NEWS + EVENTS

REFUGEE WEEK 2008 - June 15-21
Theme: 'A Place to Call Home'

Refugee Week 2008 will be celebrated from Sunday, June 15 to Saturday, June 21, to coincide with World Refugee Day (June 20).

About our theme

The theme for Refugee Week in Australia is "A Place to Call Home". For World Refugee Day in 2008, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is globally promoting the theme of “refugee protection”, whether that’s shelter or fair treatment or the right to seek asylum - particularly as the world this year prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Australia’s Refugee Week theme of “A Place to Call Home” encourages people to think about the global themes of protection and human rights by focusing on the fundamental right to a secure place to call home. It encourages Australians to think about our common obligations to people who have no secure home, as well as to acknowledge the 700,000 refugees and humanitarian migrants over the past 60 years who have made Australia their home.

NSW Small Grants Program

Applications for the NSW Small Grants Program closed on April 30. To encourage community groups and organisations to hold events and functions during Refugee Week, the Refugee Council of Australia and the NSW Refugee Week Committee will be administering a limited number of small grants of $250 and $500 each. These grants are made possible through the generous support of the NSW Community Relations Commission and are are only available for activities in NSW.

Successful applicants will be notified by the 9 May, 2008.

Refugee Week 2008 Poster

The Refugee Week 2008 poster is now available! To view the poster click here.
A2 copies of the poster will be available for distribution in May. If you would like to order copies of the poster please contact us at info@refugeecouncil.org.au or call our Sydney office on (02) 9211 9333 or our Melbourne office on (03) 9348 2245

Tell us about your Refugee Week event

We would like to know what events you will be organising for refugee week so that we can advertise them on this website in our events calendar. Click here for a template you can fill in that tells us about your event and send to info@refugeecouncil.org.au
For more information about how organisations or individuals can support Refugee Week, contact our national office on (02) 9211 9333.

Refugee Week Resource Kit

Our sponsors and supporters

Major sponsors for Refugee Week 2008 are Victorian Multicultural Commission and AMES Victoria. The Refugee Council is also indebted to the NSW sponsors of Refugee Week offering financial and in-kind support, including NSW Community Relations Commission, ACL, AMES NSW, Leichhardt Council and Mallesons Stephen Jacques.

We would also like to thank and acknowledge the City of Sydney which has made Customs House available for the NSW Launch of Refugee Week this year.

Australian Refugee Film Festival

Call for film submissions
Entries close May 4
The festival will take place on June 19
For details about how to enter click here

Dates for Refugee Week 2009

Refugee Week 2009 will be held from Sunday, June 14 to Sunday, June 21, 2009. Each year, Refugee Week coincides with World Refugee Day, being held in the week which includes June 20.

Previous celebrations of Refugee Week

The theme of Refugee Week 2007 was “The Voices of Young Refugees". More than 130 events were held around Australia. To see how the week was celebrated, see our Refugee Week 2007 archive page.

In 2006, Refugee Week in NSW was launched by the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Councillor Clover Moore MP. To read her address, click here. Click here for the summary of 2006 NSW Refugee Week Launch. In Victoria, keynote speaker at the launch of 2006 Refugee Week was Julian Burnside QC. To read his address, click here. The 2006 theme for Refugee Week was "Journeys".