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JRS hosts another smash Winter Ball |
 It was – to borrow the words of one guest – the “the party-to-end-all-parties”. The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Winter Solstice Ball was again a smash hit, remembering the 38 million refugees and forcibly displaced people living in tragic poverty. And the night began with a bang – rock band Evermore entertaining the 420 guests. Young people – many of whom are graduates of St. Aloysius and Riverview – come back year-after-year not just to see old friends and hit the dance floor. They return knowing the answer to human misery is action, not despair. For those who came to this year’s JRS Ball, at Darling Harbour last Saturday June 21st, it was not a matter of whether we want to be involved in the ethical challenges of global poverty and the plight of refugees. Rather, rather we left with a deep sense of questioning what the depth of our own contribution will be. All of us know simply being at the JRS Winter Solstice Ball is contributing, less through the thousands of dollars raised, and more through seeing the measure of our worth in the wider context of international justice and humanity. Our Master of Ceremonies, Channel Nine Newsreader Michael Usher, reminded us the night was about pausing to reflect on those whose lives are a daily struggle at the same time acknowledging the splendid work of JRS spanning 28 years. The head of the JRS Australia, Fr David Holdcroft SJ, kept us informed of current projects. All of us were moved watching snapshots from throughout the world of JRS volunteers at work; fulfilling a mission to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and forcibly displaced people. Helping us consciously recognise that each refugee and asylum seeker is not just a mere statistic – but a fellow human being – was this year’s Guest of Honour, 2004 Young Australian of the Year, Hugh Evans. He spoke movingly about his work with refugees during the Boxing Day tsunami and how refugees, too, are instilled with human value. Money raised on the night is being funnelled to our asylum seeker homeless shelter project in Sydney’s King Cross as well as to a JRS project in Kenya. The JRS Winter Solstice Ball can hardly be claimed as a "big victory" in helping alleviate the human misery of refugees, but we know that simply engaging in the struggle is itself worth doing. And bringing that struggle to an end is not impossible. It requires a global revolution in thinking and practice, particularly in affluent countries like Australia. The challenge is not an easy one. But those of us attending the JRS Ball each year know it can be achieved, and know what a real party that would be!
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JRS calls for fairer system of asylum |
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On the occasion of refugee week, Jesuit Refugee Service Australia calls upon the Federal Government to develop a fairer system of refugee assessment for those claiming asylum in Australia. This can be achieved by extending the legal definition of refugee to encompass the full range of international human rights obligations to which Australia is party. JRS Australia works with asylum seekers in the community, many of whom are denied the right to work. Its director, Fr David Holdcroft SJ, says, “These people are placed in the ludicrous situation of expecting to fail every stage of refugee assessment before they can appeal directly to the minister. At this stage they often cannot work as a condition of their visa and have to rely completely on the kindness of others to survive. "They are often from refugee-like situations which do not qualify them for the status of refugee under the Refugee Convention. "Immigration Minister Chris Evans has said that he feels too much power is vested in his office to make these so-called discretionary decisions. The process is potentially unpredictable and hugely burdensome for everyone involved." While Australia is a signatory to instruments such as the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, there is no legal avenue which encompasses this when asylum seekers make claims, apart from direct appeal to the minister. "The present government has made several steps in the right direction with the abolition of the Pacific Solution and Temporary Protection Visas, and the review of the system of detention. It is important that it extends these reforms to all aspects of refugee policy," says Fr Holdcroft. "Australia has a proven capacity to absorb large numbers of refugees who have, as a result, made important contributions to the nation. Over 700 000 refugees have settled here since World War II. The time is opportune to ensure that our system is fair to all who seek protection here."
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 The newly-appointed director of Jesuit Refugee Service Australia, Sacha Bermudez-Goldman SJ, says he is looking forward to meeting the evolving needs of asylum seekers within Australia. In August he will take over from the current director, David Holdcroft SJ, who is headed for New England where he will undertake his tertianship. Sacha describes his appointment as a 'welcome surprise'. He is already familiar with this field of work, having worked as a volunteer with asylum seeker and refugee organisations in Sydney and Melbourne. He was also chaplain at the Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Melbourne for a year. He is privileged, he says, to have met and accompanied some extraordinary men and women through these experiences, and hopes this new role will allow him to continue support and advocate for people still seeking asylum. 'The circumstances and needs of asylum seekers and refugees, not only in Australia but also all over the world, are always evolving and changing, as it is the way people perceive those needs', says Sacha. 'There is a lot that I need to learn in order to carry out this new role, but I look forward to the challenge. I feel that this is true for many people as well. We all need to learn and understand more about the circumstances and causes behind the plight of asylum seekers and refugees, so that together we can help alleviate this ever increasing crisis. And the earlier we start learning, the better!'
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Order of Australia for Cambodia's JRS Director |
![]() T he director of Jesuit Refugee Services Cambodia, Sr Denise Coghlan, has been made a Member of the Order of Australia in Monday's Queen's Birthday Honours List, for her service to international humanitarian aid. A Sister of Mercy from Brisbane, Denise has spent more than a decade working with Cambodians, both in refugee camps and inside the country itself. A longtime campaigner against landmines and cluster munitions, she recently took part in the Dublin conference aimed at banning the manufacture of cluster bombs. 'This is a totally immoral form of behaviour to me', she said in an interview at the time with the National Catholic Reporter. The Thai Cambodian border, she said, 'was very, very heavily infested with landmines. [But] cluster bombs were dropped much earlier - 26 million cluster bombs were dropped on Cambodia in the 1970s during the Ho Chi Minh Trail.' These unexploded ordinances continue to destroy lives in Cambodia and neighbouring Laos. Anecdotal evidence shows that cluster bombs stay active for at least 38 years, 'and probably longer in some places', says Denise. 'Millions and millions of bomblets are left [in Laos].' The director of JRS Australia, David Holdcroft SJ, has welcomed the award. 'I was very happy to Denise's name in the honours list in what I call the extra-well deserved category', he says. 'I think Denise's work has always had a breadth where she's linking both direct work with refugees and also some of the causes of displacement like cluster munitions and landmines that she'd campaigned so successfully against. Her work has been so effective within the country and she's much-loved.'
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