Harbourside market is located near the jetty and we are looking for helpers from 9.00 am until 1.30 pm. As always, we will be selling our asylum seeker merchandise, handing out information leaflets, collecting signatures for our petition and seeking donations for the Asylum Seekers Centre in Newtown. It’s a great opportunity to interact with the public and to get to know other RAR supporters. If you can join us for an hour or two, then please let Mike know by emailing him at: mandm.griffin2@bigpond.com.
Amnesty warns companies about getting involved in abuse on Nauru and Manus island
Bowing to public pressure, the Spanish infrastructure giant Ferrovial, which owns the camp management company Broadspectrum, announced some time ago that it will not work in the offshore detention camps beyond its current contract, which expires in October. A new Amnesty briefing document argues that any companies taking over from Broadspectrum will be participating in a deliberately abusive regime. The briefing document states: “Any company or organisation taking up this toxic baton will be complicit in an intentionally abusive system, in direct contravention of its human rights responsibilities, and will be exposing itself to potential liability and damages claims.” The document goes on to say: “The Australian government has created an island of despair for refugees and people seeking asylum on Nauru, but an island of profit for companies making millions of dollars from a system so deliberately and inherently cruel and abusive that it amounts to torture.”
We can but hope that no company will want to take the risk of accepting a contract for the continuation of the cruelty and punishment of the asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru and Manus Island, who remain the responsibility of the Australian government. These people, who have committed no crime, should be brought to Australia for processing and resettlement. It’s time to end the shame!
Health care on Manus Island in disarray
In recent days, the Manus Island detention centre’s for-profit organisation – International Health and Medical Services – has been forced to abandon the island because, according to the PNG government, it was found to be practising medicine unlicensed. The company has temporarily been replaced by a skeleton staff from a PNG company, which is providing only basic and emergency medical care. The effect, inevitably, is that some detainees requiring medication for chronic conditions – as many of them do – have been left without medication. If a situation like this were to arise in any of our towns and cities, there would rightly be a huge outcry, but the issue has hardly registered on the radar of the Australian media. It seems that as long as the government can keep these ongoing crises hidden from view, with little scrutiny or accountability, then our politicians – both government and opposition - are happy to look the other way. We need to keep up the pressure to end this cruelty.
It includes articles from many sources and letters to politicians and newspapers.
This newsletter is sent to >480 recipients
Our Face book is at https://www.facebook.com/Rural-Australians-for-Refugees-Bellingen-and-Nambucca-Districts-269696303205083/timeline/
(482 likes)
Twitter Account @RARBellingenNam
Email address bellingen.rar@gmail.com
The National RAR web site is at www.ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org.au
The National RAR facebook site is at RAR Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment