RAV Vic produces a Refugee Facts flyer, updated with relevant and timely information from time to time.
This is the newest version, updated in June 2022.
You’re welcome to download and share it.
Category: Featured & Upcoming
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Cavalcade Protest is Safe, Detention Centres are Not – Free the Refugees
Please see the link to our megaphone petition calling for the release of the refugees from immigration detention due to the serious threat they face of contracting COVID-19. In addition, the right to protest is a fundamental pillar of democracy and should be able to be continued. Especially when such protests comply with the social distancing requirements.
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Manus guard pleads with Morrison to settle claim before taking life
The Coalition’s offshore processing regime has taken another life, this time of a guard who wrote directly to PM Scott Morrison before she took her own life.
“I am done, I will never be the same. I see Manus everywhere, I see asylum seekers everywhere,” Ms Parker said.
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Australia Says It Won’t Release Files On The Death Of A Young Man Sent To Nauru Because It’s Not Important To The Public
The Australian government has blocked access to two internal reports it holds about the death of a refugee on Nauru, claiming their contents are not important to the public.
Rakib Khan was just 24 when he died in May 2016, two days after he presented to the island’s hospital complaining of chest pains.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/hannahryan/australia-reports-young-man-nauru-death-rakib-khan
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Support Activists in Greece Fighting to Welcome Refugees
As many of you would have read, the situation in Greece right now is particularly terrifying for refugees. Coastguard, as well as vigilante mobs, have been attacking those trying to reach the continent, especially in the wake of Turkey opening their borders. The Sydney Refugee Action Coalition has started this crowdfunding campaign to provide support to those refugee rights groups trying valiantly to tackle anti-refugee sentiment. Please support this campaign for extra funds to allow refugees inside Greece to travel on buses from the camps to join demonstrations against racism and an Australian-style detention system.
https://chuffed.org/project/support-activists-in-greece-fighting-to-welcome-refugees
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Manus Island Refugee Blocked from Studio
Moz is one of the men who is being locked up in the Mantra after being brought to Australia for medical care. He is a musician, and not only is Border Force denying him medical care, but they are also denying him the means to get to a nearby studio to record music.
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Alison Battisson’s Speech from “The Hidden Hell for Refugees in the Heart of Melbourne” forum
On August 5th, 2019, the Refugee Action Collective organised a forum in Melbourne entitled ‘The Hidden Hell for Refugees in the Heart of Melbourne” to shed light on what is happening in the onshore detention centres.
One of the key speakers was lawyer Alison Battisson from Human Rights For All. A live stream of the event is available on our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/racvic/. Attached is Ms Battisson’s speech for further reading and to recap what was discussed at the forum.
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Unionists for Refugees & the Refugee Action Collective call on Premier Andrews to offer Biloela family safety
Unionists for Refugees & the Refugee Action Collective call on Premier Andrews to offer Biloela family safety
Unionists for Refugees and The Refugee Action Collective call on Premier Daniel Andrews to offer safe haven to a refugee family facing deportation and urge the Morrison government to let them stay.
Priya and Nades were settled in Biloela, Central Queensland, after fleeing torture in Sri Lanka. Despite the evidence of human rights organisations on the ground, the Australian government has now determined that Sri Lanka is safe, so they are trying to force this family – and countless others – to return. This follows the return to danger of 20 Sri Lankan asylum seekers, including one baby, last week after their boat was intercepted by Australian authorities.
Almost 200,000 people have signed a petition calling for the family – Priya, Nades, and their two Australian born children, Kopika and Tharunicaa – to stay in Australia. The family were forcibly transferred from their home in Biloela to the Melbourne Transit Accommodation Centre 15 months ago when Priya’s bridging visa expired.
The community of Biloela and the wider refugee rights movement have rallied around the family, and are campaigning for the Morrison government to bring the family #hometobilo. Before the federal election, then-Labor leader Bill Shorten said if Labor won, he would have their case examined for ministerial intervention. New Labor leader Anthony Albanese could make a difference if he would call for the family to stay.
“Unionists for Refugees and the Refugee Action Collective also call on Premier Andrews to stand up to the Morrison government and demand that the family be allowed to stay,” said Clare Middlemas for Unionists for Refugees. In 2016, Premier Andrews wrote to Prime Minister Turnbull offering a welcome to stay in Victoria for a group of 267 asylum seekers who had come from Manus and Nauru for medical treatment. Those refugees are still here.
“The health of Priya and Nades’ girls inside detention is deteriorating so much that a complaint has now been made to Victorian child protection authorities. We are calling for the Premier to step in to help Priya, Nades and their children, by repeating the offer of sanctuary he made to the ‘Let Them Stay’ group of asylum seekers. The same offer of safety to this family could help prevent their deportation to danger. Such a call could add to pressure on Minister Coleman and the Morrison government to use their discretion to allow the family to stay.”
For further comment call
Chris Breen – Refugee Action Collective 0403 013 183 or
Clare Middlemas – Unionists for Refugees 0488 454 003
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Rally: 6 Years Too Long – Close Manus & Nauru – Bring Them Here
SATURDAY JULY 20, 2PM, STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA
Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/598607583941444/
6 Years Too Long – Close Manus & Nauru – Bring Them Here
The re-election of the Morrison government is a setback for refugees, but Morrison has no mandate for anti-refugee racism, and we know that this government can and must be fought.
The Coalition has presided over almost 6 years of cruelty to refugees on Manus and Nauru, including 12 deaths offshore. July 19 marks the 6th anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s announcement that “any asylum-seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees”. The announcement didn’t save Rudd then, and in 2019 Shorten emphasising how much Labor agreed with the Liberals on refugee policy did not stop Labor being defeated. Copying the cruelty, or going quiet is not a strategy for change.
Morrison was forced against his wishes to get kids of Nauru. That was won together in solidarity with the struggles of refugees themselves, by refusing to be silent, by being active on the streets, and in our workplaces and campuses. We need to take to the streets, now more than ever. We can build a refugee movement that can get everyone off Manus and Nauru. Join us on July 20 to be part of it.
Close the Camps
Bring The Refugees Here
End Deportations to Danger
Call Chris 0403 013 183 for more info