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 In 1977, announcing its birth to the nation, the Uniting Church in Australia made a number of promises: We pledge ourselves to seek the correction of injustices wherever they occur. We will work for the eradication of poverty and racism within our society and beyond. We affirm the rights of all people to equal educational opportunities, adequate health care, freedom of speech, employment or dignity in unemployment if work is not available. We will oppose all forms of discrimination which infringe basic rights and freedoms. (Statement to the Nation) The Uniting Church made these promises because we believe that God calls us to live and work for justice and peace to build a reconciled world as a sign of the hope we have in the final reconciliation of all creation with God. The foundation statement of the Uniting Church, the Basis of Union, states that the Church's faith is built upon Jesus Christ, who 'announced the sovereign grace of God whereby the poor in spirit could receive God's love' and heralded 'the beginning of a new order of righteousness and love'. Twenty years after the first statement to the nation, out of concern for our country, we made another. We invited members of our Church, leaders, and other Australians to join us in the building of a just and inclusive nation. Such a country would be one which: - seeks the truth about its present and its past, knowing that this is essential for our health as a nation; - refuses to give power to those who call us away from the generosity, hospitality, fair-play and sense of community which we have honoured over the years; - affirms Australia as a multicultural society in which all its people, whatever their ethnic origin, are cherished and respected; - listens and responds to the needs of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in remote, rural and urban areas, both here and overseas; - stands firmly for human rights, even at a cost to itself, as a responsible member of the international community. In the Christian tradition of providing hospitality to strangers and expressing in word and deed God's compassion and love for all who are uprooted and dispossessed, the Uniting Church in Australia has been providing services to asylum seekers and refugees in the community and in detention for many years. Through our ministers, lay and ordained, who provide ministry to the asylum seekers in detention centres and through our work with asylum seekers and refugees settling into the community, we have first-hand knowledge of the consequences of Government policies. Our faith, our experiences, and our desire for a fair and just Australia resulted in a significant commitment being made by the Church, at the Ninth Assembly in July 2000, to continue to work with refugees and asylum seekers and to advocate for justice on their behalf. We acknowledged that the gospel calls us to welcome the stranger, we commended and celebrated the work that had been done to care for and support asylum seekers and refugees, and we called for the work to continue. We called on the Australian Government to amend its policies and practices to ensure that the dignity of asylum seekers and refugees is respected and to ensure that there is no discrimination in their treatment, to end the long periods of detention suffered by some asylum seekers, and to explore alternatives to mandatory detention. Almost three years later, in the face of increasing hostility toward asylum seekers and refugees, the Uniting Church is still calling on the Government to review and change its policies. We have called on the Government to release all child asylum seekers and their families into the Australian community, to end the 'Pacific Solution', to provide adequate support for asylum seekers and refugees in the community, and to abolish Temporary Protection Visas. In July 2002, the Uniting Church released a Policy Paper on Asylum Seekers, Refugees, and Humanitarian Entrants [download pdf] with key principles that we believe should underpin Australia's policies, legislation, and practices. These principles reflect the Church's belief in the inherent dignity of all people and our commitment to work for justice. The Uniting Church advocates for a just response to the needs of refugees that recognises Australia's responsibilities as a wealthy global citizen, upholds the human rights and safety of all people, is culturally sensitive, and is based on just and humane treatment, including non-discriminatory practices and accountable transparent processes. To the least of his society Jesus offered hope, hope in this world and eternal hope. The Uniting Church will continue to call for changes so that the least in our country, the marginalised and dispossessed, may discover the hope of a world that is just and true. back [to asylum seekers and refugees index page] forward [to biblical and theological reflection] |
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