Community Kouzina brings us powerful stories from people with refugee backgrounds, of new beginnings and maintaining strong cultural ties through cooking. “We learned on the way. After we left Iraq, we lived in Syria for seven and a half years and then Turkey for two and a half years. We learnt to keep starting over. …
Author Archives: Guest Blogger
Siggussū – Rohingyan Style crispy beef with Sajeda
Community Kouzina brings us powerful stories from people with refugee backgrounds, of new beginnings and maintaining strong cultural ties through cooking. “My mother and father were amazing cooks. Especially my father, he taught me so much”. Sajeda is of Rohingyan heritage, an ethnic minority in the predominantly Buddhist country of Burma where she was born. In …
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Close the offshore detention centres
Khadija McCarthy-Naidoo, who is in year 12 at Methodist Ladies’ College, is a winner in our Junior Blogging competition. Here she shares her heartfelt plea for the government to shut down the Manus and Nauru detention centres. “She cries all the time. She has cut herself with a razor on her chin, face, and chest. Every …
Refugees share the kind act that helped them most
While grand and public gestures go a long way in shining a light on our government’s inhumane treatment of people seeking asylum, small gestures count too. Here, three former refugees share the kindest things Australians did to make them feel welcome. “A policeman risked his job to let me phone my mum in Iraq” Surgeon …
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‘Our father is brave. We wait for him with hope in our hearts’
Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi was detained on 17 June 2012 and sentenced in 2014 to 10 years in prison for creating an online forum for public debate and accusations that he insulted Islam. He was also sentenced to a cruel and inhuman punishment of 1,000 lashes, and on 9 January 2015 he received the …
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The 7 best human rights films to watch this weekend
By Andrea Sophocleous Humans have been telling stories for tens of thousands of years. Today, one of our most powerful storytelling forms is film. Movies have the power to transport us into the world of the story. Whether it’s following the tenacious investigations of a pair of journalists into the corrupt conduct of a US …
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Our friends on Manus are living in great fear
Sister Jane Keogh is in daily communication with several of the young men that the Australian government has trapped on Manus Island. She visited Manus in April; here she relates the fear and danger that the men face daily. My young friends at the Manus Island detention centre are in utter fear right now, as …
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The day I realised I was contributing to child labour
By guest blogger Milly Stilinovic Milly Stilinovic, like the rest of us, goes about her daily routine in ignorance of the human rights violations she is inadvertently contributing to across the span of an average day. Until the penny drops. It’s 7:45 AM on a Monday. I have managed to oversleep my alarm and have …
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Turkey’s journalists are under siege – You can help them like you helped us
By Peter Greste and Mohamed Fahmy In prison, one of the greatest challenges is psychological. Even though conditions can be pretty terrible, as long as you have basic nutrition, clean water and shelter you can physically survive. But it is the sense of hopelessness and isolation that can be mentally crippling, and even fatal. So when …
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‘The big companies cashing in on cruelty of the vulnerable’: Dr Sid French
Dr Sid French is a structural engineer with long experience in the international infrastructure industry. He is also a member of Amnesty International Australia’s 20/20 Council and believes in the humane treatment of refugees. Franco Belgiorno-Nettis personified the Australia of the fair go. Having immigrated to Australia to escape poverty in early 1950s Italy, he …
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