Greetings to all our valued readers,
Short and sweet is the theme of this correspondence, with just three items for your attention:
Karyn Clarke
Acting CEO
Free services for eligible refugees, asylum seekers and humanitarian entrants to New South Wales, Australia
Greetings to all our valued readers,
Short and sweet is the theme of this correspondence, with just three items for your attention:
Karyn Clarke
Acting CEO
ALL BRAND NEW:
$0.50 in every $1 raised helps a refugee fleeing from persecution. Refugees we help must be living in NSW and be seeking protection.
AFFMA is a registered charity that provides fee free legal assistance to refugees. We are the only office-based charity that is run 100% by professional pro bono lawyers, migration agents and passionate volunteers.
In the last 2 months alone, we have received over 20 legal assistance requests from refugees.
Help us to continue offering free assistance to refugees. Every $35 raised will save a life from persecution.
AFFMA is now fully online. Please fill one of the forms on this website to make your enquiry.
Please consider donating to AFFMA on behalf of your friends and relatives this year. While donations of any amount are greatly appreciated, a gift of $35 will pay the visa application fee for one refugee. Unlike most charitable organisations, AFFMA is run entirely by volunteers. Every cent of your donation will go to keeping our door open to the refugees that we serve. This year, give a refugee a chance for a new life in Australia.
Donations can be made directly to AFFMA through PayPal by accessing the following link:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-
WANTED: Volunteer Migration Agents
AFFMA is looking for volunteer migration agents who are willing to offer their services at AFFMA’s office in Newtown. AFFMA is an Approved Voluntary Organisation. Migration agents volunteering with us can claim one CPD point for every three hours of pro bono work.
Please email your expression of interest to the CEO <Recruitment@affma.org.au>
Do you have a vacancy you wish to advertise? AFFMA’s Members can advertise vacancies free of charge. Please email <Recruitment@affma.org.au>
Please consider donating to AFFMA on behalf of your friends and relatives this year. While donations of any amount are greatly appreciated, a gift of $35 will pay the visa application fee for one refugee. Unlike most charitable organisations, AFFMA is run entirely by volunteers. Every cent of your donation will go to keeping our door open to the refugees that we serve. This year, give a refugee a chance for a new life in Australia.
Donations can be made directly to AFFMA through PayPal by accessing the following link:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-
Please consider donating to AFFMA on behalf of your friends and relatives this year. While donations of any amount are greatly appreciated, a gift of $35 will pay the visa application fee for one refugee. Unlike most charitable organisations, AFFMA is run entirely by volunteers. Every cent of your donation will go to keeping our door open to the refugees that we serve. This year, give a refugee a chance for a new life in Australia.
Donations can be made directly to AFFMA through PayPal by accessing the following link:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=C9PXK25WLWR7J
As noted in the previous edition, US President Donald Trump announced a ban on Syrian refugees and nationals of “countries of concern,” such as Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, and Somalia.
Draconian refugee policies are leading to division and fear of the “other” in American communities and across the world more broadly. Many fears and concerns relating to security are founded on valid arguments, but border security cannot be used as an excuse to delegitimise refugees and asylum seekers and deny them their human rights.
How to change the bleak future regarding human rights
Adversity, hatred, and fear can be stomped out provided we can all come together and unite for a change that is rooted in a human rights discourse. Recognising the importance of equality, dignity, and freedom for all people will allow us to move toward a more just society.
Ariza Arif
BA (UNSW), LLB (Macquarie University) – student at law.
Many Jews who wished to escape persecution in Germany prior to World War II were denied entry to the United States. No one could imagine the horrors to which they would be subjected. Since then, the United States has held a commitment to protecting human rights over perceived national interests, particularly when it comes to people seeking asylum. With Donald Trump’s executive order, this commitment has been turned on its head.
The executive order, signed on January 27, banned almost all refugee admissions for 120 days, and banned refugees from Syria indefinitely. It also denied entry to nationals of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. If the governments of these countries could not provide proof that those wishing to enter the US would not be undermining national security, the ban would continue, even exceeding the 90 day period. Since many of the refugees who flee these countries are fleeing persecution from the government in question, it is unlikely that the government would have either the capacity or the motive to provide the required evidence to US authorities.
Trump’s executive order marked only the second time in US history that refugees have been banned from the country. The first was between September 11, 2001 and December 11, 2001. This ban created a huge backlog, and the refugee intake did not bounce back to previous rates for almost a decade. President Trump also decreased the refugee intake from 110,000 per year to 50,000 per year. With the 120 day wait and the backlog, it is unlikely that the intake would even meet this quota.
This executive order was blocked by the courts a few days later because the US Constitution prohibits discrimination based on religion. While Trump has claimed that the ban was a security measure and not a religious ban, a report from Homeland Security has recently been released showing that it was an ineffective way to make the nation safer because “country of citizenship is unlikely to be a reliable indicator of potential terrorist activity.” President Trump plans to redraft the order, this time excluding green card holders from this ban.
With the signing of the refugee ban, it looked as though the refugee settlement deal with Australia would be dead in the water. However, the executive order included provisions for “pre-existing international agreements.” In the now infamous phone call with Malcolm Turnbull, Trump stated that he would honour the deal made between Turnbull and Obama. He also made it very clear that he was unhappy with the deal, claiming the deal would kill him politically and that it was “the worst deal ever.” It is unclear why he decided to honour the deal, since there is no legal reason for him to honour a deal made under a past president.
As war and political turmoil drive an unprecedented number of people from their home countries, the United States is turning away from its previous record of helping those facing persecution. This will considerably decrease the number of refugees who are able to be resettled worldwide. Countries like Australia need to be the one to try to fill this void, rather than continuing to shirk our responsibilities with resettlement deals and oppressive detention camps.
Megan Sturges
BCom/BArts (Macquarie)