I, and many Australians, have been watching the human rights crisis unfold on Manus Island with horror. Refugees under the the “care” of the Australian government, who have been kept imprisoned in detention centres for years, were abandoned with no food, water, or medicine. PNG police have been committing acts of brutality and violence against them – as we, the Australian public, have been for years with our complicity.
“This is Peter Dutton,” one of the refugees says. “Peter Dutton has confirmed this police operation. The killing operation is under way, and you can see. It’s a killing operation, it’s not moving operation. It’s just the starting.” – The Saturday Paper
So we’ve decided to have a flash sale at Lilu & Bey, the little hobby I run with Beth where we sell handcrafted toys and prints, typically to raise money for the UNHCR (you can read more about how we got started here). This time, all proceeds will go directly to The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, who are advocating for the rights of these refugees.
You can purchase by contacting me here, on Lilu & Bey’s Instagram or Facebook page.
Prices (as seen above):
Cats $20
Birds on a wire $5 each or 3 for $10
Full size dolls $40 (less than half price!)
Scotty dogs $10
Ballerina $20
(Not inclusive of post)
Other things you can do
Ring your pollie’s offices and let them know you won’t be party to crimes against humanity. Just a short message saying you wish to register your protest about what is happening on Manus Island is fine (GetUp! have phone and email templates you can use).
- Malcolm Turnbull, PM: (02) 6277 7700
- Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs: (02) 6277 7500
- Peter Dutton, Minister for Immigration & Border Protection: (02) 6277 7860
- Bill Shorten, Opposition Leader: (02) 6277 4022
- Shayne Neuman, Shadow Minister for Immigration & Border Protection: (02) 6277 4755
- Your local federal MP
Donate directly to charities advocating for refugee rights:
- Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
- RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-detainees
- Gifts For Manus And Nauru (food and water / phone credit funds)
Join one of the many nationwide protests being held. You can keep up to date by following SOSManus, GetUp!, The Australian Refugee Network and Refugee Action Collective.
This is incredibly horrific. Where are these refugees from? Do they come to Australia and then get sent there or do they flee from (where?) to Manus Island?
Thank You for sharing so we can help!
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Australia has an offshore detention policy, whereby all refugees arriving by boat are detained indefinitely in detention centres on Papua New Guinea (Manus Island) and other countries/islands excised from the Australian migration zone (so we are not required to fulfil our legal obligations to them). There, no refugee claims are processed, and they are run in a manner which deprives the refugees of their individual liberties, comforts, education, enough food/water/medicine etc in the aim of forcing them to return to their home countries where their lives are at risk, or, in other cases, take their own lives to escape the torture.
It is a truly heinous policy in my opinion, and one that has been condemned on numerous occasions by the UN and other human rights bodies as being a violation of several international human rights laws (including the right to seeks asylum). Refugees typically arrive by boat from South East Asian countries, where they may have arrived from other countries further north seeking safety in Australia. In many SE Asians countries the protections offered refugees are minimal if non existent, hence why they seek safety and/or family already repatriated in Australia.
This has been policy since the 90s, but in the past we used to have a very generous heart towards refugees, taking in a great number of Vietnamese after the Vietnam War in a co-ordinated effort with other countries. What is most shameful to me is that it is a very popular policy among the Australian people who truly believe their way of life is under threat from “foreigners”.
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Oh my god, this is so absolutely horrific! I had no idea that this was happening, thank you so much for bringing this to light for those of us who were unaware.
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It’s just terrible, and really hasn’t been receiving the media coverage it deserves.
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That’s horrible! You’d think the media would be all over something like this. 😦
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