ERC Media: Climate change’s forced migration needs new solutions -- Thurs, 18th April 2013

Sydney, Thursday, 18th April 2013
Climate change’s forced migration needs new solutions

Edmund Rice Centre: ‘There is still time to plan and act to prevent a crisis-like scenario.’

The crisis responses necessary and available to refugees will not be an answer to future displacement caused by climate change, said Phil Glendenning - Director of the Edmund Rice Centre, and President of the Refugee Council of Australia - today.

“The issues associated with climate change displacement are complex and need to be taken very seriously by the international community. However, while those affected by climate change may need, and should receive, international assistance, they are not refugees under international law,” RCOA President Phil Glendenning said.

Responding to an article in the UK newspaper, The Guardian, Mr Glendenning said that he has not called for those affected by climate change to be recognised as a “new category of refugee”.

“Refugee is a legal term that comes with specific rights and obligations and only applies to those who are residing outside of their country of origin and who have a well-founded fear of persecution,” he said.

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ERC Media: Coalition's Asylum Seeker proposal rejects rule-of-law -- Thurs, 28th Feb 2013

Sydney: Edmund Rice Centre: ‘Classic example of lowest-common-denominator politicking.’

The Edmund Rice Centre this morning strongly criticised coalition proposals for special legal arrangements for asylum seekers who are living in the community whilst their refugee status is being determined.

“Australia as a nation has always believed in the rule of law,” said Edmund Rice Centre director, Phil Glendenning.

“The latest call by Coalition immigration spokesperson Scott Morrison is a classic example of ‘lowest-common-denominator politicking’.”

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Just Comment Vol 16 No 2: Palm oil -- the 'threat' in our shopping trolley

It is little known the extent to which palm oil is a part of our everyday diet. In our supermarkets, pharmacies and convenience shops it is almost impossible to purchase products free from palm oil. It is used in ice cream, chocolate, biscuits, crackers, chips, margarine, fruit juice, batters, soap, toothpaste, laundry powders, detergents, cosmetics, pet food. It has also been touted as a biofuel – although palm oil-based diesel actually increases greenhouse emissions.

In Colombia human rights advocates have demonstrated that the murders and violence committed by the Colombian Armed Forces' under their 'paramilitary strategy' whilst rationalised as 'depopulating' counter-insurgency work has the real aim of the taking of lands from peasant communities in fertile coastal plains in order to establish massive palm oil plantations to generate export dolllars for corrupt Colombian generals.

In Malaysia and Indonesia, where rainforests are being cleared, the impact on wildlife is catastrophic as the habitat of endangered species is being torn down, the livelihoods of indigenous communities destroyed, and seriously contributes to the warming of the planet. Palm-oil diesel was until recently hailed as a safe, renewable alternative to petroleum, but it has been found that the peat swamps in Indonesia and Malaysia – drained and burned to allow plantations of palm oil trees – released 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year into the atmosphere, or 8% of the world's fossil fuel emissions.

The unsustainable expansion of the palm oil industry may seem a remote problem, but its solution might be the shopping trolley. The consequences of its growth have not been grasped by the industry. Consumer pressure, industry leadership and political incentives are required to permanently place these tropical rainforests off limits.

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Just Comment Vol 16 No 1: Jeju Island - assault on island of peace

ERC Media: Australia's foreign aid diverted to on-shore asylum programs -- Wed 19th Dec 2012

The Edmund Rice Centre has rejected the Government’s decision to divert $375 million dollars of foreign aid - to be allocated to the living expenses of asylum seekers on-shore in Australia.

“The funding commitment to foreign aid was $5.2 billion, but under this change $375 million will now be diverted to cover the living costs of asylum seekers within Australia. So in real terms this is a cut of just over 7%.”

“The precedent set in this matter is of great concern. This measure has opened the door for future ‘reductions-by-slight-of-hand’ in the foreign aid budget – such that we may see other domestic expenditure items being ‘re-categorised’ as ‘foreign aid’,” he said.

“Australia’s aid budget must be for poverty eradication, not for resolving the Government’s political need to achieve a budget surplus. The poor of the world should not have to pay the price of this Government’s political ambition to produce a minimal surplus. Our aid budget is not for fixing Australia’s domestic political issues.”

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ERC Media: Ambition and urgency missing in UN Climate talks -- Wed 5th Dec 2012

Pacific Calling Partnership: ‘Each delay extinguishes more opportunities.’
MEDIA RELEASE
Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, 5th December 2012

Pacific climate advocate Maria Tiimon Chi-fang today called for stronger ambition and a greater sense of urgency from the international community in UN climate talks taking place in Doha, Qatar. Speaking from the UN’s COP18 Climate Summit in Doha, Qatar Ms Tiimon - Pacific Outreach Officer for the Edmund Rice Centre’s Pacific Calling Partnership initiative - is one of four delegates – including two from Tuvalu - sponsored to attend the talks by the Sydney-based initiative.

“The absence of any real sense of urgency and the lack of ambition in the negotiations here in Doha are an indictment on high-emissions governments globally,” she said.

“This lack of ambition is a way for governments of the economically strong countries to just turn their backs on the cultures whose lives they are effectively destroying with their emissions.”

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Just Comment Vol 15 No 3: Cocos Keeling Islands - at risk of military exploitation

Before March 2012, most Australians would not have heard of the Cocos-Keeling Islands, but America's military build-up in south-east Asia means that the use of the remote islands as a possible base for US surveillance aircraft has become more attractive.

Now reports suggest that the USA Pentagon is also viewing these islands as a possible new base for its unmanned aircraft or drones which have been used indiscriminately in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

And yet whilst talk of establishing a drone base on the Territory has concerned local people, the Coalition defense spokesperson has reportedly said he is ‘very keen that we welcome the Americans in any shape or form that they want to come and work with us in our region’.

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands consist of 27 coral islands. They have a land area of only 14 square kilometres and are 2,950 kilometres north-west of Perth and 3,700 kilometres west of Darwin in the Indian Ocean. But the location is increasingly valuable for other reasons. Though locals feel they are not really wanted, they know they are strategically significant.

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PCP & University of Wollongong -- Climate Change Workshop -- 17 Sep 2012

Citizens of the Pacific Island Nation of Kiribati live on the front line of climate change. Rising sea levels, saltwater intrusion and ocean acidification threaten their way of life, their culture and their nation’s future. Yet Kiribati seldom features in the mainstream media.

This workshop will explore the way Pacific Island nations have been portrayed in the media around climate change and will involve a discussion about how the people of Kiribati and other Pacific Island nations can be assisted to tell their stories in their own way and be heard by Australians and the global community

The workshop will feature speakers from Kiribati and UoW and is presented by the University of Wollongong, Faculty of Arts in conjunction with the Pacific Calling Partnership and the UoW Envirocollective.

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ERC Media: Expert Panel compromise endangers lives -- Tues, 14 Aug 2012

MEDIA RELEASE: Sydney 14th August, 2012

The Edmund Rice Centre welcomes the Expert Panel's recommendation to lift the humanitarian intake quota to 20,000 (to increase to 27,000 over next 5 years). This is a tacit recognition that there are serious conflicts around the world which force people to flee to escape death and persecution, in some of which conflicts Australia has played a very active role.

John Sweeney, coordinator of Research at ERC said today, "The Expert Panel's recommendations have as a central goal moving towards a truly integrated regional response to asylum seekers. According to UNHCR, there were more than 85000 people already recognised as refugees languishing in Malaysia at the end of 2011. And between July 2011 and April 2012, Australia had only accepted 1126 of these, the vast majority being Burmese nationals. Over the 18 months prior to that, Australia had only accepted 518. Over the last decade Australia has only averaged 60 visas a year for those refugees stuck in Indonesia." Mr Sweeney reflected.

"Australia is not in a position to criticise Malaysia and Indonesia unless it seriously attempts to address the backlog. Nor can Australia talk seriously about attempts to prevent people putting their lives at risk while there is no answer to those people already in the region who are already recognised to be fleeing death and persecution."

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PCP Reflection paper -- Climate Justice: Tuvalu -- Jill Finnane

Tuvalu struggles with an international profile of being tiny (nine coral atolls with a grand total of 25.6 sq km), remote (in the Pacific between Fiji and Kiribati), and largely unknown. Yet Tuvalu strives resolutely for international attention, refusing to lie down and slowly disappear as the rest of the world closes its eyes to the problems created by excessive global greenhouse gas emissions. Funafuti is the main island.

Tuvalu is one of the small island states whose story the Pacific Calling Partnership (PCP) has been telling to Australia and global community since 2006. In 2012, PCP decided to strengthen and expand its links with Tuvalu and gain a deeper understanding of Tuvaluan concerns.

PCP Co-ordinator Jill Finnane was sent for a week to immerse herself in the place, make contact with local people, learn some of the people’s experiences and concerns and to meet with members of the Tuvalu Climate Action Network. This is some of her experience...

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PCP Reflection paper -- Kiribati -- Marita McInerney

Reflections on recent visit to Kiribati by PCP's Marita McInerny...

It was with a great deal of anticipation and some trepidation that I arrived at the Sydney International Terminal at 4am on the 11th April 2012. The Kiribati visit that I was about to embark on was something that I had been thinking about for some time... only now was that trip able to became a reality.

Having worked as a volunteer at the Pacific Calling Partnership at the Edmund Rice Centre for a bit over three years now and seen many DVD’s, heard many stories and listened to Maria Tiimon and Kateia Kakai (indigenous I-Kiribati who work at PCP) talk of their homeland and the problems Kiribati and the I-Kiribati people face due to development issues and climate change – now the time was right for me to visit Kiribati and experience and observe for myself just what the reality was.

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ERC Media: Asylum boat tragedy requires bipartisanship

MEDIA RELEASE: Sydney, Friday, 22nd June 2012
The Edmund Rice Centre today called upon Federal politicians to forge a 'concrete and durable mechanism' for bipartisan cooperation on Australia's asylum policy.

"This boat disaster is a tragedy which can't fail to move the hearts of all Australians. We offer our deeply felt condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives," stated Edmund Rice Centre director, Phil Glendenning.

"Whilst now is not the time to apportion blame, what is required is an end to the deadlock that is paralysing our national capacity to sensibly and humanely resolve the asylum policy impasse."

"When our adversarial political system is applied to asylum policy it has sown intolerance, awakened old historic fears, and has too often resulted in events such as the tragedy the nation has witnessed today."

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ERC Media: Support call of Yolngu Elders to reject 'Stronger Futures' legislation

MEDIA RELEASE: Sydney, Monday 4th June, 2012

The Yolngu Nations Assembly recently called on the Senate not to pass the Federal Government’s Stronger Futures legislation, which will extend the Northern Territory intervention by up to a decade. Edmund Rice Centre strongly supports the call of the Yolngu Elders and their opposition to the Australian Government’s Stronger Futures Bills.

“At some point in our history we have to put an end to the flawed belief that decisions that impact most on the lives of Indigenous communities in northern Australia are best made by Government employees in Canberra rather than by the people themselves”, ERC Director Mr Phil Glendenning said.

“Rather than extending the Intervention, what is needed right now and more than ever is true engagement with Indigenous people as equals and partners, in a relationship based on principles of self-determination.” 

Read ERC's media release

Read the Yolngu Nations Assesmbly (Yolŋuw Makarr Dhuni) full statement

The effect of the 'Stronger Futures' legislation will be to extend the NT Intervention for ten more years! ERC urges support for the broad-based advocacy campaign calling on the Senate to reject the 'Stronger Futures' legislation. The legislation is expected to come before the Senate around 18th June 2012. Please call all Senators in your state or territory and ask them to vote against this legislation.

Download ERC Advocacy's contact-list for Australian Senators.

ERC Discussion Paper: Linda Burney on Constitutional Reform - 3rd May 2012

Constitutional Reform: A New Narrative for Australia

Speech given by Hon Linda Burney MP at Edmund Rice Gathering to mark the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Edmund Rice – St Patrick's College, Strathfield, NSW. 3rd May 2012.

I have been invited to talk tonight about Constitutional reform and the rightful place of the First Peoples within the Australian Constitution. Before I do that, given that today is about celebrating the life and enduring work of Edmund Rice, I would like to share with you some lessons I have learned and beliefs I have arrived at from my own life...

I would agree that Constitutional recognition is so fundamentally important – as the basis for our legal system and at the heart of our civil society - that we must address it. It is a basic part of reconciliation - an expression of respect for the important position First People should hold...
 
We will and are beginning to hear the argument such change to the Constitution would just be symbolic much in the same way some nay sayers spoke of the Apology. I put to you this evening that symbolism is fundamental to a country's identity. It is why every country town and suburb has a War Memorial. It is why poetry touches you. It is why the country exhaled a long breath when Kevin Rudd apologised. Just think what it is like for Aboriginal people - looking into your own country and not being able to see yourself. The reflection is blank. We must change the Constitution if for no other reason...

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ERC International Human Rights Immersion: Central America -- July 2012

A formation program for people wishing to develop new and profound perspectives to their existing frameworks and commitment to social justice & reconciliation. The program will emphasise the use of a rights-based approach in development work and in systemic advocacy for social justice.  
  
The immersion aims to foster engagement with the international partner organisations visited, and to bring about transformational education for justice. International immersion experiences develop a new and internalised sense of our world, and of structures of inequity within it, from the perspectives of the economically excluded.    
   
El Salvador & Guatemala: Within processes of post -conflict social reconciliation, few places provide better examples of the use of programs of ‘recovery of historic memory’ as human rights strategies to confront structural impunity and to build social justice.  In our visit to the region we will meet with people who have risked all in the struggle for social justice in these countries. These are people who continue to be willing to put their lives on the line for the construction of a better society.

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ERC Fact-sheet: 10 Essential Facts About Asylum Seekers

Over the past 10 years, advances have only been made in improving Australia's treatment of asylum seekers, once a critical mass is achieved of people with adequate command of the facts.

To this end the Edmund Rice Centre has a strong history of investing in the process of community education on many levels. An important part of this has been the publication of factsheets such as the widely distributed series Debunking the Myths on Asylum Seekers . 

In the current stage of the ongoing national debate on asylum policy ERC has produced another important factsheet: 10 Essential Facts About Asylum Seekers .

You can assist our efforts to achieve this much needed critical mass by downloading a copy of this fact-sheet and emailing it on to family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances. Already we have heard from some people who have made photocopies to distribute through local churches, schools, universities and community groups.

Download page

A Well-Founded Fear -- Nationally televised documentary on Asylum Seekers

www.erc.org.au/deport/petition

www.erc.org.au/donate