A New Home for Refugees in Time for Christmas
49 African refugees will arrive in Australia over the next week, ready to enjoy their first Christmas in their new, permanent home.
They are the latest of just over 300 refugees to be resettled to Australia from the United Nation’s High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Abu Rakham camp in southern Sudan.
24 people will arrive in Tasmania tomorrow and 25 in Melbourne next Tuesday. A further group of 26 people, ranging in age from an infant to a 66 year old, arrived in Brisbane on 16th November. Other groups have been resettled to Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and Queensland.
‘For these people, Australia is providing a welcoming, new home,’ Minister Vanstone said.
‘These arrivals will take to 304 the number of refugees resettled in Australia from the Abu Rakham camp over the last six months, some of whom have lived in Abu Rakham since 1991. Few of the children have ever known any life outside a refugee camp. The majority have a rural background with little or no formal education.
‘Most are of Tigrinya or Amharic ethnicity and are mainly Coptic Christians. Australia offers them a future free from fear and persecution.
‘From the comparative luxury of our standard of living in Australia, it is perhaps hard to really comprehend the living conditions that these people have endured, some for many, many years. These are people in most desperate need of refugee assistance and Australia is answering their call.
‘All Australians can be proud of our generous and bipartisan Refugee and Humanitarian Program which takes 13 000 people each year, largely from offshore. The Program places Australia alongside the US and Canada as one of the top three permanent refugee resettlement countries in the world.
‘This wave of resettlements is part of Australia’s support for the UNHCR in its effort to close 16 of its 18 camps in the Sudan by the end of this year. The Canadian Government has agreed to the resettlement of about 100 refugees from Abu Rakham.’
The Minister said the Australian Government developed a specific strategy to help these groups of refugees become familiar with their new home and participate in Australian society as quickly as possible.
‘This has included cultural orientation training prior to departure, being escorted to resettlement destinations, intensive reception and case management services including links to essential services and English language training,’ Minister Vanstone said.
‘These refugees will be filling places under our refugee program, which this year has increased by 50% to provide 6000 places for refugees as part of the total Refugee and Humanitarian Program which provides for 13 000 places. This program costs Australian taxpayers approximately $500 million a year.’
