A Catholic defector granted asylum in New Zealand in 2018 says he wants New Zealanders to understand the importance of democratic freedom. When Dong Luobin, now 39, fled from Auckland’s Consulate for the People’s Republic of China nearly five years ago, he told NZ police he feared his Catholicism was putting his life in danger. Read more
An Iranian Christian was denied asylum in Great Britain after a government official in the Home Office used the Bible to argue that Christianity was violent. The man wrote in his request he had converted to Christianity because it is a peaceful faith. However, the Independent reports Britain’s Home Office’s refusal letter cited several biblical Read more
There was a very moving scene at the state funeral of Malcolm Fraser in March last year, when Vietnamese Australians thronged outside the church carrying placards which read: “You are forever in our hearts: farewell to our true champion of humanity: Malcolm Fraser.” I honour Fraser, but not because he opened our borders to fleeing Read more
Over the last few months, I have been completing a Masters in International Criminal Law at the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) in Turin, Italy. Over the last two weeks, our classes revolved around human rights — always a bit of a cringeworthy topic when one comes from Australia. Cringeworthy, because Read more
The New Zealand Government has not ruled out the possibility transferring any boat people reaching it shores to detention centres in third countries. It has rejected of the recommendation made by the United Nations Human Rights Council to rule out the transfer of asylum seekers to detention centers in third countries. This is one of 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
The Church in Australia said it can assist the government in the matter of asylum seekers, and welcomed the High Court’s permanent injunction against the deportation of two asylum seekers to Malaysia, the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office said in a statement. “The Government knows our views and it also knows of the work Read more