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International Migrants Day and International Day of Human Solidarity 2021
At Christmas, the larger story behind Jesus’ birth models the solidarity that is the proper response to migrants and other people who find themselves in need, writes ANDY HAMILTON SJ. It is a happy coincidence that International Migrants Day and the International Day of Human Solidarity are so closely linked to Christmas. Sponsors of the…
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The Afghanistan crisis: it’s time to give refugees a permanent home
It has been almost four months since the fall of Kabul and the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. We have witnessed the devastating impact this has had on the people of Afghanistan – those who are stranded there, those who are trying to escape and those who can only watch on from other countries like Australia.…
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Staff Profile – Nasser Yawari, Jobs Victoria Advocates Program
As hundreds of Afghan families fled captured Kabul in August and September, the diaspora community was waiting with open arms. One Melbourne-based community member, Nasser Yawari, works for our Jobs Victoria Advocates Program. Here, he tells how he coordinated within different Jesuit Social Services programs to link families with food and services – demonstrating what…
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Catholic communities urge Australian Government to do more to protect people from Afghanistan
Jesuit Social Services co-convenes with Jesuit Refugee Services the Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum (CAPSA), which has today reflected on the outcome of their recent federal electorate campaign – advocating for a more generous welcome for people fleeing the crisis in Afghanistan. Almost 600 leaders from Catholic communities across Australia have signed letters urging…
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Climate-induced displacement and COP26: an urgent issue of ecological justice
The effects of climate change will displace an estimated 216 million people by 2050. As COP26 draws to a close, our Centre for Just Places and CAPSA campaign argue for an urgent, interconnected response to the crisis of climate change-induced displacement. Climate change is already impacting every region of the world, in ways that are…
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Centre for Just Places builds climate resilience in the community sector
In seeking to build a more just, inclusive and resilient society, we must strengthen the community sector to respond to the inequitable impacts of climate change, writes Jesuit Social Services’ Ecological Justice Support Officer, JACK PIPER. The Centre for Just Places was established in January 2021, with seed funding from the Victorian Government and Gandel…
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World Suicide Prevention Day 2021
World Suicide Prevention Day is a time to be grateful for the growing movement to recognise people’s mental illness and desperation and to stand by people who have lost friends and relatives to suicide, writes ANDY HAMILTON SJ. Almost everyone you meet says that the period of Coronavirus has been stressful. They have variously fallen…
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17 August 2021 The Hon. Karen Andrews MP Minister for Home Affairs Parliament House Canberra, ACT 2600 Re: Protection for Afghan people seeking asylum and refugees on temporary visas in Australia Dear Minister, Today we write to you as the Co-Chairs of the Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum (CAPSA) about…
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17 August 2021 The Hon. Alex Hawke MP Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Parliament House Canberra, ACT 2600 Re: Protection for Afghan people seeking asylum and refugees on temporary visas in Australia Dear Minister, Today we write to you as the Co-Chairs of the Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum…
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12 August is designated International Youth Day by the United Nations. ANDY HAMILTON SJ calls us to focus on the impact our decisions in the present will have on the type of future we hand down to our young people in the decades to come. International Youth Day, like all international days, reminds us of…