Colac Otway Shire is officially a refugee friendly region. Members of the refugee community including the Colac based representatives of the Sudanese community, Refugee Council of Australia, G21, Great South Coast and Diversitat gathered today to witness Mayor Lyn Russell…

The United Nations’ top human rights official believes Australia’s policy of offshore processing of asylum seekers and turning back boats is leading to a chain of human rights violations. The incoming UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al…

Britain is a still a class riven society lacking diversity, according to a new study by the UK’s Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. The report says the nation is still “deeply elitist” with private school educated students and Oxford…

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has hit back at UN criticism of Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers. The incoming UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, used his first speech in Geneva to censure the Abbott government’s policy…

Six centuries ago an Admiral named Zheng He commanded the Ming dynasty’s immense fleet of trading vessels on expeditions ranging as far west as India, Africa and the Red Sea and south as far as Thailand and Indonesia. The most…

Among refugees and migrants to Australia there are many who don’t even know domestic abuse is illegal — or how they can escape this cycle of violence.  Read more: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/09/03/video-tell-migrants-about-help-domestic-violence

A refugee has told how a fashion social enterprise helped her find her feet in Australia after she was kidnapped and close relatives killed by militias in her native Sudan. The charity called The Social Studio, which marks its fifth…

Australia could have vastly different population sizes over the coming decades depending on growth driving forces which include birth rates, life expectancy and immigration policy, a new analysis has found. The analysis also found that a ‘bigger Australia’ was not…

Arrested four times, brutally tortured and his career ruined – Iranian asylum seeker Nik Salehi is hoping he can rebuild his life in Australia. Although he is happy to be safe from the clutches of the Iranian intelligence service, his future is…

The Australian government’s plans to release children from immigration detention into the community are sparking concerns among support agencies. Read more: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/radio/program/pacific-beat/asylum-seeker-children-to-be-released-from-detention-in-australia/1358566

WHEN Nancy Nguyen was growing up she used to ask her mother why she risked her life on a refugee boat from Vietnam to Australia in 1975. Her mother’s husband had fought in the South Vietnamese army and, after the…

Children’s books published in Britain still don’t reflect the cultural diversity of the country’s children and would-be authors, according to leading children’s writer Malorie Blackman. Ms Blackman’s own best-known books, the Noughts and Crosses trilogy, tackle racism, teenage sex and…