GRANDMOTHERS FOR REFUGEES HOST EVENT IN BOORLOO

In Boorloo, the event that marks 75 years since the Declaration of International Human Rights will take place at Bathers Beach Fremantle, tomorrow.

Fremantle Grandmothers for Refugees will gather with the Fremantle Refugee Rights Action Network and Fremantle Amnesty International to highlight the plight of refugees and asylum seekers in Australia.

Sue Slevin has been a member of Fremantle Grandmothers for Refugees for six months.  She believes that asylum seekers and refugees are entitled to the same rights and freedoms as all Australians and her father-in-law was a refugee from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

“He was a refugee from the USSR, she said and he became a country doctor for all of his life and raised an Architect, a School Principal and an Artist who have all contributed to our society.”

“ I think that these people who come to seek safety and protection from the various challenges that they meet in their life are entitled to the same rights and freedoms that I and my husband’s family have been able to experience.”

The Fremantle Grandmothers for refugees will set up an installation to represent refugees and asylum seekers, including hundreds who have spent many years in mandatory offshore detention. 

“We are going to set up, an awareness-raising installation. These are essentially little figures representing a number of refugees; each on their own individual categories. So, on-shore with temporary, protection visas. Those who are in mandatory detention and the like so that people who can come down can see the enormity of the plight of many who have suffered from a lack of opportunity.”

 The event at Bathers Beach in Fremantle starts at 3 pm.