Our Refugee Casework Team helps provide asylum seekers with a chance at safety and freedom. Help us continue this vital work in 2012.
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Dear friend,
I recently visited Villawood detention centre where I met seven year old Amanthi*. Her family left Sri Lanka to escape bombings in their village. They fled for their lives.
Amanthi has spent the last three years (nearly half her childhood) imprisoned behind the fences of Australian detention centres. She is escorted to and from school by a guard and frisked on her return.
The sheer hopelessness experienced by Amanthi's family - and thousands of other asylum seekers imprisoned for years - is staggering. Amanthi sees her mother crying out of desperation. Others resort to self harm and even suicide.
You can help restore hope by joining our Freedom from fences appeal to fund our Refugee Casework Team in 2012. Working directly with families like Amanthi's, our caseworkers ensure asylum seekers are treated fairly and humanely, and more importantly let them know they are not alone.
Right now, over 4,000 people are imprisoned in Australian detention centres. While the government's plan to move families and individuals into the community is encouraging, we've seen similar promises go unfulfilled before. And we know that many people our Refugee Casework Team work with have no certainty of release.
The passionate people in our Casework team dedicate their time to helping hundreds of men, women and children every year. They meet with and interview asylum seekers, provide research to support applications for protection, help ensure that processing happens fairly and lobby the government on vulnerable cases.
This work is essential. For it to continue in 2012 we need your support.
Please help restore the hope of those in detention by joining our Freedom from fences appeal. We need to raise $87,000 to help fund our Refugee Casework Team in 2012.
Asylum seekers are desperate men, women and children who have fled war, torture and persecution. Together, we can give them a chance for a future of safety and freedom, and hope for a future outside the fences.
Thank you,
Claire Mallinson
National Director
Amnesty International Australia
PS. Friend, we urge you to let these families know they are not forgotten and not alone as they wait indefinitely in our detention centres. Please make a donation today to ensure our Refugee Casework Team can continue its vital work in 2012.
* Amanthi is a real girl currently living in an Australian detention centre. Her name and photo have been changed to protect her identity. |
