Refugee Week in Australia is a great time to raise awareness about the issues affecting refugees around the world, and celebrate the positive and valuable contributions made by refugees to Australian society. Refugee Week coincides with World Refugee Day, a United Nations observance which occurs on June 20 every year.
The Focus for this years Refugee week is A World of Stories. Every refugee seeking safety brings their own story of why they left home, their journey and in some cases finding safety in Australia. The sharing of stories is an opportunity to not only remember and honor their journey but also to help the Australian community to better understand the courage and contribution that refugees make.
One of the main aims of Refugee Week is to educate the Australian public about who refugees are and why they have come to Australia, so in light of this the Library would like to share some of our great online resources:
- Chasing asylum: Australia’s treatment of refugees – This film examines the impact of Australia’s offshore detention policies, and features never before seen footage from inside offshore detention camps.
- From Boats to Businesses: The Remarkable Journey of Hazara Refugee Entrepreneurs in Adelaide – This report tells the story of Hazara refugee entrepreneurs in Adelaide. It is a story of hard work, determination, risk-taking and of overcoming what appear to be insurmountable barriers.
- Journal of Refugee Studies – Providing a forum for exploration of the complex problems of forced migration and national, regional and international responses, this journal covers all categories of forcibly displaced people.
- Asylum by boat: Origins of Australia’s refugee policy – This important eBook is driven by the question of how we moved from a humanitarian approach to refugees and resettlement, to the policies of mandatory detention and boat turn-backs.
- The Lhotsampa People of Bhutan : Resilience and Survival – This eBook provides insight into one of the world’s quietest human rights abuses. The story of the Lhotsampa people describes their journey of coping and resilience, incorporating qualitative research undertaken in the refugee camps in Nepal and resettlement areas in Australia and elsewhere in the world.
As always, if you have any problems accessing these resources, or would like more information on this topic, please contact us at the Library.