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In a motel’s car park in the balmy air of two-seasons tropical Port Moresby, I had an invigorating conversation with a man who asked me about snow. ‘Does it snow in Melbourne? I have not seen snow in six years. Where I am from there are seasons, and a foot of snow in the winter.’ Read more
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Last month I joined with Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) to speak at a series of public forums around the country to discuss the future for asylum seekers who remain in limbo in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. So far I have spoken in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart and Launceston, Adelaide, Perth and Benalla in Read more
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A Canadian artist’s sculpture has been unveiled in St. Peter’s Square by Pope Francis as part of a Mass for the World Day for Migrants and Refugees. “I wanted this artistic work here in St. Peter’s Square to remind everyone of the evangelical challenge of hospitality,” Francis said. The work in bronze and clay by Read more
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Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon has criticised a “racist and discriminatory” policy against refugees from Africa and the Middle East, urging the Government to “fix it and make it fair”. The “family link” policy, introduced in 2009, prevents refugees from Africa and the Middle East from resettling in New Zealand unless they have family already Read more
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) says it will consider whether to continue funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after a report due in October. Allegations were made in late July against senior members of the organisation, which AFP news agency reported involving “sexual Read more
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The devastating picture of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, lying face down in the muddy waters of the Rio Grande jolted the nation. We could no longer look away. The tragedy of a father and daughter from El Salvador drowning while he tried to save her from being swept away by Read more
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Europe could become ‘Muslim or African’ if migrants are not returned to their home countries, the Dalai Lama warns. The Dalai Lama (83), the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, has been living as a refugee in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959. In a recent interview with the BBC, he opened up about his views on Read more
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“The signs of meanness we see around us heighten our fear of ‘the other,’ the unknown, the marginalized, the foreigner,” and thus many migrants seeking a better life end up as recipients of this meanness, said Pope Francis in his recently released 2019 World Day of Migrants and Refugees message. The Holy Father warned that Read more
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Papua New Guinea’s (PNG’s) bishops are urging the government to do more to help resettle the country’s refugees and asylum seekers. Besides pushing for a definitive end to the detention of refugees on Manus Island, the bishops are also highlighting the plight of various groups in the country who have not gained refugee status. In Read more
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Sikka is a teacher at Henderson Primary School but spreads herself across the community as a volunteer, mentoring high school girls and teaching yoga classes to refugee women on Fridays. In between, she’s organising workshops to empower refugee and migrant women as the founder of Our Stories on Plate, an initiative to address the realities of Read more
