"In East Timor they torture us physically; in Australia they do it mentally." — Henrique Lay, East Timorese asylum seeker
A network of more than 10,000 Australians stands ready to defy federal law on behalf of East Timorese asylum seekers, but more help is needed.
There are 1650 East Timorese seeking political asylum in Australia, some having fled the Dili massacre of 1991. They are still waiting to know if they can stay.
For these war-traumatised people, life in Australia is full of uncertainty and powerlessness. Their testimonies of persecution in East Timor gather dust as the government continues to argue that they should go to Portugal (the former colonial ruler of East Timor) for help.
The absurdity and hypocrisy of this notion was not lost on Alexander Downer while in opposition:"... not one of these people is, by any stretch of Mr Keating's vivid imagination, a Portuguese citizen."
The Sanctuary Network, an organisation initiated by Josephite nuns in Sydney, challenges the government to honour its moral commitments to the East Timorese and presents a large-scale, coordinated public pledge to harbour them illegally if necessary.
Furthermore, the network sees the government's maltreatment of East Timorese asylum seekers as an extension of its shameful historical neglect of East Timor and believes that a just resolution for refugees will contribute towards a shift in Australia's obstructive position on East Timorese self-determination.
While the Sanctuary Network has been successful in building potentially the largest civil disobedience campaign since the Vietnam War, deportation has been replaced by destitution as the more immediate threat to the East Timorese.
The income support entitlements upon which asylum seekers rely as they wait is to be removed once the government goes ahead and processes the cases as those of Portuguese citizens. Additionally, Legal Aid funding for people wanting to challenge these decisions is soon to be abolished.
The Sanctuary Network is seeking help for a vulnerable community facing a humanitarian crisis and is concerned that the government may achieve a victory by default — the "voluntary relocation" of people beaten by the wear and tear of a protracted legal dispute and poverty.
A national sponsorship scheme has been established to ease the financial strain, and action must be taken to mobilise pubic sympathy into effective action.
Please consider joining the network in some capacity at an individual or organisational level. For more information ring or write to: Sanctuary Network, 22 Pitt Street, Carlton Vic 3053. Ph/fax: (03) 9348 1261.