Sarah Stephen

  • Australia's refugee policy challenged

    In the week before the March 2 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, refugees; rights groups released a statement from refugees' rights groups, aimed at CHOGM delegates, titled "Time to end inhuman refugee policies". The

  • Bali conference fails to deal with real issues

    The Australia-Indonesia sponsored Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime held in Bali, February 27-28, failed to provide any real answers to the problems it was ostensibly

  • TURKEY: Campaign launched for refugees' rights

    On February 28 the International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) and the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees began a joint international campaign against the lack of rights for asylum seekers in Turkey. Currently,

  • The most disturbing lie of all

    Every asylum seeker has the right to a lawyer, don't they? That's what the law says. Section 256 of the 1958 Migration Act states: "Where a person is in immigration detention ... the person responsible for his or her immigration

  • Mandatory detention - a policy based on lies

    In order to defend the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, both Labor and Coalition governments have had to convince the Australian people that it is both necessary and justifiable to treat those who arrive in Australia without

  • 'I feel ashamed to be Australian'

    "I feel ashamed to be Australian", is the most frequently appearing comment on the online petition calling for a royal commission into the Australian government's treatment of refugees. More than 7000 people have signed on to the

  • Thousands converge on Canberra to defend refugees' rights

    BY SARAH STEPHEN& JOHN GAUCI CANBERRA — "If international law was to have penalties, and if Woomera detention centre was to be a receptacle for those who breached [it], our prime minister and immigration minister would be behind the razor wire",

  • Why they have to lie about refugees

    It's now common knowledge: the federal Coalition government lied to win the November 10 election. Prime Minister John Howard and his ministers continued to maintain, long after they knew it wasn't true, that in October some

  • Pressure grows for change on refugee detention policy

    Immigration minister Philip Ruddock lied when he said that processing of Woomera detainees' asylum claims was halted due to changed conditions in Afghanistan. On February 4, Marc Purcell, the executive director of the Catholic

  • Woomera detention centre: 'an atmosphere of despair'

    A five-day fact-finding mission to the Woomera detention centre, conducted by Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) officers, has produced a damning report. The February 6 report, produced as part of a

  • A web of solidarity with refugees

    There is a huge range of refugee solidarity web sites popping up every day, reflecting the broadening of support and sympathy for the plight of people trying to find a safe haven in Australia. Children out of Detention

  • Close the detention centres!

    As international outrage and Australian protests grow, the federal Coalition government is increasingly defensive about the horrific impact of it's refugee policy. The more people who join protests now, the greater the possibility