WORKING WITH ASYLUM SEEKERS TO END HOMELESSNESS AND DESTITUTIONThe Asylum Seeker Project (ASP) works with asylum seekers who are lawfully awaiting an outcome on their refugee or humanitarian protection claim, but who face destitution without community support.
ASP provides housing, holistic professional and volunteer support, monthly cash relief, help with utilities bills, and other emergency help.
These children, women and men have been the poorest of the poor in Australia. No other group has been so barred from income. Many have been denied the right to work and have had no access to welfare payments and Medicare. Most ASP clients are in the latter stages of the application review process, so they have no access to Red Cross coordinated support schemes sometimes available in earlier stages. Most have suffered physical and/or emotional trauma in their home countries, and combinations of homelessness, ill-health, isolation and mental illness in Australia. Some have endured periods of detention.
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THE ASYLUM SEEKER PROJECT URGENTLY NEEDS DONATIONS AND GIFTS OF HOUSING THIS WINTER!!The impact of the global financial crisis on funds available from philanthropic trusts and donors has meant that ASP has not been able to house and help numbers of asylum seekers in urgent need.
FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT THE ASYLUM SEEKER PROJECT (CLICK HERE)
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GOT A MOMENT? VOTE FOR THE ASYLUM SEEKER PROJECTHelp us raise $60,000 for asylum seekers by voting in the Canon "Creative for a Cause" competition. There are two easy steps:
1. Go to Creative for a Cause Competition: ASP photo - Ravi teaching his children and vote for the photo shown there. The photo captures a moment in the life of a Sri Lankan asylum seeker family sheltered by the Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project. More
2. Send an email to everyone in your email address book asking them to do the same - vote and send, vote and send!! Voting closes on Friday July 10. Get text for your email THANKYOU !!
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NEW BOOK: "FINDING SHELTER"THE STORY OF AUSTRALIA'S POOREST PEOPLE
ORDER NOW! CALL 03 9326 8343. ONLY $20 (plus postage)
All proceeds will provide direct help for asylum seekers struggling to survive in the community. Finding Shelter is also available at: ASP, 2/579 Queensberry St, North Melbourne; Unichurch Books, 130 Little Collins St, Melbourne; and Readings, 309 Lygon ST, Carlton. (ASP thanks the Planet Wheeler Foundation for funding this publication!)
(June 2009) The Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project has launched a new book that captures the stories of asylum seekers in their own words, the issues and policies that defined ten years in Australian history, and the remarkable work of the Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project. Read more about Finding Shellter
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AWARDS
ASP Awarded the Human Rights Award for 2002
The ASP was awarded the 2002 Human Rights Award for the Community by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC). ASP was praised by the judges for the way in which it had not only directly assisted needy asylum seekers by providing support to them when they have nowhere else to go, but for also dealing with the root of the problem by delivering policy proposals to the government. The project had also demonstrated to the government that it is possible to systematically house asylum seekers when released from detention.
ASP nominated for the French Republic's Human Rights Award i
ASP was also nominated for the French Republic's Human Rights Award in 2003. The two focus themes for 2003 were; 1) Protecting women against all forms of violence and discrimination, and 2) Improving the situation of detainees. The prize was awarded in Paris by the French Prime Minister on Human Rights Day.
Our Mission Statement
To contribute to the development of a comprehensive framework of support and to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for asylum seekers without any entitlements in Victoria.
Annual Report 2008
For the latest Annual Report of the Asylum Seeker Project (2008) click on the link at top right above.
Research
The Asylum Seeker Project has completed a document which outlines minimum standards of care for asylum seekers in the community, including asylum seeker children released from detention. The paper argues for Bridging Visas with entitlements to health care, casework and income support. Click here to find out more
'Your project provided a new life to our souls and bodies that were like a wilted plant.'
An asylum seeker family released from detention into the care of ASP
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