Activists are set to protest Labor’s cruel immigration policy of keeping refugees in limbo. Kerry Smith reports.
Refugee Action Coalition
More than 2000 people rallied for permanent protection for refugees outside Parliament House. Luke Weyland reports.
Refugee supporters rallied at Sydney Town Hall on July 24 to call for justice and permanent protection for refugees. Isaac Nellist reports.
Researchers in Britain and refugees in Australia condemned the new offensive against refugees in Britain and across Europe. Andrea Bortoli reports.
The Tamil Refugee Council held a speak-out to mark Tamil Genocide Day before a refugee rights rally on the UN declared day for the elimination of racial discrimination. Pip Hinman reports.
Refugee rights activists protested at the Danish Consulate against that government’s plans to detain asylum seekers and process them in Rwanda. Stephen Langford reports.
More than 70 people attended an online meeting organised by the Refugee Action Collective to discuss the global struggles of refugees, reports Chris Slee.
A desperate rooftop protest by an Iranian refugee being held on Christmas Island was restarted on June 11 after being subjected to further inhumanity.
Ghazi (not his real name), and another refugee took to the roof of the detention centre in late May to protest the conditions and the lack of access to medical care. According to the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC) both men had been in detention for over 3 years and were apparently taken to court and charged over an alleged incident prior to the May protest.
More than 1500 people crowded into Sydney's ornate Town Hall as an east coast low brought rain tumbling down, to rally for refugees.
The pre-election refugee rights rally, themed 'Close Manus, Close Nauru, Bring Them Here', was held during World Refugee Week.
Speakers included Socialist Alliance Senate candidate Ken Canning, who gave a moving acknowledgment of country; Ian Rintoul from Refugee Action Coalition; TV personality Margaret Pomeranz, Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, Sophia from Young Labor for Refugees, Hamad, a refugee, and Judith and Evan, who were teachers formerly on Nauru.
A second refugee has self-immolated in the detention centre on Nauru, just days after 23-year-old Iranian refugee Omid Masoumali died in similar circumstances.
Hodan, a 19-year-old Somali woman, has been taken to Brisbane by air ambulance, but she suffered burns to more than 70% of her body and her condition remains critical.
Witnesses told Refugee Action Coalition (RAC) that all her clothes had been burned off. Another said she had suffered burns to her upper body and face at least as bad as Omid.
Refugee Action Coalition released this statement on March 29.
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Meetings in the Manus Island detention centre compounds on March 29 have revealed a series of moves by Australian and PNG Immigration to resolve the detention and resettlement issue before the Supreme Court challenge to the Manus Island detention centre, scheduled for the end of April.
Asylum seekers on Nauru have been protesting their long-term detention every day since March 20. Good Friday marked 1000 days in detention with no refugee determination for some asylum seekers.
The Refugee Action Coalition released this statement on March 9.
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A 34 year-old Iranian refugee on Nauru was savagely attacked by two Nauruans on March 5 at about 10pm.
Two Nauruans on a motor cycle approached the man who was walking alone near the Nibok settlement. The man was struck across the top of the head by a machete, while the attacking Nauruans said, “Fuck refugees”. The Iranian man was left with a deep head wound that required 8 stitches.
Immigration department officials seized pregnant Somali refugee Abyan from Villawood detention centre and flew her to the Solomon Islands on October 16, with the plan to fly her from there to Nauru.
Abyan had been flown in from Nauru four days earlier to see doctors regarding the planned termination of a pregnancy that resulted from her being raped while in detention on the island.
More than 100 asylum seekers in detention on Manus Island have signed an appeal to Europeans for help. They say that just like the asylum seekers in Europe, they have fled war and persecution and like them they need safety and resettlement. They request European countries “to urge the Australia government to cease the illegal detention of us…”
Almost 1000 refugees and asylum seekers are indefinitely detained on Manus Island and a similar number, including families with children, are on Nauru.
The Refugee Action Coalition Sydney released this statement on September 1.
A 25 year-old Burmese asylum seeker attempted suicide at Manus Island on August 31.
The emergency unfolded over almost four hours as the man climbed onto the roof of Delta Compound around 3pm and made attempts to hang himself using bed sheets and electrical cable, before making a final attempt to jump just before 7pm.
More than 50 Transfield and IHMS medical personnel were mobilised during the emergency.
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