Help ensure children get the support they need

Support the call to ensure children and families seeking asylum have access to a social safety net during the COVID-19 pandemic this week — National Child Protection Week — by participating in the refugee rights movement’s No Child Left Behind’s National Week of Solidarity events.

There are currently more than 16,000 children and young people seeking asylum in Australia, and their families are currently ineligible for JobKeeper or JobSeeker. Some can’t even access Medicare. The No Child Left Behind campaign is calling for the expansion of a basic safety net for the duration of the pandemic and subsequent economic downturn, so vulnerable people aren’t left completely destitute and homeless.

Many schools and educators are at the frontline, and the refugee rights movement is hearing from many educators that their students seeking asylum are coming to school hungry, are without internet and laptops for remote learning and needing additional support from teachers.

There is a crisis looming and the Federal Government is ignoring it. No Child Left Behind supporters are especially concerned that thousands of people seeking asylum will become homeless when the moratorium on evictions is lifted at the end of September in most states. Campaign advocates are hearing of so many families seeking asylum in significant rental arrears, with no possible way of paying their rent.

Schools, childcare centres, universities and community groups have been invited to participate in the National Week of Solidarity. There are official online events, as well as resources for you to organise your own events.

The main ways to be involved in the National Week of Solidarity are:

For more information about the campaign and all the events, click here.

Federation and the Australian Education Union are signatories to the joint statement and endorse this campaign.

No Child Left Behind is a collaborative campaign for the refugee rights movement, coordinated by the Refugee Council of Australia.

Mandy Wells Multicultural Officer/Organiser