ABOUT 600 leaders from Catholic communities across Australia have signed letters urging the Australian Government to step up protecting people from Afghanistan, as the country’s humanitarian and human rights crisis worsens.
The letters call on the Australian Government to provide permanent protection to refugees on temporary visas in Australia; speed up family reunions for families of people from Afghanistan in Australia; and offer 20,000 extra resettlement places for people from Afghanistan.
The letters, addressed to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and key government MPs, are signed by nuns, congregational leaders, priests, school principals, teachers, parish pastoral council members and social justice members, diocesan representatives, CEOs, and prominent local business people of Catholic faith.
Letters note that “people seeking asylum and refugees on temporary visas are in situations of particular vulnerability, having lived in limbo for up to ten years, often enduring protracted separation from loved ones”.
The letter-writing initiative is part of a larger national Catholic response to the Afghanistan crisis coordinated by the Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum, which is co-convened by the Jesuit Refugee Service Australia and Jesuit Social Services.
The response is in solidarity with the calls to action and priorities of the Afghanistan diaspora in Australia, as expressed by the Action For Afghanistan campaign.
It follows a call by Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge for the Australian Government “to be generous” in its response to the crisis.
A range of Catholic agencies are key organising partners in the Christians United for Afghanistan campaign, through which thousands of Christians and hundreds of local Churches have signed a petition calling for more compassion and leadership for people from Afghanistan.
“I remember the compassion that previous Australian Governments showed to refugees following the Vietnam War,” St Vincent De Paul Society, Sydney Harbour North president Peter Marshall said.
“Following the war in Afghanistan, the Australian Government has the capacity and the community support to take many more refugees from Afghanistan, but appears to lack the willingness and the spirit to mount a timely and compassionate response to the innocent victims of another war that Australia has participated in.”
Loreto Sister Denise Desmarchelier said: “Is it too much to hope that the Australian Government would offer an additional 20,000 places to Afghan asylum seekers to mirror Australia’s 20 years of armed presence in Afghanistan?”
