Operation #NotForgotten
Operation #NotForgotten aims to provide safe resettlement via Canada Private Refugee sponsorship program for hundreds of desperate refugees that are effected by Australia’s Offshore Processing policy and have been detained on Papua New Guinea and Nauru Island since 2013. We want to demonstrate to them – and to the world – that they are NOT forgotten, that they deserve a future.
The Australian Offshore processing Policy ensured that no person who arrived in the country by boat seeking asylum could ever settle in Australia. Instead, anyone who arrived by boat is forcibly taken to offshore “Refugee Processing Centres”, such as the ones located on the remote Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus (Papua New Guinea). The government claims that the policy protects people who might otherwise undertake the hazardous boat crossing to Australia. However, since its inception, offshore processing has been designed to be a punitive measure and has been widely promoted by successive Australian governments as a deterrent and a way of securing Australia’s borders.
For several years, people sent to Manus Island (Papua New Guinea) and Nauru were held in detention facilities described by Amnesty International and others as “open air” prisons and concentration camps. Officially, the detention centres are closed but many of the refugees and asylum seekers remain in camp arrangements with restrictions on movement and little capacity to get on with their lives. Many are dealing with mental health issues due to their lengthy incarceration and their lack of hope for the future. Many have been medical evacuated to Australia for treatment, however have received very little in treatment or assistance and are in detention facilities in legal limbo.
For more information listen to The Guardian’s podcast episode on Australia’s asylum seeker policies, including the controversial practice of offshore processing and resettlement.
The refugees are from many countries including Iran, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Iraq. Some of them are stateless. They fled war, violence and political and ethnic persecution in their home countries.
Private Refugee Sponsorship to Canada can make a difference
Canada has the largest, longest established and most flexible private sponsorship program for refugees, allowing citizens and community groups to come together and sponsor refugees they nominate as needing resettlement. MOSAIC is a Sponsorship Agreement holder with the Canadian Government and receives a set number of Sponsorship spots per year. MOSAIC is dedicating currently all its sponsorship spots to the ONF project.
The Refugees are assisted upon their arrival in Canada, by MOSAIC, volunteers and supporters.
Refugees will have access to MOSAIC’s extensive settlement support programs and services as well as Refugees are assigned a support team to assist them as the settle into their new communities. Settlement support includes completing applications to get required documents, such as a Social Insurance Number, access medical services, and educational opportunities and assist them with finding employment, accommodation, and much, much more.
