refugee council of australia annual report 2016/17 www.refugeecouncil.org.au1 Refugees Contribute President’s Report oday, Australia is more multicultural Nirary he recent years of drama and trauma for and families, and even to mobile phones — became than ever before. We live this reality in refugees both in Australia and internationally more restricted. With a change in the law, more Nirary Dacho is 29 years old. He the food we eat, the music we listen have compounded even further in 2016/17. people are now locked up more easily through the T fled Syria in 2015. He has a Masters T to and, most importantly, the people we cancellation of visas, creating a new class of people degree and more than eight years More people are seeking safety – from persecution, surround ourselves with. in indefinite detention. For those in the community experience in IT. In Syria, he worked conflict, violence and violations of human rights – than whose claims are increasingly being rejected in the Over the last century, many people have as a university lecturer and as a at any time since World War II. new unfair system, they are being left to destitution come to our shores seeking help from all manager at the Assyrian Human The crisis faced by tens of millions of people, from and exploitation. over the world. Each community has played Rights Network. South Sudan to Syria and Iraq and across to Myanmar, a part in making Australia what it is today. By contrast, Australia has now started the However, when he arrived in has continued to escalate. As the world committed resettlement of an additional 12,000 people displaced Of course, to be a refugee, a person is rightly Australia he applied for over 100 to the first ever Global Compact for refugees, in light by conflict in Syria and Iraq. The resettlement of judged on their need for protection, not on jobs without success. “The main of the growing need for a cooperative international people from Syria and Iraq was welcome, although the contribution they might make to their barrier was local experience”, he said. approach to displacement, we have seen former the unnecessarily drawn out process delayed the host county. However, the fact remains that leaders in the global community, such as the USA, UK Not one to give up easily, Nirary decided to do something opportunity to enable them to start the rebuilding of study after study has shown that people who and Australia, shrink from their responsibilities to the about it. their lives. Similarly, while the release of most children have come to Australia as refugees have most vulnerable people in the world. from detention in Australia is welcome, far too many made overwhelmingly positive contributions, He set up a website which connected skilled people from Back home, we have heard about – but have been children are still suffering on Nauru. economically as well as culturally. refugee backgrounds with companies offering internships largely prevented from seeing – the suffering of those or traineeships. Today, Nirary runs RefugeeTalent.com, a We, together with our members, worked with political The entrepreneurial spirit that characterises we have sent to Nauru and Papua New Guinea. burgeoning business matching refugees with jobs. leadership of state governments to win more than these communities is perhaps unsurprising, Thousands remain there as we approach the fifth year 25,000 TAFE places for people seeking asylum, and given the resilience and courage that they Not only is Nirary himself an example of refugee of their seemingly indefinite detention and breach of with the University sector to deliver over 100 individual have had to show in order to make it this far. entrepreneurship, but his efforts have made a difference to their most fundamental human rights. We have also scholarships to this group, who would otherwise be the lives of hundreds of people from refugee backgrounds, been left in the dark about the fate of the boats that This year we featured several stories of unable to continue their study due to the prohibitive enabling them to start rebuilding their lives and contributing to the Australian Government has pushed back to sea. contribution. costs. their new home. While the Australian Government continues to Australia has now wasted billions in detaining people emphasise it is ‘saving lives’ in its brutal turnback on Nauru and Manus Island, caused great damage Hani Abdile policy, their approach shines a light on Australia’s to many thousands of people, and been condemned At only 21 Hani Abdile has lived hypocrisy. Just 34 Rohingya refugees were resettled for our brutal policies by the international community. Contents through more than most of us. On in Australia in the three years to 2017. Of perhaps greatest concern is the way our approach her own and only 16, she fled her In a similarly punitive approach, the lives of tens of undermines a sustainable global approach to President’s Report 3 home country of Somalia, leaving thousands of people who arrived by boat seeking managing the current crisis of displacement. Our her parents and siblings behind. Global Trends 2017 4 our countries protection, remain in limbo. These Government’s insular fixation on closing Australia’s Her journey for asylum took her vulnerable people face a future living in the margins, borders fails to recognise the global nature of the Australia’s Refugee Program 5 via Indonesia to Australia, where unable to access further education and vulnerable to crisis and the global cooperation required to begin to she was placed in detention on Policy 6 exploitation. Others who had found safety in Australia resolve it. Christmas Island. were unable to become citizens, as the Australian Our Roles & Priorities 8 Human displacement is a challenge the entire world There, Hani began to write. She Government dragged their feet in deciding their must face together. With more than 65 million Our Organisation 9 began by writing about her life, citizenship applications, as the Federal Court found people displaced, 22.5 million of them refugees partly to improve her English skills. One day she posted one in a case brought with the support of the Refugee and 10 million stateless people across the globe, Our Achievements 10 of her poems on Facebook. It was found by Janet Galbraith, Council in December 2016. these people need their rights. There is not one the founder of Writing for Fences, a group of people who are, Refugee Alternatives 2017 11 Some things that were already bad got worse. For single solution. Despite this, the Refugee Council of or have been, in Australia’s immigration detention system. many refugees in Australia it became even harder Australia continues to advocate with and for refugee Refugee Week 2017 12 Today, Hani is making her mark on the Inner West Sydney to reunite with loved ones overseas and for some communities for fairer and more just policies for cultural scene as an event organiser and poet. Our Members 14 people who came more recently, it has now become people seeking protection.. Hani has now published a collection of poetry and prose, impossible. While we welcomed the release of most Financial Reports 18 There is still so more to do as we continue to face titled I Will Rise. children and families from detention and the closure challenges in 2017 and strive to provide clear actions of several detention centres, those kept locked up Find out more at writingthroughfences.org/ our governments and communities can take to ensure continued to be incarcerated for increasing periods Australia treats refugees humanely. of time in increasingly difficult conditions. Their 2 Front Cover Photo: James Alcock access to the outside world — to visitors, friends Phil Glendenning, President 3 Global Trends 2017 Australia’s Refugee Program he latest global refugee statistics from the remains small, despite a significant increase in n another difficult political year, the RCOA team The Minister also proposed draconian citizenship United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees resettlement arrivals to Australia in 2016. has been working to raise the issues brought to legislation requiring a university level of English, a (UNHCR)’s Global Trends report highlight the us by refugee communities and our members to longer waiting period and increased, unreviewable T Last year, 27,626 resettled refugees arrived in Australia, I need for Australia to increase support for refugees, improve the situation of refugees and people seeking powers for himself. Working with our membership, with the increase being due to the one-off commitment including those from eastern and central Africa. asylum. Our three campaign priorities this year reflect hundreds of submissions were made opposing the of 12,000 places for Syrian and Iraqi refugees and hundreds of conversations and consultations with reforms, and when the Government refused to publish Over the past two decades, the global population of delays in the processing of refugee applications which community members about some of their most the submissions, we did so on our website. forcibly displaced people has grown substantially from saw a previous reduction in arrivals. pressing concerns: family reunion; citizenship; and 33.9 million in 1997 to 65.6 million in 2016. There Led by the voices of those with direct experience, Australia assisted 34,193 refugees through access to education. are now 22.5 million refugees worldwide, an increase we held meetings with government, opposition resettlement or the onshore asylum process in 2016. in 1.2 million people from 2015. This includes 17.2 and crossbench members to outline the potential This represented 1.36% of the 2.5 million refugees Family Reunion million people under UNHCR’s mandate and 5.3 implications of such changes.