On World Refugee Day in 2013, JRS Asia Pacific calls for renewed hospitality by host governments towards refugees and asylum seekers in order to respect refugee rights to sanctuary, sustenance, and education.
Since 2012, more than 1,800 Rohingya asylum seekers have sought shelter in Thailand from inter-communal violence in Myanmar; upwards of 19,500 people who initially sought asylum in Malaysia, took to the Indian Ocean to find sanctuary in Australia instead; and more than 7,200 new asylum seekers from 40 different countries (including Afghanistan, Iran and Sri Lanka) registered in Indonesia.
These are just a few examples of the vast numbers of people fleeing across international borders and waters to find safety from conflict and persecution.
In 2013, JRS around the world is celebrating World Refugee Day by raising public awareness and promoting the value of hospitality. In Rome, a 12-minute video illustrating the lives of refugees and the difficulties they face will be projected on the façade of the Chiesa del Gesù from June 18 to 21. Inside the church, a subset of photos on the experiences of Syrian and Congolese refugees will be exhibited until June 30.
JRS Thailand aims to bring urban refugee and asylum seeker families together on June 22 for a sports day of cricket, parlor games, badminton matches, and home-cooked picnic lunches. In another event on June 23, urban refugee women who have been participating in a handicraft-making support group will sell their fashionable jewelry and scarves to passersby, in order to supplement their meager livelihoods.
In Australia, JRS will launch their annual Refugee Week art exhibition, The View from Here, on June 19, at the Waverley Library in Sydney. Refugees and asylum seekers from places as diverse as Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa plumbed their deepest emotions to produce, on canvas, startling stories of displacement, courage and the restoration of hope.
JRS Indonesia in Yogyakarta will bring communities together by inviting local neighbours to a celebratory event with food and music from the refugees’ home countries. The Jesuit-run Kanisius College in Jakarta is holding a Refugee Week from June 17 to 21 June to remember displaced people worldwide during daily mass and prayers. JRS will provide them with resources such as the JRS booklet, the Refuge Newsletters and other materials for reflection.
All of the events aim to encourage sanctuary and sustenance in host countries.
In the face of adversity
Food nourishes
Shelter protects
Hospitality opens doors
Education rebuilds futures
Caption for main photo: Primary students attend class in Ban Mae Surin refugee camp in Thailand’s northern Mae Hong Son province (JRS Thailand/ Bea Moraras). The camp held a memorial service on June 18, two days before World Refugee Day, to commemorate the lives of community members, including students and teachers, lost in the tragic fire of March 2013.