 | |
| Formation | 1981 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Refugee support, advocacy and research |
| Headquarters | New South Wales |
CEO | Paul Power |
President | Jasmina Bajraktarevic-Hayward |
Chair | Maya Cranitch AM |
| Website | www |
The Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) is New South Wales-based umbrella not-for-profit for organisations that support and advocate for refugees and asylum seekers. As of 2022 [update] the president of RCOA is Jasmina Bajraktarevic-Hayward, the chair is Maya Cranitch AM and the CEO Paul Power.
The organisation was founded in November 1981 by Major-General Paul Cullen AC , CBE , DSO & Bar , ED , soon after he had been awarded the Nansen Medal by the UNHCR for his support of refugees through Austcare and Australian Jewish community organisations. [1] The foundation meeting was held on 19 November 1981 at the Australian Council of Churches (ACC) in Clarence Street, Sydney. Cullen was the first president, and other board members were Rev. Martin Chittleborough of the ACC (chair); Rex Hubbard of Save the Children Australia (vice-chair); Michael Carroll of Austcare (secretary/treasurer); Roger Walker of World Vision, Sid Bartsch of Lutheran World Federation and Ted Bacon of St Vincent de Paul Society. A public meeting was held the following day and the constitution ratified. There was liaison with the Regional Representative of UNHCR, Hugo Idoyaga, and Canberra Times editor Ian Mathews donated the newspaper's share of the UN Association of Australia Media Peace Award as the first donation to the Council. [2]
Upon request by the minister, on 25 November 1981 four members of the Council met the Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, Ian Macphee, the first of many meetings with government. [2]
A full-time secretariat was created in March 1985, and an executive officer (Luke Hardy) was appointed, with the position renamed executive director the following year, and Chief Executive Officer in 2006. Margaret Piper held the position from 1991 to 2005, with Paul Power taking over in 2006. The secretariat was first based at Austcare's Sydney office, later moving to its own offices in Glebe in 1999, which relocated to Surry Hills in 2006. [2]
RCOA was registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission in 2000. [3] [4]
It received some funding from the Commonwealth Government until May 2014, when the Abbott government cut off funding to the organisation entirely. [5] At the time, then Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said "It's not the government's view that taxpayers' funding should be there to support what is effectively an advocacy group". The move was condemned by the Australian Council of Social Service and others. [1]
RCOA is a not-for-profit non-governmental national organisation. Its funding comes from donations by the public and grants from government agencies and philanthropic bodies. [6] It acts as an umbrella body for organisations working with and for refugees and asylum seekers. [7]
As of 2022 [update] the President of RCOA is Jasmina Bajraktarevic-Hayward (since 2021 [8] ); the chair is Maya Cranitch AM (since 2019); and the organisation is led by CEO Paul Power (since 2006). [2] [9]
As of 2017 it had 190 institutional and 1,000 individual members. [10]
The Refugee Council of Australia advocates for refugee rights, including criticising level of support that the Australian Government provides to job-seeking refugees. [11] [12] [13]
Its 2010 publication What Works documented refugees' experiences and the challenges they faced while trying to enter the Australian employment market. [14]
In 2021, it was part of international efforts to resettle 152 refugees from immigration detention in Australia to Canada. [15] [16] [17] [18]
The Refugee Council of Australia has made submissions to the Australian Human Rights Commission about children in detention, [19] and its papers have also been used and cited by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. [20]
It publishes key statistics about refugees in Australia and around the world on its website, [21] and the results of its research are used by other organisation, such as the Kaldor Centre. [22] It also publishes extensive resources for asylum seekers and refugees and their supporters on its website. [23]
The Community Refugee Sponsorship Initiative (CRSI) is a joint project of RCOA, Amnesty International Australia, Save the Children Australia, Welcome to Australia, Rural Australians for Refugees and the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce. It is based on other initiatives around the world (notably Canada's Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program), whereby ordinary people or community groups in Australia create and pool funds and resources in order to support a refugee or refugee family to settle within the local community. [24]
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with over 18,879 staff working in 138 countries as of 2020.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers.
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a person who has lost the protection of their country of origin and who cannot or is unwilling to return there due to well-founded fear of persecution. Such a person may be called an asylum seeker until granted refugee status by the contracting state or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) if they formally make a claim for asylum.
An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who is making a claim to have been forcibly displaced and might have fled their home country because of war or other factors harming them or their family. If their case is accepted, they become considered a refugee. The terms asylum seeker, refugee and illegal immigrant are often confused.
The Scottish Refugee Council is a registered charity that provides advice and services to asylum seekers and refugees. The objective of the organisation is ‘building a better future with refugees in Scotland’.
The Pacific Solution is the name given to the government of Australia's policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention centres on island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland. Initially implemented from 2001 to 2007, it had bipartisan support from the Coalition and Labor opposition at the time. The Pacific Solution consisted of three central strategies:
Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were forced to flee their country as a result of wars, persecution, torture or genocide. The 1978 Saur Revolution followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion marked the first major wave of internal displacement and international migration to neighboring Iran and Pakistan; smaller numbers also went to India or to countries of the former Soviet Union. Between 1979 and 1992, more than 20% of Afghanistan's population fled the country as refugees. Following the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, many returned to Afghanistan, however many Afghans were again forced to flee during the civil war in the 90s. Over 6 million Afghan refugees were residing in Iran and Pakistan by 2000. Most refugees returned to Afghanistan following the 2001 United States invasion and overthrow of the Taliban regime. Between 2002 and 2012, 5.7 million refugees returned to Afghanistan, increasing the country's population by 25%.
The United States recognizes the right of asylum for individuals seeking protections from persecution, as specified by international and federal law. People who seek protection while outside the U.S. are termed refugees, while people who seek protection from inside the U.S. are termed asylum seekers. Those who are granted asylum are termed asylees.
Refugees in New Zealand have two main pathways for gaining protection in the country. Asylum seekers may seek protection after arrival in New Zealand. Refugees may also be resettled from offshore through New Zealand's Refugee Quota Programme. In 2017/18 a community sponsorship pathway was trialled, extended from 2021.Refugees who have been resettled can apply to sponsor relatives to join them, though those being sponsored need not be refugees themselves
Refugees in Hong Kong have formed historic waves arriving in the city due to wars in the region and Hong Kong's historical role as a trading and transit entrepôt. More recently those seeking asylum or protection based on torture claims are a fast growing part of the city's population, increasing since 2004 due to changes in the legal system for considering asylum and torture claims mandated by local courts.
The Gateway Protection Programme was a refugee resettlement scheme operated by the Government of the United Kingdom in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and co-funded by the European Union (EU), offering a legal route for a quota of UNHCR-identified refugees to be resettled in the UK. Following a proposal by the British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, in October 2001, the legal basis was established by the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and the programme itself launched in March 2004. The programme enjoyed broad support from the UK's main political parties.
Major General Paul Alfred Cullen, was a senior officer in the Australian Army. He joined the Militia in 1927 and saw active service throughout the Second World War, distinguishing himself as a fighting battalion commander on the Kokoda Track. Post war, he continued to serve in the Citizen Military Forces (CMF) and rose to the rank of major general as the CMF Member of the Military Board.
Afghan diaspora refers to the Afghan people that reside and work outside of Afghanistan. They include natives and citizens of Afghanistan who have immigrated to other countries. The majority of the diaspora has been formed by Afghan refugees since the start of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979; the largest numbers temporarily reside in Iran and Pakistan. As stateless refugees or asylum seekers, they are protected by the well-established non-refoulement principle and the U.N. Convention Against Torture. The ones having at least one American parent are further protected by United States laws.
Refugees of the Syrian Civil War are citizens and permanent residents of Syria who have fled the country throughout the Syrian Civil War. The pre-war population of the Syrian Arab Republic was estimated at 22 million (2017), including permanent residents. Of that number, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million (2016) as displaced persons, requiring humanitarian assistance. Of these, since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 more than six million (2016) were internally displaced, and around five million (2016) had crossed into other countries, seeking asylum or placed in Syrian refugee camps worldwide. It is often described as one of the largest refugee crises in history.
Asylum in Australia has been granted to many refugees since 1945, when half a million Europeans displaced by World War II were given asylum. Since then, there have been periodic waves of asylum seekers from South East Asia and the Middle East, with government policy and public opinion changing over the years.
Third country resettlement or refugee resettlement is, according to the UNHCR, one of three durable solutions for refugees who fled their home country. Resettled refugees have the right to reside long-term or permanent in the country of resettlement and may also have the right to become citizens of that country.
Voluntary return or voluntary repatriation is usually the return of an illegal immigrant or over-stayer, a rejected asylum seeker, a refugee or displaced person, or an unaccompanied minor; sometimes it is the emigration of a second-generation immigrant who makes an autonomous decision to return to their ethnic homeland when they are unable or unwilling to remain in the host country.
The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program (PSR) is a Canadian government initiative that allows for refugees to resettle in Canada with support and funding from private or joint government-private sponsorship. The government also offers semi-private sponsorship through the Blended Visa Office-Referred (BVOR) program, which connects private sponsors with pre-screened and pre-interviewed refugees.
Rahaf Mohammed is a Saudi refugee and author who was detained by Thai authorities on 5 January 2019 while transiting through Bangkok airport, en route from Kuwait to Australia.
As Indonesia did not sign the convention on the status of refugees and lacks any domestic legislations providing refugees rights, refugees in Indonesia do not have the right to employment, permanent residency or citizenship.