Regional Communities say Enough
Manus and Nauru
Not Safe for Refugees
Bring Them Here!
Concerted action 18 October 2017
details below
The crisis on Manus: a call for
urgent action
Background:
·
The situation for asylum seekers and refugees on Manus Island
is worsening and now potentially life threatening.
·
There are 900 men currently in the existing camp and of these
730 have had positive refugee assessments.
·
With the announcement that the Manus Island camp is to close
by 31 October, the authorities are putting enormous pressure on the men to move
to a so-called “transit centre” in East Lorengau – about half an hour away from
the existing camp.
-
Lorengau was built and insured for 298. If the authorities
have their way it will be filled with 800 men.
-
There is no medical facility there; people must attend the
local hospital.
·
It also means that they will be living among the local people
many of whom are very hostile to the refugees and asylum seekers.
-there have already been a significant number of attacks on
the refugees with muggings, beatings and attacks with knives now documented.
· In the meanwhile the existing camp on Manus
is being progressively shut down, forcing the people there into overcrowded and
makeshift accommodation in other parts of the camp. Water and power is being
turned off in some sections. The exercise area has been closed, English
language classes ended, most things removed for sale from the small canteen and
case managers no longer given access. Officials simply repeat that the men have
the possibility either of returning to their home country or settling in PNG.
·
As Behrouz
Boochani recently wrote: This whole situation targets the mental wellbeing of the refugees on
three levels. First, living conditions within the prison camp are deteriorating
daily. Second, it has been made perfectly clear there is no favourable future
for refugees in PNG; no one feels safe. And third, the process to transfer them
to the US is still up in the air.
RAR and the Australian
Refugee Action Network (ARAN) will shortly be sending you resources and we will
let you know what others are doing to inspire your action.
Zali Nash the RAR Social
Media convenor is developing a social media strategy to be released next week.
It would be great if you
send us information including photos for putting on our website and facebook
and of course ‘your suggestions’ that we have not thought of.
Following is a program for
action for RAR across Australia.
RAR Call to Action:
The situation has now gone well beyond any justification by
the Australian Government. The situation is unsafe, the Papua Guinea government
has admitted that it cannot protect the refugees and asylum seekers and we fear
that as the closure of the camp approaches even more tragic outcomes may
eventuate.
It is important to make sure that our elected representatives
cannot claim that they “don’t know what is happening”. We need to ask them to demand information
from Government and expect change.
We also want to let the media know we expect reporting from them on this
as an issue of significance for our community values and democracy.
Recommended Action
Manus to be a priority in our activities leading up to
the closure of Manus at the end of October. Other networks will be doing this
too.
We recommend
1.
Use the theme: of ‘regional communities say
enough’ and the ARAN slogan Manus and Nauru etc.
Regional
Communities say Enough
Manus
and Nauru
Not
Safe for Refugees
Bring
Them Here!
2. Focus on parliamentarians
and media.
3. Make this part of your
ongoing activities eg vigils, churches etc.
4.
Brief your local member and ask them what they can do to
ameliorate the human costs for the detainees.
5.
Make appointments
with your local MP now, involve a small group of locals and advise the MP that you will
return again in 6-8
weeks for the MP to report b ack to you and make an appointment for
your return visit.
6. Take photos of the visit
or the meeting if possible so that you can use for media releases and Facebook
posts
7. Involve your local media
about your activities – papers, community radio and of course your local ABC regional outlets (we hope to
provide you some media formats if you need them).
8. Plan a regular/continuing presence
outside your MP or Senator’s local office and/or join with
other RAR groups in your region to organise weekly vigils outside the local MPs
office.
9. Organise letter writing
meetings, phoning MPs office, contact talkback radio and encourage members of
your community to be involved
10.Plan a concerted
action (along with other groups in Australia) for October 8, 2017.
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