22 February 2005
EDMUND RICE CENTRE RENEWS PARTNERSHIP FOR A BETTER DEAL FOR REFUGEES
The Edmund Rice Centre, Oxfam and the Board of the A Just Australia campaign have recently re-affirmed their partnership in continuing to work for reforms to Australia’s refugee and asylum seeker policy and practice.
The decision is in response to a perceived hardening of the government’s attitude towards refugees in the post-election climate but encouraged by the renewed scrutiny of Australia’s detention regime in the light of the Cornelia Rau case and the apparent willingness of some within the government’s own ranks to publicly criticise the current policy.
In the meantime more than 200 people continue to languish in Baxter Detention Centre where one of them Peter Qasim is well into his seventh year of detention, despite having not committed any crime and being universally recognized as not being a threat to anyone. Following the High Court ruling last August that his continued detention was not in breach of Australian law, he now faces the prospect of being detained indefinitely - an absurd and tragic situation. Surely by itself this example points to the need for a complete reform of the current policy in regard to refugees and asylum seekers.
The issue of refugees and asylum seekers will be the major focus of the next Edmund Rice Schools Justice Seminar at St Bernards College Essendon on March 4th
The decision is in response to a perceived hardening of the government’s attitude towards refugees in the post-election climate but encouraged by the renewed scrutiny of Australia’s detention regime in the light of the Cornelia Rau case and the apparent willingness of some within the government’s own ranks to publicly criticise the current policy.
In the meantime more than 200 people continue to languish in Baxter Detention Centre where one of them Peter Qasim is well into his seventh year of detention, despite having not committed any crime and being universally recognized as not being a threat to anyone. Following the High Court ruling last August that his continued detention was not in breach of Australian law, he now faces the prospect of being detained indefinitely - an absurd and tragic situation. Surely by itself this example points to the need for a complete reform of the current policy in regard to refugees and asylum seekers.
The issue of refugees and asylum seekers will be the major focus of the next Edmund Rice Schools Justice Seminar at St Bernards College Essendon on March 4th
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