19th July Offshore Processing Anniversary
19th July 2019 marks six years since former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that people seeking asylum, arriving by boat, will never be settled in Australia and be processed offshore.
After six years there have been many tragic consequences resulting from this policy including:
- 2 recent self-immolations
- 12 deaths
- Split families
- Many episodes of mental ill-health and acts of self harm
Three messages we would like to see resound throughout the Australian community on this anniversary are: #6YearsTooLong, #CloseManusCloseNauru or #SafeResettlementNow. You can share these messages on social media or at a rally.
We invite you to join the CAPSA network and many others around the country in action!
Join a rally:
The Australian Refugee Action Network (ARAN) has organised rallies around the country (click here to find details for one near you). Will you or your parish, workplace or school community stand in solidarity with people seeking asylum and refugees in PNG and Nauru and join in public, prayerful protest?
Organise a rally:
If there isn’t a rally near you, you can organise one! Print out the faces of the 12 men who have died, put out 12 empty pairs of shoes or chairs, and ask your parish social justice group, school community and other local group (like Rural Australians for Refugees) to join you. You could say a public prayer,stand in silence for 10 minutes while one person hands out the 19th July fact sheet.
Send a ‘message in a bottle’ of hope and protest:
Organise your workplace, school or parish to send both a ‘message in a bottle’ of hope to the people still in PNG and Nauru and also a message of protest to your local politician – for more details and resources click here. Send this message of hope (a mobile-phone photo of the note is fine!) to (info@capsa.org.au) or straight to ARAN (austrefugeenetwork@gmail.com) and we will arrange for the messages to be sent to the refugees and people seeking asylum in PNG and Nauru. We want them to know that many people in Australia who are thinking of them, and working for their safe resettlement.
Deliver your message of protest to your local MP’s office in a large bottle or jar, or send a photo of them to CAPSA and we will collate and send them to key political decision makers.
What has happened with Australia’s offshore processing?
- 3,127 people have been sent to PNG and Nauru since 19th July 2013
- There are approximately 800 people who are left living in limbo in PNG and Nauru.
- Over 1250 people over the past six years have been transferred to Australia for medical reasons (either treatment or accompanying someone who requires treatment).
- There have been over 508 resettled in the US, and some others in Europe or Asia. However many who have been found refugees, but rejected by the USA are still languishing in PNG and Nauru.
Together WE CAN make a difference. As always we love receiving photos of your actions! Please tell us about them!