Palm Sunday Walk for Justice for Refugees 2019: Refugee Advocacy Network

The Refugee Advocacy Network, in collaboration with many organisations, invites you to:

The Palm Sunday Walk for Justice for Refugees

Date: Sunday 14 April 2019        Time: 2pm
Location: The State Library Melbourne (Corner Swanston & Elizabeth Streets) 

Join with people from community groups, faith groups, unions, and political organisations on Palm Sunday to stand up for refugees.

In the run up to the federal election join the Palm Sunday Walk for Justice and help deliver the message to all politicians that we want a fair society that welcomes refugees.

It took over five years, but almost all children are now off Nauru. This is a result of the pressure of the refugee movement on the politicians who said they would never come here. Now we need to get everyone off Manus and Nauru.

Australia’s treatment of refugees continues to be inhumane and unjust:

• Over 1000 people on Nauru and Manus are still languishing offshore, with no prospects for permanent resettlement. The US deal will not provide for all of these people – they need to be brought to safety.
• The Australian Government is not offering permanent protection to the children and their families being brought here from Nauru – so their uncertainty continues, and the government is still refusing the New Zealand offer to provide permanent protection. Many of the children and families from Nauru are now held in detention centres here, or in community detention.
• Hundreds of people continue to be held in on-shore detention centres – some for more than 9 years
• Over 16,000 people are still on Bridging visas in the community, with uncertain futures
• The Government is continuing to deport people to danger, and thousands of people live with the threat of deportation. These include the Biloela family, and Huyen who may be indefinitely separated from her young baby, who have now be held in detention for many months
• Young people who have grown up here and have permanent residency are being held in detention, and some have been sent back to countries where they have never lived
• Thousands of people face destitution as the government withdraws income and housing support to vulnerable people, who have difficulty getting full time employment, having been denied the right to work for many years.
  Australia must honour its commitments under the Refugee Convention, embrace decency and fairness and provide permanent protection for refugees.
• Seeking asylum is a human right, but people seeking asylum by boat continue to be turned back; and UNHCR recognised refugees stuck in Indonesia for many years without the right to work, education, or health care are currently banned from coming to Australia.

Stand up for a fair and welcoming society by joining the Palm Sunday Walk for Justice for Refugees in 2019

You can help: Invite your friends, and share through your social media networks. Click here for more.