Refugees celebrate freedom in Perth
Atot and Lwal Amoly’s beaming smiles mask the violence, poverty, famine and disease which have plagued Sudan for centuries as they revel in their new-found freedom in Perth. The identical twins, who grew up in Sudan, spent four years in an Egyptian refugee camp before making the trip to WA with their mother, Monica, two years ago.

The West Australian, June 17, 2007

UN High Commissioner’s World Refugee Day mission
UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres will spend World Refugee Day on June 20 in Southern Sudan, where tens of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people are returning home after decades of conflict. Their repatriation is one of the few bright spots in a region otherwise known as an epicentre of major displacement.

Reliefweb/UNHCR, June 15, 2007

Palestinians long for battered camp, say it’s home
The United Nations school in the north Lebanon Beddawi camp is heaving with lice-infested, barefoot children and crams dozens of people in a single classroom. The school is where many Palestinian refugees sought shelter after fighting flared between Lebanese troops and al Qaeda-inspired militants in the nearby Nahr al-Bared camp, forcing them and thousands of others to flee. But a month on since the fighting erupted, many refugees say they wished they had never left Nahr al-Bared, home to about 40,000 refugees, despite how dangerous it is, due to the uncomfortable living conditions in Beddawi.

Reuters, June 17, 2007

“I wanted to scream out loud – in fact, I think I did – when I read that John Bolton said that the United States had no responsibility for the more than two million Iraqi refugees who have fled the incredible violence in their country… This is, quite simply, outrageous. The hellish situation refugees from Iraq find themselves in is unquestionably our responsibility and it is well beyond time we start doing something to help them. I’m here in Amman, where about 750,000 Iraqis refugees have fled the mind-numbing violence in Iraq, to get the stories from the refugees themselves about their daily lives.” Megan McKenna

The Huffington Post, June 14, 2007

The Refugee Council of Australia
The Refugee Council of Australia is a non-profit peak organisation which provides information on and advocacy for refugees and humanitarian entrants in Australia on behalf of its 90 organisational members and many individual members. Online resources include an advocacy help kit, position papers, publications and reports. The site also has a news and events section which outlines the various events happening across the country for Refugee Week (June 17-23, 2007).

www.refugeecouncil.org.au

ABC

“The Church encourages the ratification of the international legal instruments that aim to defend the rights of migrants, refugees and their families and, through its various Institutions and Associations, offers its advocacy that is becoming more and more necessary.”

Pope Benedict XVI, Message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees, 2007.

O Brother Jesus, who as a child was carried into exile,
remember all those who are deprived of their home or country,
who groan under the burden of anguish and sorrow,
enduring the burning heat of the sun,
the freezing cold of the sea,
or the humid heat of the forest,
searching for a place of refuge.
Cause these storms to cease, O Christ.
Move the hearts of those in power
that they may respect the men and women
whom you have created in your image;
that the grief of refugees may be turned to joy,
as when you led Moses and your people out of captivity.

African prayer for Refugees, Peace and Justice Support Network