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Funding for refugees has long been politicized − punitive action against UNRWA and Palestinians fits that pattern

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nicholas-r-micinski-207353">Nicholas R. Micinski</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-maine-2120">University of Maine</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kelsey-norman-862895">Kelsey Norman</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rice-university-931">Rice University</a> At least a dozen countries, including the U.S., have <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1145987">suspended funding to the UNRWA</a>, the United Nations agency responsible for delivering aid to Palestinian refugees. This follows allegations made by Israel that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/at-least-12-u-n-agency-employees-involved-in-oct-7-attacks-intelligence-reports-say-a7de8f36">12 UNRWA employees participated</a> in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. The UNRWA responded by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-palestinian-refugee-agency-investigates-staff-suspected-role-israel-attacks-2024-01-26/">dismissing all accused employees</a> and opening an investigation. While the seriousness of the accusations is clear to all, and the U.S. has been keen to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/us/politics/aid-gaza-israel.html">downplay the significance</a> of its pause in funding, the action is not in keeping with precedent. Western donors did not, for example, defund other U.N. agencies or peacekeeping operations amid accusations of <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/01/11/un-peacekeeping-has-sexual-abuse-problem">sexual assault</a>, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-un-general-assembly-president-and-five-others-charged-13-million-bribery-scheme">corruption</a> or <a href="https://www.hrw.org/legacy/summaries/s.bosnia9510.html">complicity in war crimes</a>. In real terms, the funding cuts to the UNRWA will affect <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/gaza-strip">1.7 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza</a> along with an additional 400,000 Palestinians without refugee status, many of whom benefit from the UNRWA’s infrastructure. Some critics have gone further and said depriving the agency of funds <a href="https://jacobin.com/2024/01/unrwa-defunding-gaza-israel">amounts to collective punishment</a> against Palestinians. Refugee aid, and humanitarian aid more generally, is theoretically meant to be neutral and impartial. But as experts in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/reluctant-reception/558E2A93FF99B8F295347A8FA2053698">migration</a> <a href="https://www.routledge.com/UN-Global-Compacts-Governing-Migrants-and-Refugees/Micinski/p/book/9780367218836">and</a> <a href="https://press.umich.edu/Books/D/Delegating-Responsibility">international relations</a>, we know funding is often used as a foreign policy tool, whereby allies are rewarded and enemies punished. In this context, we believe the cuts in funding for the UNRWA fit a wider pattern of the politicization of aid to refugees, particularly Palestinian refugees. <h2>What is the UNRWA?</h2> The UNRWA, short for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, was established two years after about <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nakba-at-75-palestinians-struggle-to-get-recognition-for-their-catastrophe-204782">750,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from their homes</a> during the months leading up to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent Arab-Israeli war. Prior to the UNRWA’s creation, international and local organizations, many of them religious, provided services to displaced Palestinians. But after <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">surveying the extreme poverty</a> and dire situation pervasive across refugee camps, the U.N. General Assembly, including all Arab states and Israel, voted to create the UNRWA in 1949. Since that time, <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/what-we-do">the UNRWA has been the primary aid organization</a> providing food, medical care, schooling and, in some cases, housing for the 6 million Palestinians living across its five fields: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, as well as the areas that make up the occupied Palestinian territories: the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The mass displacement of Palestinians – known as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nakba-at-75-palestinians-struggle-to-get-recognition-for-their-catastrophe-204782">Nakba, or “catastrophe</a>” – occurred prior to the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr/who-we-are/1951-refugee-convention">1951 Refugee Convention</a>, which defined refugees as anyone with a well-founded fear of persecution owing to “events occurring in Europe before 1 January 1951.” Despite a <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/legacy-pdf/4ec262df9.pdf">1967 protocol extending the definition</a> worldwide, Palestinians are still excluded from the primary international system protecting refugees. While the UNRWA is responsible for providing services to Palestinian refugees, the United Nations also created the U.N. Conciliation Commission for Palestine in 1948 to seek a <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/4fe2e5672.html">long-term political solution</a> and “to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation.” As a result, the UNRWA does not have a mandate to push for the traditional durable solutions available in other refugee situations. As it happened, the conciliation commission was active only for a few years and has since been sidelined in favor of the U.S.-brokered peace processes. <h2>Is the UNRWA political?</h2> The UNRWA has been <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/palestinian-refugees-dispossession">subject</a> to political headwinds since its inception and especially during periods of heightened tension between Palestinians and Israelis. While it is a U.N. organization and thus ostensibly apolitical, it has <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">frequently been criticized</a> by Palestinians, Israelis as well as donor countries, including the United States, for acting politically. The UNRWA performs statelike functions across its five fields – including education, health and infrastructure – but it is restricted in its mandate from performing political or security activities. Initial Palestinian objections to the UNRWA stemmed from the organization’s early focus on economic integration of refugees into host states. Although the UNRWA officially adhered to the U.N. General Assembly’s <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/content/resolution-194">Resolution 194</a> that called for the return of Palestine refugees to their homes, U.N., U.K. and U.S. <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">officials searched</a> for means by which to resettle and integrate Palestinians into host states, viewing this as the favorable political solution to the Palestinian refugee situation and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this sense, Palestinians perceived the UNRWA to be both highly political and actively working against their interests. In later decades, the UNRWA <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">switched its primary focus</a> from jobs to education at the urging of Palestinian refugees. But the UNRWA’s education materials were <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">viewed</a> by Israel as further feeding Palestinian militancy, and the Israeli government insisted on checking and approving all materials in Gaza and the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967. While Israel has <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">long been suspicious</a> of the UNRWA’s role in refugee camps and in providing education, the organization’s operation, which is internationally funded, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/east-mediterranean-mena/israelpalestine/242-unrwas-reckoning-preserving-un-agency-serving-palestinian-refugees">also saves</a> Israel millions of dollars each year in services it would be obliged to deliver as the occupying power. Since the 1960s, the U.S. – UNRWA’s primary donor – and other Western countries have <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">repeatedly expressed their desire</a> to use aid to prevent radicalization among refugees. In response to the increased presence of armed opposition groups, the <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">U.S. attached a provision</a> to its UNRWA aid in 1970, requiring that the “UNRWA take all possible measures to assure that no part of the United States contribution shall be used to furnish assistance to any refugee who is receiving military training as a member of the so-called Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) or any other guerrilla-type organization.” The UNRWA adheres to this requirement, even publishing an annual list of its employees so that host governments can vet them, but it also <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/east-mediterranean-mena/israelpalestine/242-unrwas-reckoning-preserving-un-agency-serving-palestinian-refugees">employs 30,000 individuals</a>, the vast majority of whom are Palestinian. Questions over the links of the UNRWA to any militancy has led to the rise of Israeli and international <a href="https://cufi.org/issue/unrwa-teachers-continue-to-support-antisemitism-terrorism-on-social-media-un-watch/">watch groups</a> that document the social media activity of the organization’s large Palestinian staff. <h2>Repeated cuts in funding</h2> The United States has used its money and power within the U.N. to block criticism of Israel, vetoing at least <a href="https://www.un.org/depts/dhl/resguide/scact_veto_table_en.htm">45 U.N. resolutions</a> critical of Israel. And the latest freeze is not the first time the U.S. has cut funding to the UNRWA or other U.N. agencies in response to issues pertaining to the status of Palestinians. In 2011, the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE79U5ED/#:%7E:text=WASHINGTON%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20The%20United,grant%20the%20Palestinians%20full%20membership.">U.S. cut all funding to UNESCO</a>, the U.N. agency that provides educational and cultural programs around the world, after the agency voted to admit the state of Palestine as a full member. The Obama administration defended the move, claiming it was required by a 1990s law to defund any U.N. body that admitted Palestine as a full member. But the impact of the action was nonetheless severe. Within just four years, UNESCO was <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1758-5899.12459">forced to cut its staff in half</a> and roll back its operations. President Donald Trump later <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/u-s-and-israel-officially-withdraw-from-unesco">withdrew the U.S. completely from UNESCO</a>. In 2018, the Trump administration paused its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/us/politics/trump-unrwa-palestinians.html">US$60 million contribution to the UNRWA</a>. Trump claimed the pause would create political pressure for Palestinians to negotiate. President Joe Biden restarted U.S. contributions to the UNRWA in 2021. <h2>Politicization of refugee aid</h2> Palestinian are not the only group to suffer from the politicization of refugee funding. After World War II, states established different international organizations to help refugees but strategically excluded some groups from the refugee definition. For example, the U.S. funded the <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/last-million-eastern-european-displaced-persons-postwar-germany">U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Administration to help resettle displaced persons after World War II</a> but resisted Soviet pressure to forcibly repatriate Soviet citizens. The U.S. also created a separate organization, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ijrl/article-abstract/1/4/501/1598187">the precursor to the International Organization for Migration</a>, to circumvent Soviet influence. In many ways, the UNRWA’s existence and the exclusion of Palestinian refugees from the wider refugee regime parallels this dynamic. Funding for refugees has also been politicized through the earmarking of voluntary contributions to U.N. agencies. Some agencies receive funding from U.N. dues; but the UNRWA, alongside the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration, receive the majority of their funding from voluntary contributions from member states. These contributions can be earmarked for specific activities or locations, leading to donors such as the <a href="https://www.peio.me/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/PEIO12_paper_107.pdf">U.S. or European Union dictating which refugees get aid and which do not</a>. Earmarked contributions amounted to nearly <a href="https://unsceb.org/fs-revenue-agency">96% of the UNHCR’s budget, 96% of the IOM’s budget and 74% of UNRWA funding in 2022</a>. As a result, any cuts to UNRWA funding will affect its ability to service Palestinian refugees in Gaza – especially at a time when so many are <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/30/middleeast/famine-looms-in-gaza-israel-war-intl/index.html">facing hunger, disease and displacement</a> as a result of war.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222263/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nicholas-r-micinski-207353">Nicholas R. Micinski</a>, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-maine-2120">University of Maine</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kelsey-norman-862895">Kelsey Norman</a>, Fellow for the Middle East, Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/rice-university-931">Rice University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/funding-for-refugees-has-long-been-politicized-punitive-action-against-unrwa-and-palestinians-fits-that-pattern-222263">original article</a>.

Money & Banking

Ukrainian refugees living “better than they dreamed” on Scottish cruise ship

More than 100 Ukrainian refugees arriving in Scotland are calling a cruise ship in Edinburgh their new home, with those aboard praising the extensive amenities and nods to their home country. Families began moving onto the MS Victoria at the end of July, which can host up to 1,700 people and includes restaurants, children’s play areas, shops, a laundry, support services and free Wi-Fi among its onboard amenities. Though that might be standard fare for cruise passengers, there have been some extra touches made to help those onboard feel more at home. Nikol Bilous told <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-62346573" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC Scotland</a> the ship came with access to Ukrainian TV channels, which came as a surprise since “you never find that when you go on holiday”. "All the signs are in Ukrainian on the ship and most of the staff are Ukrainian,” the 19-year-old said. "And last night we had Borscht beetroot soup, our national dish, we couldn't believe it. "The conditions on the ship are better than we could have dreamed of and we are very grateful to the Scottish people for this accommodation.” Bilous added that there were also cinemas and theatres on board, but there were issues with the lights which haven’t worked after the Covid lockdowns. “But we don't need entertainment and were very surprised they were trying to do all this for us," she said. "Edinburgh Council has been on board all the time answering any questions we have, so we have felt 100% supported. "The rooms are quite small but they are perfect and we are very happy and grateful." Since the <a href="https://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/russian-invasion-of-ukraine-imminent-what-you-need-to-know" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Russian invasion of Ukraine began</a> earlier this year, more than 10,500 people have travelled from Ukraine to Scotland. The Scottish government says that new arrivals are met with a network of “welcome hubs”, moving into temporary accommodation such as the MS Victoria or a hotel until alternative housing is arranged. The MS Victoria is docked at all times and guarded, with residents able to arrive and leave whenever they like. Other families, including Tanya Munawar, her husband Khashif, and their five-year-old daughter Marcia, told the BBC they were given “a very warm welcome” when they arrived in Scotland and hoped to settle in the local area. "I'm an immigration consultant and since we arrived here on 26 July I have been trying to find us accommodation to rent and a job,” Khashif said. "I've been applying to hotels to be a housekeeping supervisor. We plan to stay here and work. It really helps that we can speak English. "My daughter is small and is feeling good, as long as she is with her parents she won't be affected by this." Image: Marko Stampehl (AS Tallink Group)

Cruising

Cruise ship rescues 20 refugees

A cruise ship has rescued 20 refugees from a small boat near Cuba, amid a growing number of cruising vessels assisting refugees they encounter while at sea. The Carnival Paradise was sailing between Mexico and Cuba when at least 20 refugees were spotted on what appeared to be a rowboat. Vici Sheffield, a travel agent who was on the Carnival Paradise during the rescue, shared an image of the refugees online, revealing in the comments that passengers were told the refugees were taken aboard for “their own safety”. “We just saved a boat in distress. Wow. First time for me,” she captioned the photo on her Facebook page, Vici’s Travels. “Thankful they were spotted and the ship turned around.” The boat was reportedly drifting at the time it was spotted, with the Carnival cruise ship slowing and turning around to assist those on board. “In accordance with maritime law, we have taken them aboard our vessel and have notified all of the appropriate authorities,” the captain announced to cruise passengers, per <a href="https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-ship-rescues-refugees-from-overloaded-boat/77811" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CruiseHive</a>. Though the weather was clear, sunny and relatively calm at the time, the rowboat appeared visibly overloaded and in poor condition. It was left adrift when the passengers were helped onto the cruise ship, with some containers left aboard. Having left Tampa, Florida, on July 20, the Carnival Paradise was scheduled to visit Roatan, Honduras, followed by Cozumel, Mexico, before returning to Tampa on August 4. The Carnival cruise ship's rescue comes just days after Carnival Sunrise rescued 12 Cuban refugees that were adrift to the south of Key West. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> A <a href="https://twitter.com/WPLGLocal10?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WPLGLocal10</a> viewer cruising on the <a href="https://twitter.com/CarnivalCruise?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CarnivalCruise</a> Sunrise sent us this video from the ship as it came to the aid of 12 men stranded in a small boat south of Key West yesterday. The men, believed to be Cuban migrants, were later turned over to <a href="https://twitter.com/USCGSoutheast?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USCGSoutheast</a>. <a href="https://t.co/2Rd0Uh7wID">pic.twitter.com/2Rd0Uh7wID</a> — Chris Gothner (@Chris_Gothner) <a href="https://twitter.com/Chris_Gothner/status/1553410507079651328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2022</a></blockquote> Mardi Gras, Carnival's flagship, rescued at least 22 refugees in two separate incidents in June, while Royal Caribbean International's Allure of the Seas, Celebrity Cruise Line's Celebrity Apex, and Carnival's Carnival Magic have also been involved in rescues this year. Image: Vici Sheffield

Cruising

Orchestra of Ukrainian refugees to “honour the dead” at UK BBC Proms

The BBC Proms is welcoming a special act this year, as an orchestra of Ukrainian refugees and Ukrainian musicians are expected to take centre stage. The newly-formed Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra was added to the programme of classical music “at the 11th hour”, Proms director David Pickard said, per the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-61215906" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a>. “I think sometimes you can feel rather powerless if you’re involved in the cultural world when a huge event like this war is going on, and this is a marvellous way to support the country and celebrate the power of music to cross divides,” he said. The Ukrainian government has even granted an exemption to military-age male musicians so they can leave the country and play in the orchestra. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> I’m so proud that the formation of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UkrainianFreedomOrchestra?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UkrainianFreedomOrchestra</a> has been announced. Formed with leading Ukrainian musicians from inside and outside of Ukraine, we will assemble in Warsaw in July for 10 days of intensive rehearsals, before embarking on an 11 city tour. <a href="https://t.co/2Y7gc83DG3">pic.twitter.com/2Y7gc83DG3</a> — Keri-Lynn Wilson (@kerilynnwilson) <a href="https://twitter.com/kerilynnwilson/status/1518934836249088002?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2022</a></blockquote> Canadian-Ukrainian conductor Keri-Lyn Wilson said the orchestra - which has been her brainchild - would “honour those who have died” in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. “I wanted to bring the best orchestral musicians of Ukraine together, from both inside and outside of their country, in a proud display of artistic unity,” she said in a statement announcing their tour, which will take them across Europe and on to the United States. “The tour is an expression of love for their homeland and to honour those who have died and have suffered so much.” Their inclusion comes as the Proms returns to the Royal Albert Hall for its first full-scale season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 3,000 musicians expected to perform across 84 concerts over eight weeks. With a programme including Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s Seventh Symphony and aria Abscheulicher! from Beethoven’s Fidelio which calls for humanity and peace in the face of violence, it’s easy to see why Mr Pickard predicts it will be a powerful and cathartic performance. Funds raised from the tour, which runs from July 28 until August 20, will be used to support Ukrainian artists according to a <a href="https://www.metopera.org/about/press-releases/ukrainian-freedom-orchestra-formed-to-tour-europe-and-u.s.-this-summer-in-artistic-defense-of-their-country/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> from the Metropolitan Opera. “Music can be a powerful weapon against oppression,” Peter Gelb, the Metropolitan Opera’s general manager, and Waldemar Dabrowski, the director of the Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera, said in a joint statement. “This tour is meant to defend Ukrainian art and its brave artists as they fight for their freedom of their country.” Image: @kerilynnwilsonmaestro (Instagram)

Caring

UK mum shares “emotional” moment she welcomed Ukrainian family into her home

A UK woman has spoken about the “emotional” moment she welcomed a family of Ukrainian refugees into her home under a new, national scheme. Leah Godsell-Fletcher, her husband and their daughter received Olha Havrilyk and her two daughters at their home in the East Midlands through the new Homes for Ukraine scheme. Ms Godsell-Fletcher told <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-61085328" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC News</a> they feel like “one extended family” and communicate with each other using Google Translate. “It isn’t perfect but it’s been a lifesaver to get our sense of humour,” she said. Ms Havrilyk said they had seen rockets explode in their neighbourhood in central Ukraine, where her husband has stayed on since he was conscripted. She said her husband was very worried but felt calmer now that she and their daughters Kateryna, 16, and Dasha, 11, were safe. Ms Godsell-Fletcher described the moment as “very emotional”. “They were very happy to be here but obviously very emotional, quite scared coming into somebody else’s house they don’t know,” she said. “It just feels like we’re one extended family now.” While many other families who have applied for the scheme are waiting for visas to be approved, Ms Godsall-Fletcher said it felt like she was “actually doing something” to help people in Ukraine who “are really in need”. “I would like to think if it was me and my daughter, someone would do the same for me,” she said. Image: BBC News

Caring

Aus-NZ refugee deal is a bandage on a failed policy

Australia has finally accepted New Zealand’s offer to settle some of the refugees from the <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/factsheet_offshore_processing_overview.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offshore processing</a> regime – about nine years after it was first made in 2013. The NZ deal will provide certainty for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/24/australia-agrees-450-refugees-can-be-resettled-in-new-zealand-nine-years-after-deal-first-offered" target="_blank" rel="noopener">450 people</a> who have been in limbo, many for more than a decade. But in the March 24 <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/KarenAndrews/Pages/australia-new-zealand-resettlement-arrangement.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcement</a>, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews made clear the deal does not change Australia’s <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australia-and-new-zealand-reach-refugee-resettlement-agreement/20vyv2d8w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hard-line approach</a>. This makes the deal a bandage on a <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Policy_Brief_11_Offshore_Processing.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">failed policy</a> that continues to haemorrhage cash, destroy lives and erode the international system for refugee protection. Who is – and isn’t – included in the NZ deal? The original offer, made by the then NZ Prime Minister John Key in 2013, was refused by the Australian government until now. The Coalition government claimed the deal could be a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/01/decision-to-bring-children-from-nauru-an-admission-of-failure-by-government" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pull factor</a>” for asylum seekers coming by boat to Australia. Under the agreement, NZ will settle up to 150 of Australia’s “offshore processing” refugees per year for three years. These refugees arrived in Australia by sea between 2012 and 2014 and were sent to Nauru or Manus Island “offshore processing” detention centres. The deal can include the <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about-us-subsite/files/population-and-number-of-people-resettled.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">112 people</a> who are in Nauru or those temporarily in Australia under offshore processing arrangements. Some <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/press/2022/3/623a66584/unhcr-news-comment-on-the-australia-new-zealand-refugee-deal.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1,100</a> people have been returned temporarily to Australia, mostly for medical treatment. They mostly live in the community with <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.au/potential-return-of-refugees-and-people-seeking-asylum-to-nauru-and-png-proof-of-policy-failure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">no support and insecure visa status</a> but some remain in detention. Those already being considered for settlement to another country, such as the United States or Canada, aren’t eligible for the NZ program. More than 100 men who remain in Papua New Guinea aren’t included in this deal. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> The always wise, always insightful <a href="https://twitter.com/BehrouzBoochani?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BehrouzBoochani</a> on Australia, the NZ refugee resettlement offer, and why it took nine years...<a href="https://t.co/IdxPBGpAz0">https://t.co/IdxPBGpAz0</a> — Ben Doherty (@BenDohertyCorro) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenDohertyCorro/status/1508944829509926915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2022</a></blockquote> Under current known arrangements, people remaining in PNG could be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/25/australia-new-zealand-refugee-deal-everything-we-know" target="_blank" rel="noopener">referred</a> by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to NZ through its regular refugee programme. Even after the NZ and US options are exhausted, it’s estimated at least <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/australians-welcome-nzs-generosity-to-refugees-in-offshore-processing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">500 refugees will be without a solution</a>. And they’re not the only ones. There are some <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Factsheet_Legacy%20Caseload_final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30,000 people</a> in what’s called the “legacy caseload” who arrived by sea between 2012 and 2014 and weren’t transferred to Nauru and PNG. They remain in Australia subject to harmful measures. They’re stuck in limbo on temporary visas, unable to reunify with family members, and receive <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/urgent-call-government-protect-asylum-seekers-and-refugees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inadequate support</a> to secure housing or health care. Australia distorts the global refugee system <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/51af82794.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia has primary responsibility</a> for refugees who seek its protection. The Australian government has repeatedly tried and failed to find countries willing to settle refugees it refuses to protect. It reportedly offered multiple countries, from the Philippines to Kyrgyzstan, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/08/australias-refugee-deal-a-farce-after-us-rejects-all-iranian-and-somali-asylum-seekers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">millions of dollars</a> to settle refugees from Australia’s offshore camps – without success. Resettlement to a third country is an important solution, available to less than 1% of refugees globally whose lives, liberty, safety, health or other fundamental rights are at risk <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/46f7c0ee2.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in the country where they have sought refuge</a>. This isn’t the case for refugees seeking asylum in Australia, where there’s a well-established asylum system. It’s difficult to think of the NZ solution as “resettlement” in its true meaning. Resettlement places are important to <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/press/2021/6/60d32ba44/un-refugee-agency-releases-2022-resettlement-needs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">relieve pressure on developing countries</a> that host almost 90% of the world’s refugees. Conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, South Sudan, Afghanistan, plus now Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have created a need for resettlement in a third country for almost <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/press/2021/6/60d32ba44/un-refugee-agency-releases-2022-resettlement-needs.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1.5 million</a> refugees worldwide. Resettlement has been disrupted over the last two years due to COVID, leaving even more people in urgent need. Under these extraordinary “refugee deals” with the US and NZ, the Australian government is trying to solve a political problem of its own making at the expense of people in desperate need. Like Australia, the US and NZ offer only a limited number of resettlement spots each year. When these spots go to Australia’s refugees, who are Australia’s responsibility, someone else misses out. Continuing damage This is Australia’s second go at offshore processing. Its first iteration, the “Pacific Solution”, lasted from 2001 until 2008. The second commenced in 2012 and continues. Offshore processing remains costly. Australian taxpayers have spent, on average, around <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Policy_Brief_11_Offshore_Processing.pdf#page=14&zoom=auto,-135,786" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A$1 billion per year</a> to maintain offshore processing since 2014. This is despite a dramatic drop in the number of people held in Nauru and PNG. At the peak in April 2014, Australia detained a total of 2,450 people. By December 2021, there were <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/operation-sovereign-borders-offshore-detention-statistics/2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">219 people remaining offshore in Nauru and PNG</a>. People transferred to Manus Island and Nauru suffered mandatory and indefinite detention in harsh conditions. Their treatment has been called out by the United Nations repeatedly as <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/united-nations-observations.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cruel and inhuman</a> and described by Amnesty International as <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018835563/amnesty-international-celebrates-deal-for-nz-to-take-refugees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">torture</a>. The abuse of men, women and children in offshore processing centres has been thoroughly documented in a <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/b743d9_e4413cb72e1646d8bd3e8a8c9a466950.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">communiqué</a> to the International Criminal Court, <a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/43063/documents/791#page=27&zoom=auto,-134,1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">parliamentary inquiries</a> and domestic legal challenges. Australia’s offshore processing sets a bad regional precedent for <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/20160913_Pathways_to_Protection.pdf#page=20&zoom=page-fit,-625,841" target="_blank" rel="noopener">refugee protection in Southeast Asia</a> and beyond. The policy objective of using cruelty as a deterrent to “stop the boats” and “save lives at sea” didn’t work. If boats didn’t arrive, this was due to Australia’s <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Policy_Brief_11_Offshore_Processing.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interception and turnback of boats at sea</a>. What needs to change? Refugee policy can be <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/principles-australian-refugee-policy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">principled</a> and driven by compassion while protecting borders and respecting international law. Australia should formally end offshore processing. The small number of people still held offshore in Nauru and PNG should be transferred back to Australia. Everyone who has been subject to the policy since 2012 who doesn’t have a permanent solution could be offered settlement in Australia. This <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/about_parliament/parliamentary_departments/parliamentary_library/pubs/bn/2012-2013/pacificsolution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">occurred</a> in the first iteration of offshore processing and could happen again. Money and lives can be saved.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180241/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/natasha-yacoub-1259499" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Natasha Yacoub</a>, International refugee lawyer and scholar, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/unsw-sydney-1414" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UNSW Sydney</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/aus-nz-refugee-deal-is-a-bandage-on-a-failed-policy-its-time-to-end-offshore-processing-180241" target="_blank" rel="noopener">original article</a>. Image: Getty Images

Legal

Cher offers up her own home to Ukrainian refugees

Singer, songwriter and actress Cher has taken to Twitter with an offer to take in Ukrainian refugees in her luxury home as Russia's invasion of the country continues. The award-winning superstar, aged 75, told how she wants to open up her home to "traumatised" families as the war rages on in Ukraine. She went on to say that “many people in my position need to step up to the plate”. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> I Would Like to Sponsor Ukrainian Families in My Home.They Would Be Safe & Cared For.MANY PEOPLE IN MY POSITION NEED TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE.IF I WAS ALONE OR WITH MY CHILDREN,& WE WERE TRAUMATIZED,I WOULD HOPE SOMEONE LIKE ME TO TAKE CARE OF US. — Cher (@cher) <a href="https://twitter.com/cher/status/1504654751702548482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2022</a></blockquote> "If you are seriously interested please let me know and perhaps we can help each other. Bless you," one person replied to her post and offer, adding alongside an emoji of the Ukrainian flag. "Thank you so much for raising visibility." Cher lives in her home in Malibu which she purchased in the early 1990s for around $1.5 million. The luxurious home features six bedrooms, seven bathrooms and boasts a very impressive 16,000 square footage. Images: Getty

Caring

Meet the Aussie mates that are helping refugees flee war-torn Ukraine

Two Australian friends have been praised online for travelling into war-torn Ukraine and helping families flee to Poland in their minivan. Daniel Russell and Roger Scott, who have been living in Poland for the last eight years, have been doing regular trips to the Ukrainian border to drive families to safety, while documenting their efforts online. Together the pair have made several trip into the dangerous war zone, and have helped over two dozen people to safety so far. "Hectic day. Rejected at the border for the first time... Collected a lovely mum and two kids freezing in the bleak lines and drove them over [the border] in three hours to a better world," Mr Russell wrote on Facebook. Daniel added that refugees can wait anywhere from six hours to 24 hours to find transport to another country, all while waiting out in the open of a harsh European winter. "Gave the kids a ball which distracted them for a short moment and maybe they briefly forgot about this horrific scene kids should never have to witness," he said. Daniel went on to say that after his last trip, the battery in his minivan died, and was anxious to make it back to help the next wave of refugees. He said, "Trying to get back over the border tomorrow and drop all the fundraiser equipment to the needy and pick up a some weary refugees when Roger arrives with a new chariot in the morning to rescue my sorry a**." The UNHCR estimates more than three million refugees have already fled Ukraine since Russia launched a brutal unprovoked invasion on February 24th. Mr Russell and Mr Scott have launched a <a href="https://chuffed.org/project/help-get-ukrainian-refugees-out-of-ukraine?fbclid=IwAR1DfErMrHAUWLCHZBA2WEwG2napoLaBhxJ6FsvMxBrWT9jc5C_WbvrqU5k" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">fundraising campaign</a> to buy vital supplies for civilians in Lviv in Ukraine's west who are fleeing to the border. "Our main purpose is to use the money gathered and deliver the needed items directly into the palms of the Ukrainians, we have total transparency and we have also delivered equipment to the Ukrainian Territorial Forces in Lviv." Image credits: Facebook

Caring

‘They’re really keen for us to do better than they did’: how refugee parents motivate their kids’ learning

Refugees struggle to find meaningful employment in Australia. In 2010, the <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/what-works-report/">Refugee Council of Australia </a> found people who came to Australia on refugee or humanitarian visas remained “the worst off of the migrant visa groups” when it came to employment. Around 12% were unemployed 18 months after arrival, compared to 8% of those who came on family visas. Education – and particularly opportunities for university education – gives people with a refugee background the <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-981-13-0420-0">means to significantly improve</a> their lives and socioeconomic status. People with refugee backgrounds hope for a better life for their children than the one they had, and they see education as crucial step in this journey. But we know little about the role refugee parents play in influencing their children’s educational and long-term success. My research focused on refugee families whose children performed well in school and university. We interviewed 50 refugee parents, children and their teachers to find out whether particular values of refugee families influenced the children educationally. We found parents who took the refugee journey to secure a good life for their family indirectly influenced their children to work hard like they did, and to strive for the kind of life denied to them. <h2>‘They wanted us to make something of ourselves’</h2> The parents who participated in the research varied in their levels of education – from no formal schooling to having a PhD. Most parents did the interview in their first language with either a professional interpreter, a bilingual school services officer or an adult child interpreting. Their cultural backgrounds varied widely too: interviewees included refugees from Afghanistan, Nepal, Rwanda, Syria, Vietnam and Bhutan. While all parents were first-generation refugees, the time their children had spent in Australia varied too: some had been born here, others came here as a child, while some arrived more recently as an adolescent. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437681/original/file-20211215-17-1gn2lix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437681/original/file-20211215-17-1gn2lix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Girl taking care of baby sister at refugee camp in Bangladesh." /></a> Refugee families have the shared understanding they can’t take their life in Australia for granted. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/coxs-bazar-bangladesh-october-10-2017-735839761" class="source">Shutterstock</a> The refugee parents generally had high hopes for the opportunities education could provide for their children because they were denied the right to it in their home country or in refugee camps. From the interviews with the children, we found the parents’ high values around education motivated their children to put more effort into learning. Interpreter for Afghanistan-born parent Ahmad told us: <blockquote> The main inspiration for [the parent] is that no one in his family had an opportunity to have a higher education. So, his children will be the first one in his family that […] will be educated enough […] with a higher qualification […] They can’t help them with their [child’s] learning, but the only thing that they provide is to care about them. They advise them about their education, how you can be successful through education […] </blockquote> The children, both at a younger age and as adults, were very aware of their parents’ impact on their ability to achieve well academically. But the parental motivation didn’t cross over into pressure. Alayna, who is 12 years old, was born in Iran to Hazara parents. She said she was confident her parents would still be proud of her chasing her own dreams, even if they didn’t align with theirs. <blockquote> My mum really wants me to be a doctor because doctor is a good job, and […] if I don’t choose to be a dentist or a doctor or a teacher (I can still be) a useful person for the world, they will be totally proud of me. </blockquote> Shipa in her 20s, born in Nepal to Bhutanese parents of Nepalese ethnicity, told us: <blockquote> A strong message from my family that I have to study (because) without education, there’s nothing […] but they also have trust (that) I can do it. It’s really positive and very exciting to be […] at the university as a refugee with uneducated parents […] I just wanted to be an educated girl. </blockquote> Ester, who is 18 years old, was born in Tanzania to Burundian parents. She said: <blockquote> They just wanted us to focus on school […] they’re really keen for us to do better than they did […] because we’ve got an opportunity to come to Australia […] they didn’t want us to waste it. They wanted us to […] make something of ourselves. </blockquote> <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5bZR7UDWVk8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <h2>Parents don’t need to be directly involved</h2> Refugee parents have barriers to getting <a href="https://www.education.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/towards-best-practice-parent-involvement.pdf?acsf_files_redirect">involved in their child’s education</a> in the same way local parents do. For instance, some local parents volunteer in learning activities or attend informal meetings about school-related issues. They may help with homework and regularly meet with their child’s teacher. Refugee parents often face cultural and language barriers when it comes to these ways of offering support. But they act as indirect influences in their children’s lives. They do so through raising a child in a family with a history of taking risks for a more secure and better life, and one that regularly communicates this shared history and the aspirations that come from it with their children. In this way, children are more likely to confidently pursue their own aspirations while valuing those of their parents. They are intrinsically self-motivated with a strong belief in their own abilities.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172308/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hannah-soong-161771">Hannah Soong</a>, Senior Lecturer and Socio-cultural researcher, UniSA Education Futures, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-australia-1180">University of South Australia</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/theyre-really-keen-for-us-to-do-better-than-they-did-how-refugee-parents-motivate-their-kids-learning-172308">original article</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Family & Pets

Mum of beloved Biloela family is one of Marie Claire’s ‘Women of the Year’

Priya Murugappan has been named one of <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.marieclaire.com.au/2021-marie-claire-women-of-the-year" target="_blank">Marie Claire’s Women of the Year</a>, alongside women like Grace Tame, Brittany Higgins, Ash Barty, and Biloela locals who have consistently been campaigning for the federal government to let Priya’s family return to the small Queensland town. Despite widespread support from the Australian public, the federal government has continued to refuse to let the family return to Biloela, a small town in Queensland located 120km from Gladstone. In <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/23/three-members-of-biloela-family-granted-year-long-visas-but-theyll-have-to-remain-in-perth" target="_blank">September</a>, only three members of the family (everyone except Tharnicaa, the youngest daughter) were granted year-long visas, forcing the family to remain in community detention in Perth rather than return home. This is despite the fact that both girls were born in Australia. <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWZj3VWv13j/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWZj3VWv13j/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Marie Claire Australia (@marieclaireau)</a> </div> </blockquote> The family had to be evacuated to Perth from Christmas Island, where they had previously been detained, because four-year-old Tharnicaa was found to be suffering from a severe blood infection. Without a visa, Tharnicaa is not allowed to live in the community, as the family had been doing in Biloela. Instead, the entire family must live in community detention. The Tamil family came to Australia claiming asylum on the grounds of persecution in their native Sri Lanka – Priya’s first fiancée being set on fire in front of her, for example. Priya sought asylum in Australia in 2013, while Nades sought it in 2012. The couple met in 2014, getting married that same year, before moving to Biloela and giving birth to six-year-old Kopika and four-year-old Tharnicaa. As their visas expired in March 2018, immigration officers stormed their home in a surprise dawn raid and sent to immigration detention on Christmas Island. Despite living in a bureaucratic limbo for three years, Priya’s interview with Marie Claire conveys her fierce and protective maternal instincts, with the mother of two telling the magazine, “I just think about keeping my daughters safe and my husband safe.” <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWSVhZZPpFQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CWSVhZZPpFQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by #Hometobilo (@bringthemhometobiloela)</a> </div> </blockquote> Of the Home to Bilo campaign, spearheaded by fellow residents of the small town, Priya said, “I felt overwhelmed. I’m so relieved and happy that there are people who really love and support us.” The family continue to fight in court for the right to remain in Australia, with Priya summarising their wish succinctly, saying, “All I want is to go back to Biloela, restart my life and live peacefully.”

Family & Pets

Dutton is turfing vulnerable refugees out onto the street mid-pandemic

Dutton and Alan Tudge have come to the decision that the current pandemic and downturn in the economic climate is a good time to start evicting asylum seekers and refugees out of their long-term accommodation, and cutting off their financial support. As the <a href="https://twitter.com/homesafewithus">@HomeSafeWithUs</a> coalition <a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO2009/S00048/hundreds-more-refugees-being-abandoned-to-homelessness.htm">outlines</a> last week a number of refugees and asylum seekers were notified of this coming change in circumstance, which could ultimately affect up to 845 individuals, including 284 children. Brought into play in <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/asylum-seekers-left-destitute-at-the-hands-of-dutton/">August 2017</a>, this policy involves notifying refugees and asylum seekers held in onshore community detention – with no right to work – that they will be turfed out of their housing in two weeks’ time, with their income support being cut off in three weeks. These refugees and asylum seekers were either brought to Australia from offshore immigration detention to undergo medical treatment prior to the commencement of Medevac in February 2019, or they’re part of the <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/legacy-caseload#:~:text=The%20'legacy%20caseload'%20refers%20to,2012%20and%201%20January%202014.">legacy caseload</a>, which are people who arrived by boat in either 2012 or 2013. Indeed, right now, many refugees and asylum seekers already in the community on temporary visas have lost their employment due to the COVID crisis, and they’re not eligible for pandemic income support. So, Dutton’s seen fit to throw these other community detainees into this current economic wasteland, with no real rental or employment record. Final departure visas “This is creating fear and insecurity. The hope is that some people will agree to go home,” explained @HomeSafeWithUs spokesperson Pamela Curr. “The trouble is that they can’t go home. Many people come from countries that wouldn’t accept them back.” “These people’s cases go back seven years and sometimes more,” she told <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/traffic/offences/drink-driving/">Sydney Criminal Lawyers</a>. “They’re required to go and find somewhere to live, when they’ve got no record of renting anything in Australia, no income and no rights to Centrelink.” As Curr tells it, community detention has been an ongoing legal limbo for these people, with the federal government not having decided what should happen to them. So, the state’s current solution is to push them out onto the street and see what happens. In a practical sense, this involves placing these “illegal maritime arrivals” on a <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/bridging-visa-e-050-051">bridging visa E (BVE)</a>, which grants working rights and can be valid for three to six months. Back in mid-2017, these visas were termed “final departure bridging E visas”, which clearly expressed government intentions. “Many of these refugees on bridging visas rely on community groups for housing and food to save them from total destitution,” Curr advised. And she added that the latest group transferred out of community detention “have little prospect of gaining employment in the COVID recession”. The true con artist Dutton announced the BVE policy on 28 August 2017, when he <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=DTWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailytelegraph.com.au%2Fnews%2Fnsw%2Fasylum-seeker-scammers-exploiting-medical-welfare%2Fnews-story%2F4f6d49023d01b2a93de6034da85ac48b&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21suffix=97-B">told the Daily Telegraph</a> that an initial 70 asylum seekers would have their income cut off within a fortnight and they’d also lose their long-term accommodation after three weeks. The home affairs minister spruiked the heartless policy using <a href="https://hotcopper.com.au/threads/labors-asylum-seeker-scammers.3639627/">his usual technique</a>: demonise the victim. According to Dutton, offshore detainees were running a medical scam to make their way to the mainland to live in rent-free accommodation and obtaining a better deal than pensioners. These people were permitted to come to Australia to seek treatment but were then using “tricky legal moves” to prevent being sent back to indefinite detention, Dutton claimed. “This con has been going on for years,” he added. Initially, the government only saw fit to throw single refugees out onto the streets, however <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/australian-government-is-causing-humanitarian-crisis/">by May the following year</a>, the department confirmed that a further 100 individuals were being served notices, which included families with children under 18 years of age. Cruel policy Ms Curr recalled that she’d been in contact with a couple of young single Somali women living in Brisbane, who were served with BVE documents. This gave them no choice but to sleep in a car that a friend was kind enough to park in the driveway of the house they were evicted from. The women were able to camp in the car for five nights, and when they needed to use a bathroom, a fellow asylum seeker still living in community detention allowed them to use hers. That was until the friend’s flatmate notified the authorities as to what was going on. “So, the immigration department told this woman that if she let her friends use the toilet or the shower, they would re-detain her,” the long-term refugee rights advocate continued. “That was the way it was being dealt with.” Release them into the community The @HomeSafeWithUs coalition is comprised of 20 refugee advocacy groups that have been organising accommodation to house another cohort of offshore detainees that were brought to Australia last year under the <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/everyone-is-fearful-an-interview-with-mantra-refugee-detainee-ismail-hussein/">now revoked Medevac laws</a>. The 180-odd men are being detained in Melbourne’s Mantra Hotel and Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point Central Hotel. However, with the onset of the pandemic the government has simply left them in this accommodation, without any means to properly protect themselves or room to socially distance. These detainees have compromised health, making them extra vulnerable to COVID-19. Whilst they’ve been languishing in the hotels, a staff member at each location has tested positive for the virus. And the department carried out thorough security checks on all of them before they came out. “What we propose doing is to offer the government an option other than the continued detention of those people who’ve been brought over from Nauru and Manus under Medevac,” Ms Curr made clear. People have offered beds to accommodate the refugees held in hotels and also those in centres. Prolonged and indefinite While much of the public is aware that the government has been detaining certain refugees and asylum seekers for over seven years now, Ms Curr explains that advocates have located some people in the onshore detention system that have been there for over a decade. And then there are others who have been positively assessed as refugees but are still detained in immigration centres. Curr explains that the Migration Act now permits the minister to have the final word on anyone’s release, regardless of any ruling from the tribunal or the court. “We want a fair process, not this business of shoving applications in the bottom draw and not processing them,” Ms Curr concluded. “People arrived here in 2013 to seek asylum, they’ve lodged an application and they haven’t even had an interview from the department.” Written by Paul Gregoire. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/dutton-is-turfing-vulnerable-refugees-out-onto-the-street-mid-pandemic/">Sydney Criminal Lawyers.</a>

Retirement Life

Volunteers are helping to change lives of refugees and migrants in NZ

Although Sandy Fraser migrated to New Zealand from South Africa almost 23 years ago, she still remembers the challenges in settling into a new home. “I have an understanding of the difficulties that we encountered when we moved here, bearing in mind it was much much easier for us because we've grown up with the same sort of social background,” she recalls. With that memory in the back of her mind, Sandy could only imagine the types of difficulties and challenges faced by refugees and new migrants arriving in New Zealand who have very little English experience. She’d heard from close friends about their rewarding experiences teaching English and with some extra time on her hands and a strong desire to give back to her country, Sandy looked at volunteering at <a href="http://www.englishlanguage.org.nz/" target="_blank">English Language Partners</a>, New Zealand’s largest organisation working with refugees and migrants. “I wanted to do something for people who've had it much tougher than my family did when we came to New Zealand,” Sandy tells Over60. English Language Partners’ mission is to help refugees and migrants learn English so they can pursue their aspirations and participate in all aspects of life in Aotearoa New Zealand struck a chord with Sandy. Sandy was paired up with Sahriani, an Indonesian woman with two young boys, for home lessons over 12 weeks (lesson they’ve already renewed for another three months). Sahriani shows off her new English skills, telling Over60, “I like study English but we need learn more, because my English no good.” But Sandy, who has affectionately nicknamed Sahriani “Ani”, quickly interjects, praising Ani’s eagerness to learn English and her steady improvements over the last three months. “Ani is very enthusiastic and very diligent. She does a lot of stuff on her own. I spend just over an hour with her on a weekly basis but she's very keen and does a lot on her own,” she says, adding, “I just hope she makes the sort of progress with me that she's expecting to make!” Asked about how she feels about improving her English, Ani replies, shyly but eagerly, “I feel good, I like it, I really like it. I think every week I get more confident.” After her lessons with Sandy, Ani does a lot of English-practising on her own, even getting as involved as she can in her seven-year-old son’s school reading. “Sometimes he [my son] helps me,” she chimes in. For Sandy, volunteering has been a wonderful and incredibly rewarding experience. “For me personally, I think it's easy for English-speaking people to settle in the country, because they don't sound any different – well accent excluded. You fit into the local scheme of things quite easily. For anybody who had no English, the society feels different, it's hard,” she says. “If I can make the slightest bit of different to helping Annie and her family feel settled in New Zealand, that's all I can really ask for. Because it's a brilliant country I am incredibly privileged to be living here and I want Ani to feel the same way.” Sandy not only relishes helping eager learners like Ani, but loves the chance to form friendships with our newest New Zealanders. “I find that I think about Ani a lot and I enjoy being with her and she has the most gorgeous little boy. He's a cutie pie. I just hope she's getting as much out of it as I am,” Sandy reveals. If you’re looking for a similar chance to change people’s lives, Sandy cannot speak highly enough of English Language Partners help and support. “English Language Partners are very thorough in their training and there's a lot of help and support from the office. If I have any doubts about what I am doing, they are always there and incredibly helpful,” says Sandy. “I am very pleased that there is that level of training and support.” If you are interested in volunteering or finding more information about English Language Partners, visit their website; <a href="http://www.englishlanguage.org.nz/" target="_blank">www.englishlanguage.org.nz</a>. Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/01/volunteering-on-a-floating-hospital-in-africa/">Volunteering on a floating hospital in Africa</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/12/pat-simmons-three-goals-for-retirement/">My three goals for retirement</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/12/daily-habit-can-add-years-to-your-life/">The daily habit that can add years to your life</a>

News

73-year-old grandma welcomes 10 refugees into home

Helen Fuller, a 73-year-old grandmother, has become an internet sensation after letting 10 refugees stay at her holiday home, after meeting one on a Melbourne train. <a href="http://www.mamamia.com.au/" target="_blank">Mamamia </a>reports Fuller had been travelling from Springvale to the City when she overheard a man, who happened to be a refugee from Afghanistan, telling another passenger how he hoped to take his family on a holiday outside Melbourne. To Fuller, who had been looking for an opportunity to share her holiday home with a needy family, this was just the opportunity she’d been waiting for. Fuller told <a href="http://www.mamamia.com.au/" target="_blank">Mamamia</a>, “I just thought, ‘Well, he’s the person. So I just leant over and said, ‘Excuse me, I hope you’ll forgive me, I just wondered if you would like to use our beach house for a week and take your family down there’.” The man, Abuzar Mazoori, who is a part-time student and youth worker, was initially a little cautious about taking Fuller up on her offer, but after some gentle prodding from the grandma he accepted and went to the beach house with his family. Fuller was glad she was able to give Mazoori and his family the authentic beach-house experience and has reportedly been inundated with positive feedback. Fuller told <a href="http://www.mamamia.com.au/" target="_blank">Mamamia</a>, “People say to me 'I would like to do something like that' or 'It's something we should try and do'. And I am a firm believer that it is the small things that make a difference. There's often something you can do to offer the hand of friendship. “If you do reach out to others, the small things do count.” Source: Mamamia What's the kindest act you've ever witnessed? Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/02/elderly-woman-gets-arrested-for-bucket-list/">Dutch woman in her 90s ticks “getting arrested” off bucket list</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/02/elderly-man-dancing-in-street/">Sweet elderly man dancing in the street will make your day</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/retirement-life/2017/02/bride-asks-92-year-old-grandmother-to-be-her-bridesmaid/">Bride asks 92-year-old grandmother to be her bridesmaid</a>

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