Free Migration Agents

Free services for eligible refugees, asylum seekers and humanitarian entrants to New South Wales, Australia

February 2015 refugee news

Global

  • This month the UNHCR, concerned about the spread of violence from north-east Nigeria into neighbouring Chad, Cameroon and Niger, requested urgent humanitarian access to refugees and internally displaced people. Read more here.
  • Sudan has started issuing identity cards as the number of South Sudanese refugees continue to increase in Sudan. This allows their identification and enables them to work in their former country. Read here.
  • Montagnard asylum seekers from Vietnam continued to cross into Cambodia this month, with the Cambodian authorities continuing to refer to them as ‘illegal’ foreigners. Read here.
  • According to UNHCR, more than 300 refugees from North Africa have lost their lives in 2 major maritime tragedies this month. Read more here and here.
  • Recently, Greece’s new Deputy Minister for Public Order, Giannis Panousis, announced that Greece is going to stop detaining migrants indefinitely. Read further.
  • A report commissioned by the International Labour Organisation, Unicef and Save the Children, sheds light on the large scale of exploitation faced by Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. Read more here.
  • A report by Amnesty International has highlighted a rise in attacks against asylum seekers and other minority groups in Bulgaria. Amnesty says that Bulgaria’s failure to adequately investigate and prosecute these crimes is fueling violence, fear and discrimination. Read the report here.
  • Afghan refugees in Turkey are homeless and helpeless. Read more here.

At home

  • The Australian Human Rights Commission’s report ‘Children in Immigration Detention’ reveals shocking details about the mental health impact of abuse of children in Australia’s detention centres. Read on here.
  • The Coalition is facing growing pressure to disclose the results of an investigation into allegations of sexual assault in the offshore immigration detention centre on Nauru. Read on.
  • The denial of a visa to a Pakistani refugee was deemed unlawful by the High Court of Australia. Read more here.
  • The 17th February 2015 marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Reza Barati at Manus Island Detention Centre. Read more here.
  • Considered a ‘dangerous terrorist’ by attorney general George Brandis because of previous convictions that have since been proven false and revoked, an Egyptian man and his family remain in indefinite detention in Villawood Detention Centre. Read more here.
  • PNG PM Peter O’Neill warns police against the use of ‘unacceptable excessive force’ after receiving a petition from Port Moresby residents, where police have been accused of killing two men. Read more here.
  • Government-contracted security officers have been investigated over a series of attacks on asylum seekers in Victoria’s Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre. Read on here.
  • Despite the High Court of Australia ruling that the detention of 157 asylum-seekers at sea was permitted under the Maritime Powers Act, the UNHCR states that Australia is bound by its international obligations. Read more here.