From: John MacDougall <apakabar@access.digex.net>
Subject: IN/ET: Christian Sanctuary Movement Documentation
/* Written 12:25 PM Nov 27, 1995 by gn:tapol in igc:reg.easttimor */
/* ---------- "Church sanctuary: full document" ---------- */
Here is the full statement issued by churches in Australia on 5 November,
setting up the Christian Sanctuary Network. A news report of the event
was posted at the time. We apologise for the delay at our end in posting
the full document relating to this important move to support East Timorese
refugees in Australia. TAPOL
5 November 1995
Dear Friends,
A group of Church organisations here in Australia have decided to offer
Church Sanctuary to the East Timorese. We released this statement to the
media today.
We are also holding a thirty day candlelight vigil - 24 hours a day outside
the Town Hall here in Sydney.
Warm regards,
Kath
THE CONGREGATIONS OF
Christians in Solidarity with East Timor, Australia
Congregation of Sisters of St Joseph, Australia
St. Mary's Church, Sth Brisbane, Qld -
St. Vincent de Paul Church, Redfern, NSW -
Ballarat Church, Victoria
Congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph Perthville, NSW
Young Christian Workers, Australia
Presentation Sisters Wagga Wagga, NSW
Mercy Foundation, NSW
Catholic Workers Movement, Brisbane, Qld
St. Ignatius Church, Richmond, Victoria
Sisters of Mercy Sisters, Parramatta, NSW
St. Joseph's House of Hospitality Adamstown, NSW
Congregation of Sisters of St Joseph, Lochinvar, NSW
Christian Centre for Social Action with Warehouse Church, Perth WA
Sisters of Mercy, Redfern, NSW
Sisters of Mercy, Erskinville, NSW
Forster-Tuncurry Catholic Social Justice Group - Forster, NSW
............ STAND BY EAST TIMORESE REFUGEE APPLICANTS AND STATE OUR BELIEF
THAT AUSTRALIA HAS A MORAL OBLIGATION TO THEM
In making this statement we take a clear stance against the government's
recommendation to the Refugee Review Tribunal to find that the 1300 East
Timorese applicants currently in Australia are Portuguese citizens and, as
such, cannot be given refugee status in Australia.
We also reject statements made by the Prime Minister, Mr Paul Keating, and
the Foreign Minister, Sen. Gareth Evans, and which are prejudicial to the
claims of these applicants.
REASONS:
These East Timorese people have fled a genocide which our Federal
Government has done little to prevent at diplomatic, economic and military
levels.
We remember the 40,000 people of East Timor (then a neutral country) who
were slain by Japanese forces while offering sanctuary to Australian troops
in World War II.
Community and cultural links and proximity to their country of origin
provide an obvious basis for the preference of East Timorese to seek
refugee status in Australia.
Given that the Australian Government has vehemently opposed Portugal's
claim to be able to represent the East Timorese in the International Court
of Justice, the protestation that these people are Portuguese citizens is
clearly hypocritical.
Even if Portugal were prevailed upon to offer citizenship, why would
Australia take such a singular stance against the East Timorese and force
them to go to Portugal?
OUR STAND:
We challenge our government in the name of a freedom sacred to all
Australians to reverse its policy against the East Timorese refugee
applicants.
We make this declaration in the knowledge that the offer of sanctuary is
firmly rooted in our Christian tradition and theology.
If all avenues of appeal should be exhausted, our group faces a higher
moral obligation to consider the offer of sanctuary to East Timorese
resisting deportation.
CHRISTIAN SANCTUARY NETWORK
"God is the refuge of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
For God will hide me in shelter in the day of trouble:
and conceal me under cover of the Lord's tent
setting me high upon a rock....
Psalm 27
The Christian Sanctuary Network consists of a group of people whose
concern has been heightened by recent incidences in East Timor and
decisions made by the Australian Government. We feel that an appropriate
Christian response is warranted.
The proposal of offering Christian Sanctuary simply acknowledges the proper
theological and historical implication that sanctuaries in Churches,
Convents, Monasteries and other sacred sites, be sanctuaries. That is
offer shelter, protection, food, clothing, transport. While it is a first
for Australia, Sanctuary of the Church is not a unique idea. It is offered
presently in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
In our view, the protection of the human rights of the displaced East
Timorese people creates a Christian imperative, namely, to provide
protection in circumstances where the grief and suffering associated with
flight is best minimised. It is inconsistent with Australia's legal
obligations and moral mission for refugees to bundle them off to another
part of the world where many of them are further separated from their
country and relatives in Australia. We do not propose to stand by and
allow such persons to be removed from Australia and sent to East Timor,
Indonesia or Portugal. Whilst no attempts will be made to conceal such
persons from discovery, we propose, in the spirit of solidarity and moral
obligation to offer sanctuary to these people
Those committed to offering Sanctuary in Australia include:
Christians in Solidarity with East Timor, Australia
Congregation of Sisters of St Joseph, Australia
St. Mary's Church, Sth Brisbane, Qld -
St. Vincent de Paul Church, Redfern, NSW -
Ballarat Church, Victoria
Congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph Perthville, NSW
Young Christian Workers, Australia
Presentation Sisters Wagga Wagga, NSW
Mercy Foundation, NSW
Catholic Workers Movement, Brisbane, Qld
St. Ignatius Church, Richmond, Victoria
Sisters of Mercy Sisters, Parramatta, NSW
St. Joseph's House of Hospitality Adamstown, NSW
Congregation of Sisters of St Joseph, Lochinvar, NSW
Christian Centre for Social Action with Warehouse Church, Perth WA
Sisters of Mercy, Redfern, NSW
Sisters of Mercy, Erskinville, NSW
Forster-Tuncurry Catholic Social Justice Group - Forster, NSW
For further information contact:
Sr. Kathleen O'Connor RSJ 02 356 3888 BH 02 360 1756AH
CHristians in Solidarity with East Timor e-mail ciset@uniyajrs.apana.org.au
____________________________________________________________________
>From Kath O'Connor <ciset@uniyajrs.apana.org.au> +61 2 356 3021 fax
at CISET/UNIYA (East Timor desk), Sydney. +61 2 356 3888 voice