On World Refugee Day 2023, APPRN is carrying out diverse activities to highlight the challenges and opportunities for refugees and other displaced people in our region, as part of our ongoing efforts to protect and promote the human rights and meaningful inclusion and participation of refugees, migrants and displaced people.
On 19 June, APRRN, as part of the Coalition of the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons (CRSP) held an event at the Foreign Correspondence Club Thailand and discussed arbitrary and indefinite detention of refugees, migrants and stateless persons, and provided recommendations to whoever will be in power under the new government of Thailand to stop arbitrary detention. In the event, APRRN in collaboration with Equal Asia Foundation showed its newly released film “It’s not always rainbows”, officially to launch in July 2023.
On 20 June, Co-Secretary General Hafsar Tameesuddin submitted a petition on behalf of APRRN to the New Zealand Parliament on the creation of a Rainbow Refugee subcategory within the annual refugee resettlement in New Zealand. Rainbow refugees are among some of the most at-risk people who have had to flee persecution. This risk is based, not only on the situation that compelled them to flee their country in the first place, but the unsuitable situations that they often find themselves in, in the countries where they first flee to. The petition was signed by more than 50 people and endorsed by Labour Party & Green Party MPs.
Hafsaar Tameesuddin took part in a World Refugee Day event hosted by Voice of Aroha and New Zealand Youth Refugee Council on, “Refugee Resettlement in NZ and its future implications” to discuss challenges and opportunities for collaboration for better outcomes of refugee resettlement and protection in New Zealand and beyond.