Ten unaccompanied minors have been sent to the asylum seeker processing centre on Nauru. Advocates from Save the Children, the charity employed to look after the children, say the minors arrived last Sunday morning and will be held in a detention centre that houses family groups. Save the Children says research shows the longer the Read more
Over the past three-and-a-half years, the outback mining town of Leonora in Western Australia has been a temporary home for asylum seekers. Last month however, the Federal Government announced that Leonora’s detention centre – along with three other centres on Australia’s mainland – would close by the end of February. For Good Samaritan Sister, Annette Dever, a Read more
Radio New Zealand has reported that a doctor on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea has confirmed there was a “mass breakout” from an Australian detention centre for asylum seekers. An Australia-based refugee group had claimed some of the 13-hundred detainees escaped after a day of protests. Australia’s Department of Immigration would only say there Read more
Asylum-seekers transferred from Australia to Pacific island detention centres, including survivors of torture and trauma and unaccompanied children, are living in arbitrary detention and harsh physical conditions that do not meet international standards In his recent Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium Pope Francis calls for generosity towards migrant people. He says, “Migrants present a particular challenge Read more
They come seeking refuge, but when asylum seekers cross into the European Union, they often find little compassion. In Greece, they are held in squalid detention camps, while in Italy they often end up on the street. Here is what they face at entry points across the EU. They know they are putting their lives Read more
Tony Abbott says Nauru is a “pleasant island” that can accommodate up to 5000 asylum seekers. During the election campaign he told Neil Mitchell the ‘tent city’ asylum seeker policy would cost about $50 million to set up. Abbott said reports of $75 a week in handouts for asylum seekers was incorrect – “we’re looking Read more
Churches the Pacific region are concerned about plans to send people seeking asylum in Australia to Papua New Guinea for assessment and resettlement. In PNG, Christian leaders have asked their Prime Minister O’Neill to reconsider the refugee deal he signed with Australia. During a press conference last Wednesday in Port Moresby, the PNG Council of Read more
Internationally renowned Lyric Tenor Benjamin Makisi will be performing at Heythrop College on 24 August to raise funds for the work of Jesuit Relief Services-UK among refugees. Benjamin is currently based in London and his concert on 24 August will raising funds on behalf of the Day Centre for destitute asylum seekers run by the Read more
An agreement has now been reached with Nauru, which is similar to the one already concluded with Papua New Guinea – to take more asylum seekers who arrive by boat in Australia and if they are found to be genuine refugees they’ll be settled permanently in Nauru. Father Frank Brennan who is professor of law at Read more
The Pacific Council of Churches wants to see more consultation over the asylum seeker deal between Australia and Papua New Guinea. The regional church body says with the possible resettlement of asylum seekers from different countries in Papua New Guinea, a policy of assimilation will have to be looked at to help the newcomers fit Read more