Positive developments in Australian asylum seeker policy

Posted on 30 July, 2008 by Jovan Maud

The Australian government has just announced a very positive change to the policy detaining asylum seekers.  According to the new policy, detention of asylum seekers will no longer be mandatory and will only apply to those arriving by boat or who are deemed to pose a threat to the community in some way or another.  [...]

Filed under: Human rights, Migration, Refugees | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

From refugees to ‘envirogees’?

Posted on 6 June, 2008 by Jovan Maud

Scott Thill at Alternet has published an article on the social impact of climate change.  The article goes as far as coining a new term: ‘envirogee’.  The implication seems to be that ‘refugee’ has a certain amount of baggage, being intrinsically associated with political persecution.  We are entering an age, mainly due to climate change, [...]

Filed under: Development, Engagement, Environment, Globalisation, Human rights, Migration, Nationalism, Refugees, war | Tagged: , | 6 Comments »

Tourism, culture, economies, and refugee status

Posted on 31 January, 2008 by llwynn

Via the BBC, this story about Burmese refugee Kayan women who are being denied the right to emigrate to New Zealand by Thai authorities who allegedly want to keep them in Thailand because the “long necked” Kayan women are a popular draw for tourists.  The UNHCR representative calls it “a human zoo” and urges a [...]

Filed under: Human rights, Indigenous Peoples, Refugees, Tourism | 1 Comment »

New film on Australian asylum seeker policy

Posted on 18 June, 2007 by Jovan Maud

I just received news of a new film on Australia’s policy of detaining asylum seekers.  Looks like it would be worth a watch.
Screenings to be happening in Melbourne and Perth (see below). I wonder if it will be coming to Sydney any time soon? Here is the film’s blurb:
In 2006, a group of [...]

Filed under: Film, Refugees | 3 Comments »

Underneath the Gaydar

Posted on 27 May, 2007 by Jovan Maud

A recent article in The Bulletin sheds some light about a little-considered subject (as far as I know): the relationship between sexuality and the treatment of refugees in Australia. The article itself is full of appalling puns and titillated tone, but the subject matter is still interesting. Not only does it illustrate some [...]

Filed under: Gender & Sexuality, Human rights, Refugees | 1 Comment »

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