Justice for Refugees SA seeks to educate South Australians on issues around refugees and asylum seekers
If you're wanting to start a conversation with a friend or family member about refugees and the need to change policy here are some resources that could be of interest:
- Our Stories has worked in collaboration with refugees to create four interactive stories. Go through David's here
- Watch a video and read about 'Surviving the Ocean of Depression', created in collaboration with Dulwich Centre here
- Across Land and Sea: Muzafar's true story of leaving Afghanistan in search of a better life in Australia. Explore his story here
There are also some interesting statistics about the economic cost of offshore detention in comparison to living in the community on a bridging visa on the Kaldor Centre's website
Awareness Raising
- Words that work (Asylum Seeker Resource Centre)
- There are alternatives: a handbook for preventing unnecessary immigration detention (Dr Robyn Sampson)
The latest news
- Refugee Council of Australia news updates
- Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law Weekly News Round Up
- Asylum Seeker Resource Centre news and updates
- The Guardian Australian immigration and asylum news updates
- United Nations Refugee Agency Australia for UNHCR
J4RSA Media Releases
- J4RSA-Media-Release-Afghan evacuees and refugees 20th August 2021
- Letter to universities regarding scholarships for refugees June 2021
- Latest Government decision forces refugee families to rely on charities, 21 October 2020
- Migration amendment will cut vital lifeline for most disadvantaged, 18 September 2020
- Justice for Refugees SA joins call on PM to ensure #NobodyLeftBehind during COVID-19, 11 May 2020
- Home affairs minister Dutton 'malicious and inhumane', 21 June 2019
For schools and teachers
Resources aimed at students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
- English as an additional language or dialect program (education.sa.gov)
- Teaching Refugees with Limited Formal Education
- Inclusive Teaching for Refugee Students
Resources for Refugee Awareness in Schools
- Teaching Ideas: Refugee Awareness
- Teaching about refugees (UNHCR)
- Lesson Plans and Workshop Activities for all ages (Refugee Week)
Hear the stories
- Chasing Asylum (Eva Orner, Harper Collins, 2016)
- The Undesirables: Inside Nauru (Mark Isaacs, Hardie Grant Books 2017)
- Asylum by Boat: Origins of Australia’s refugee policy (Claire Higgins, UNSW Press 2017)
- Offshore (Madeline Gleeson, UNSW Press, 2016)
- What is a refugee? (William Maley, Scribe Publications, 2016)
- Across the Seas: Australia’s Response to Refugees: a History (Klaus Neumann, Black Inc Books, 2015)
- Not Quite Australian: How Temporary Migration is Changing the Nation (Peter Mares, Text Publishing, 2016)
- Refugees: Why Seeking Asylum is Legal and Australia’s Policies are Not (Jane McAdam and Fiona Chong, New South Books, 2014)
- The People Smuggler: The True Story of Ali Jenabi (Robin de Crespigny, Penguin Books, 2012)
- Human Rights Overboard: Seeking Asylum in Australia (Linda Briskman, Susie Latham and Chris Goddard, Scribe Publications, 2008)
- Tampering with Asylum: A Universal Humanitarian Problem (Frank Brennan, Penguin Books, 2003)
- Borderline: Australia’s Treatment of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the Wake of Tampa (Peter Mares, University of New South Wales Press, 2002
- Support Aziz to speak out about life on Manus (Amnesty International)
Documentaries
- Chauka, Please Tell Us the Time (2017)
Directed by Behrouz Boochani and Arash Kamali Sarvestani
Behrouz Boochani, a journalist who was persecuted for his journalism in Iran, was forced into hiding and fled Iran in 2013. He was intercepted by Australian authorities while attempting a boat crossing from Indonesia to Australia and incarcerated in the Manus Island detention centre. Chauka, Please Tell Us the Time was shot byBoochani from inside the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea. - Chasing Asylum (2016)
Directed by Eva Orner
Chasing Asylum features never-before-seen footage from inside Australia’s offshore detention camps, revealing the personal impact of sending those in search of a safe home to languish in limbo. Chasing Asylum explores the mental, physical and fiscal consequences of Australia’s decision to lock away families in unsanitary conditions hidden from media scrutiny—destroying their lives under the pretext of saving them. - Cast from the Storm (2016)
Directed by David Mason
Cast from the Storm is an award-winning Australian documentary that tells a tender story of transformation, acceptance and belonging.
- Freedom Stories (2015)
Directed by Steve Thomas
Freedom Stories is a documentary-based project that brings together a collection of personal stories from former asylum seekers who sought asylum in Australia at a time of great political turmoil circa 2001, but who have long since dropped out of the media spotlight. - When Mary Met Mohammad (2013)
Directed by Heather Kirkpatrick
This film features Tasmania’s first detention centre through the eyes of local Christian woman and knitting club member, Mary, and Muslim-Afghan Hazara asylum seeker, Mohammad, who is detained inside the centre, as they connect through the gift of a knitted beanie. - Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea (2013)
Directed by Jessie Taylor
When she was 9 years old, Zainab’s parents made the heartbreaking decision to leave their home in northern Afghanistan. They set out on a journey across the globe, putting the fate of their family in the hands of strangers. - Leaky Boats (2011)
Directed by Victoria Midwinter-Pitt
Leaky Boats is a moving documentary about how the Australian Government used the refugee boats as a mechanism to boost its standing in the polls during the election to clinch a victory.