Advocacy with UNHCR
Each year, representatives from RCOA attends key UNHCR meetings to put forward issues of concern to refugee communities in Australia and around the world.
The Australian Refugee Foundation
The Australian Refugee Foundation (ARF) was established in 1998 to procure and manage funds for the Refugee Council of Australia.
As the RCOA is primarily an independent advocacy and policy non-government organisation working with and for refugees and asylum seekers, it is important that it should have an independent source of funding. Otherwise its work might be viewed as serving sectional interests, or as reflecting a particular ideological or political standpoint.
The ARF is the source of such funding. It is actively seeking funds so that RCOA's door can remain open and that its work in promoting the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers can continue.
Patrons of the Australian Refugee Foundation are:
- Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO;
- The Right Hon. Sir Zelman Cowen AK, GCMG, GCVO; and
- The Right Hon. Malcolm Fraser, A.C., C.H.
Trustees, who ensure that it complies with the stringent legal requirements imposed on trust funds, are:
- John Gibson (Convenor)
- Maureen Adamson (Deputy Convenor)
- Mr Lionel Conyer
- Quang Luu AO
- Elektra Spathopoulos