11th October 2022
Hello to all RAR Members and Supporters – welcome to the latest RAR update.
National RAR Conference – Draft Report
The
first Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) national conference in four
years came together over September 16–18 at Katoomba. Our successful,
indeed inspiring, conference is to the credit of the Blue Mountains
Refugee Support Group and all the participants.
More
than 150 people from towns and regions throughout eastern Australia
attended what was probably the first grassroots refugee rights
conference since the pandemic.
The
conference confirmed what was a common view emerging from discussions
beforehand - that the Anthony Albanese government is not meeting the
movement’s fundamental aims.
Members
of refugee-led organisations, such as Cisarua Learning and Women for
Change, and others with lived experience of seeking asylum helped
identify and work out what needs to be done to change that.
At
the conference there was support for Action for Afghanistan’s call for
another 20,000 emergency visas for refugees from Afghanistan, and for
ending offshore detention and mandatory detention — which averages more
than two years — and to resolve the issue of statelessness that has
meant a number of refugees have been detained for a decade or more.
Another
issue which we discussed and which gained support was the lifting of
the ban on the refugees who arrived in Indonesia after July 1, 2014 from
applying for visas under the humanitarian program. We joined with other
refugee rights activists in wanting all refugees on temporary visas to
be granted permanent visas without delay and for all those seeking
asylum to have access to work and study rights, and to Medicare.
A
call for a Royal Commission into immigration detention, which would
have powers to investigate the contracts for private companies to run
the camps and to protect the refugees who want to speak out, also
received broad support.
Besides
highlighting the directions we will want to go in, the conference was
an opportunity to learn new campaign skills and to start to consider how
to strengthen unity in the movement towards achieving our goals.
Conference
delegate Katherine Morrison, from Bellingen, commented: “The conference
was well organized with a good and varied programme. We participants
were encouraged to circulate and get to know members from other RAR
groups and the speakers who sat amongst us. I found the conference well
worth attending.”
A
Conference Declaration is being drafted after a working session at the
end of the conference, and a fuller conference report will be produced
soon.
RAR annual general meeting
RAR’s
Annual General Meeting was held in Katoomba on Friday September 16.
Many attended in person – more than originally hoped for as more people
signed up for the Conference at the last minute and came to the Blue
Mountains - and a number of groups joined in by Zoom.
The
AGM received an Annual Report from outgoing President, Louise Redmond, a
report from the Afghanistan sub-committee presented by Marie Sellstrom,
and a 2021-22 financial report from Treasurer Geoff Bryne. The AGM also
adopted a revised 10-point plan, in particular adding a call for a just
and efficient immigration process for those seeking asylum. All these
documents can be found on the RAR website at https://ruralaustraliansforrefugees.org.au/about-us.
The AGM also elected a new National Committee:
President: Jonathan Strauss, Cairns for Refugees (QLD)
Secretary: Rosemary Bishop, Blue Mountains Refugee Support Network (NSW)
Vice-President: Paul Dalzell, Alexandra RAR (Vic)
Treasurer: Geoff Byrne, Southern Highlands RAR (NSW)
Communications Convenor: Kat Vella, Griffith RAR (NSW)
Committee members: Marie Sellstrom, Mansfield RAR (Vic); Louise Redmond, Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group (NSW); Katherine Stewart; Warrnambool RAR (VIC)
Left to right:
Rev Paul Dalzell, Geoff Byrne, Rosemary Bishop, Marie Sellstrom,
Jonathan Strauss, Louise Redmond, Katherine Stewart, Kat Vella.
Minutes will be circulated to members shortly.
Calling for volunteers
Are
you passionate about RAR's advocacy and want to contribute to reaching a
wider community? The RAR National Committee is looking for volunteers
to contribute to two larger communications projects in the coming year
(see below).
1) COMMUNITY STORIES
Combine
your passion for advocacy and writing through connecting with the RAR
community all over Australia to interview people and share their stories
on the new RAR website blog. You will assist the Communications
Convener to source interviewees, draft questions and take part in
interviewing people to then publish stories online. No formal writing
experience necessary. Time commitment is open and negotiable.
2) INSTAGRAM
Join
the small Instagram team on the national committee to help connect a
broader audience to RAR's advocacy work and mission. You will help draft
copy for posts, design graphics (if you want to, otherwise this is
optional), source images and video that works to RAR's social media
strategy. No previous Instagram experience is necessary but it is
preferred. Training and support will be provided. Time commitment is
open and negotiable.
If interested or you would like to know more, please contact Kat Vella, RAR Communications Convener on 0426 953 698 or email rarcommsconvener@gmail.com.
Please help us to assist Afghan People in Danger.
The
recent Kaaj Tution attack in Kabul where 57 young students were killed
by the Taliban has demonstrated to us the brutality of the Taliban and
the precarious lives for Afghanistan people particularly Hazaras. The
Hazaras have suffered genocide from the 1890s and it must stop.
It
will take greater power than the RAR to achieve this but we can make a
small contribution. RAR members are sponsoring over 90 families, the
majority of whom are Hazara. Ten of the families being sponsored have
been moved to Pakistan and Iran because they were in extreme danger in
Afghanistan and were in hiding. This means that we had received
evidence that the Taliban were searching for them to execute them.
Many
of the sponsors are sending money to the families they are sponsoring
to buy food because they are being refused the opportunity to work. In
the case of the families who are in Iran and Pakistan RAR is helping
members to pay for visas and visa extensions which are very expensive.
(100s of dollars). RAR groups are raising money to pay for living
expenses as these families had to leave Afghanistan with no money and in
some cases no documents.
In
September 2021 when the Taliban took over Afghanistan RAR members who
were not sponsoring families very generously donated money to support
our Afghan brothers and sisters. RAR funds to support these families
are now running low. We are asking members to open your hearts, if you
are able, to help keep the people we are sponsoring safe and help them
to eventually reach Australia.
Marie Sellstrom
Convenor Afghan Sponsorship
0417398528
Positive vibes from meetings with Immigration minister Andrew Giles
Refugee
and asylum seeker advocates are reporting positively on their
engagement with Andrew Giles, stating recently that there are now
encouraging signs that more people who are assessed as low risk are
being released into the community. In an interview with Guardian
Australia, the minister emphasized that the government “is committed to
ensuring humane and risk-based immigration detention policies. If there
are no security or safety concerns, individuals should be living in the
community until a durable solution is found.”
It
appears that the minister is now taking positive steps to honour the
commitments made by Labor prior to the federal election. Hannah
Dickinson, the ASRC’s principal solicitor has welcomed the change in
direction, stating: “We have been encouraged about the pragmatic, humane
decision-making in releases from detention since May. It’s slow but
encouraging – we’re optimistic.”
We
need to keep up the pressure to ensure that the detention of asylum
seekers becomes a last resort, not a starting point. Every day that an
asylum seeker or refugee remains in detention is a day too long. They
have suffered enough, and the government needs to urgently allocate the
necessary resources to allow them to live safely in the community.
Slow start to New Zealand refugee resettlement
It
is now six months since the previous federal government finally
accepted the New Zealand government’s offer to resettle 450 refugees
over three years, and yet, at the time of writing, not a single refugee
has been resettled. There are some thirty-six refugees whose
applications are currently under consideration, but, so far, less than
half of them have been interviewed. The main problem, according to
UNHCR, is that, after up to a decade of punitive detention, many of the
refugees are in such a poor mental state that they are simply not able
to engage with the application process. Emily Chipman, at the UNHCR,
stated: “The mental health impact of what these individuals have
experienced has significantly affected their capacity to engage in the
resettlement process and has led to a general lack of confidence.
Refugees have evoked concerns about leaving family members behind in
Australia, and about not being psychologically strong enough to rebuild
their lives in another country.”
In
addition, a number of the refugees are awaiting the outcome of their
applications for resettlement in Canada or the US, and are therefore not
eligible to apply for resettlement in New Zealand.
What
is clear is that these people require intensive mental health support
in order to successfully navigate the resettlement process. Given that
it is the Australian government that is directly responsible for their
terrible suffering, then it should urgently take the necessary steps to
put in place the resources required to get the resettlement programme on
track.
