Newsroom
JRS staff and volunteers witness powerful stories every day. Some are picked up in the international media, and others aren't. In the newsroom you can read the most up to date news effecting refugees on local, regional and international levels.
Philippines: super typhoon survivors turning debris to income
Mangayao Langgoyo, Philippines, 5 February, 2012 – Just a few weeks ago, the Kamanga riveushed down so hard and swept away the soil where the community mosque, solar drier, and 50 houses stood and changed the landscape. Meanwhile, families continue to collect stones and carefully sort the rocks from pebbles to make a living and begin rebuilding.
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Thailand: Bangkok’s refugees show themselves through their photos
Bangkok, 3 February 2012 – Four white walls became the canvas Saturday for seven asylum seekers to tell their stories. And once those walls were filled with nearly 50 photos, viewers began to get an understanding of their daily lives in Bangkok.
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Philippines: flash flood kills thousands
Mindanao, 28 December 2011 – The flashflood came like a thief in the night engulfing houses and villages along the river and sweeping all into the sea. More than a thousand have died with another thousand more missing. Some bodies were found floating along the islands further up the northern coast of Mindanao. In Cagayan de Oro, unclaimed bodies were buried as the stench became unbearable and contamination a risk. A week after the disaster, there is still no running water in the city.
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Indonesia: reaching out
Aceh, 9 December, 2011 – JRS’ work in Aceh, Indonesia comes to a close. Don Doll, SJ, shares his photos of our work there.
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Asia Pacific: our year at JRS
Asia Pacific, 9 December 2011 – As 2011 comes to a close, instead of offering specific project updates, below is an update on our work regionally. New projects beginning, others closing down and some are changing direction. JRS will look different in 2012.
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Thailand: job opportunity in Mae Hong Son
Bangkok, 2 December 2011 – JRS Thailand is looking for a teacher trainer to work in Mae Hong Son's two refugee camps. The position involves working closely with our partner, the Karenni Education Department (KnED) to implement educational services and provide training for primary, secondary, vocational, special education, curriculum development and management. The primary goal of JRS support is to ensure the continuity of education while simultaneously developing the capacity and self-sufficiency of refugee educators.
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Australia: finding a home outside detention
Sydney, 29 November 2011 – It was something that had never been done in Australia before: the relocation of young, unaccompanied asylum seekers from immigration detention centres to community-based detention. But when the Australian government decided to trial the relatively radical policy towards the end of last year, JRS put up its hand, and became the first agency to receive young refugees into its care.
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Cambodia: what we decide here affects the lives of people
Phnom Penh, 28 November, 2011 – In front of delegates from more than 100 countries Sr Denise Coghlan, RSM, director of JRS Cambodia, delivered opening remarks to the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty. In her remarks, she observed the work she and her team have done to ban landmines around the world over the past 20 years and reminded nations of their international obligation to protect their people.
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Asia Pacific: NGOs urge Asia Pacific governments to end the immigration detention of children
Kuala Lumpur, 26 November 2011 – States in Asia Pacific are increasingly using to detention as a first resort to manage irregular migration, even where there are no valid security concerns, according to a statement of 50 NGOs from 18 countries in a meeting held in Malaysia on Thursday and Friday.
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Asia Pacific: partnership with Erasmus Mundus kicks off refugee higher level education project
Bangkok, 19 November 2011 – Refugees and asylum seekers in Asia Pacific will have the opportunity to start a third-level education course certified by European universities in 2012, with support from the Academic Relations between Asia and Europe (AREaS) scholarship.
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Cambodia: unexploded devices found near school
Battambang (Cambodia), 9 November 2011 – More than 100 unexploded devices have been found near a small school in northwestern Cambodia.
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International: JRS urges states to uphold standards established by the Convention on Cluster Munitions
Rome, 9 November 2011 – The Jesuit Refugee Service expresses concern about the forthcoming review of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). If the current protocol on cluster munitions is approved, it would sanction continued use of cluster munitions proven to cause unacceptable harm to civilians.
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Thailand: JRS response to the flood - a photo story
Bangkok, 08 November – Thailand has been experiencing its worst flood in decades. Two weeks ago the water hit Bangkok. While much of the city remains dry, plenty of the suburbs are underwater. Many of the people we serve are unable to leave Bangkok and JRS with other NGOs are trying to locate and assist those who remain in the city. Below is a reflection from Rufino Seva, JRS Urban Refugee Programme director about his work with flood relief.
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Thailand: flooding leaves thousands of migrants in limbo
Bangkok, 03 November 2011 – As the worst floods in a generation wreak havoc across Thailand, thousands of migrant workers fear losing their jobs and better prospects for the future.
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Papua New Guinea: bishop urges NGOs to highlight the plight of West Papuan refugees
Bangkok, 27 October 2011 – The Bishop of the Daru Kiunga Catholic diocese, Gilles Cote SMM, urged civil society groups to step up pressure on the Papua New Guinean government to improve the lives of West Papuan refugees and the local population living in the sparely populated southern western region bordering Indonesia.
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Thailand: building self-sufficiency, one community at a time
Thailand, 10 October, 2011 – The landlord in the field next door started burning sugar cane for the next planting season, and an ember caught fire on this land,” said U Maung Shwe who can no longer find work in construction since his tools were lost in a fire that destroyed four homes in the small Mae Ku community. “The homes are facing away from the fire, so by the time they noticed it, they had to run away.”
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Timor Leste: fishing for a future
Hera, Timor Leste, 29 Septmeber, 2011 – The JRS projects in Timor Leste might have a flowery future. With different communities coming up with livelihoods projects, some are opting to grow and sell flowers. Others are sewing, vegetable gardening, farming and fish raising.
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Asia Pacific: news briefs from the region
Asia Pacific, 10 September, 2011– Flooding in Mae Hong Son, Thailand; celebrations in Australia and stateless people around the region have been in the news in the past months.
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Thailand: JRS hiring for IDC and legal positions
The purpose of JRS’ program in the Immigration Detention Center is to provide practical assistance to detainees in the main detention center in Bangkok and a satellite center in a nearby province. It is unique in the type of services we provide and the access JRS has to assist the detainees. The Project Director is responsible for the medical clinic and the release program which assists detainees to return voluntarily to their home country.
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Asia Pacific: JRS Celebrates Afghanistan signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions
Beirut, Lebanon, 12 September 2011 – Afghanistan, which has witnessed the devastation cluster munitions cause, has become the 62nd state party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on the eve of an international conference on the ban.
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Australia: newsletter reveals the disappointment of JRS
Sydney, 1 September, 2011 – 2010 marked the 30th anniversary of JRS. If annual reports are meant to showcase the success of an organisation, and to make a case for its continued existence, then 2010 must be marked down as yet another year of disappointment for JRS: we continue to exist when we would rather not. As Fr Peter Balleis SJ, the Director of JRS International, put it during his visit to Australia to commemorate the anniversary,‘It would be better if JRS didn’t exist’.
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Australia: Tampa 10 years on, refugees considered worse than criminals
Bangkok, 28 August 2011 – The key consequence of the Tampa crisis was a "fundamental shift" in the way refugees were regarded in Australian society, said Jesuit Refugee Service Australia Director, Aloysious Mowe SJ.
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International: An urgent appeal for Somalis
Jesuit Mission and JRS Australia have pledged their support for a famine appeal launched by the Jesuit Province of East Africa and JRS East Africa. The Eastern Africa Province’s Famine Relief Project hopes to raise desperately needed funds to assist the victims of a famine that has been triggered by the worst drought in half a century in the Horn of Africa.
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International: JRS publishes booklet on advocacy
Rome, 15 July 2011 – The Jesuit Refugee Service has issued its latest publication demonstrating how the organisation is involved in the empowerment of forcibly displaced persons, assisting them to gain access to the rights to which they are entitled.
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News archive
July, 2011   Indonesia: Finding ways to release stress in immigration detention
Medan, 18 July, 2011 – After just one year, the aerobics sessions, just one of many activities of the JRS Indonesia Immigration Detention Centre Project, has grown to include nearly all detainees, IDC staff and JRS field workers.
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July, 2011   Thailand: Growing a better life on the border
Mae Sot, 6 July, 2011 – Rotting pumpkins, sugar molasses and maggots float in red sludge creating a mixture that’s both pungent and prosperous. Surprisingly, this rotting liquid is the secret to growing a strong garden. Well, that and good weather, of course.
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June, 2011   Cambodia: university recognises the achievements of JRS landmine activist
Phnom Penh, 7 June 2011 – A landmine activist of the Jesuit Refugee Service Cambodia in the northern province of Siem Reap is to be awarded an honorary doctorate from the Seattle University at its graduation ceremony next week.
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June, 2011   Australia: Labor worse than Howard on asylum seekers
Sydney, 02 June 2011 – The design of the Labor Government policy on asylum seekers is now clear. Its overriding aim is to stop asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat. The regional solution is not a solution for the problems faced by refugees but for an Australian political problem. The despatch to Malaysia and Manus Island of people who arrive by boat is about deterrence.
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May, 2011   Thailand: JRS Thailand’s annual meeting focuses on creating self-sufficiency and independence
Bangkok, 09 May 2011 – JRS Thailand met this May for their annual meeting, where the 54-strong team reflected on the year’s work. Staff members spoke about changes made to projects over the course of the year and what new ideas were going to be implemented in 2011.
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April, 2011   Asia Pacific: ceasefire agreement ends fighting on Thai-Cambodian border
Rome, 29 April 2011 – Following intense negotiations between the Cambodian and Thai authorities, a ceasefire agreement has finally been reached, putting an end to week-long fighting on the disputed border.
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April, 2011   International: Condemnation of Thai use of cluster munitions in Cambodia
Geneva, 6 April 2011 – Based on two separate on-site investigations, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) has concluded that Thailand used cluster munitions on Cambodian territory during the February 2011 border conflict. Thai officials confirmed the use of cluster munitions in a meeting with the CMC on 5 April.
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April, 2011   Philippines: Starting over
Mindanao, 6 April, 2011 – One JRS livelihoods project in the Philippines inspires hope to those who have been displaced for more than a decade. With funds for farming, some are able to start their lives over.
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April, 2011   Indonesia: Unable to rebuild
Yogyakarta, 6 April, 2011 – Six months after the initial eruption, Indonesia’s most active volcano still prevents people from returning to rebuild their homes and lives on its dangerous slopes. After the initial shock of more than 100,000 people losing their homes, JRS responded to the aftershock: cold lava.
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March, 2011   International: Number of asylum seekers almost halved in 10 years
Geneva, 28 March 2011 – New figures compiled by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) have shown a dramatic fall in the number of asylum seekers in industrialised countries over the last decade.
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March, 2011   Japan: A message of solidarity
Japan, 22 March, 2011 -- Almost 2 weeks have passed since the terrible earthquakes and Tsunami that have brought so much destruction and anxieties to various provinces of the North East of Japan, mainly Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.
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March, 2011   Thailand: Shan and Lahu children face risks in northern Thailand
Bangkok, 10 March 2011 – Growing up in the Shan area of Northern Thailand is not easy. Without legal papers, work is hard to find, so from birth many are resigned to a life of – at best – manual field labour, or – at worst – drug trafficking, prostitution or prison.
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March, 2011   Australia: In service of others
Sydney, March 11, 2011 -- "If you found yourself in the footsteps of an asylum seeker, how would you like to be treated yourselves? What kind of welcome would you like to receive?" This is the question asked of school students around Australia as they prepare to enter the annual Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Youth Award, an event held with the aim of raising awareness of the plight of refugees and stimulating debate around asylum seeker policy.
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March, 2011   Cambodia: NGOs concerned for the fate of asylum seekers
Phnom Penh, 28 February 2011– Following the closure of the centre managed by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on 15 February, human rights organisations have called on the Cambodian government to ensure it offers protection to asylum seekers.
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February, 2011   Thailand: Shan refugees eking out a living
Bangkok, 10 February 2011 – Despite being forced to flee their homeland, more than 130 Burmese refugee families live in a temporary shelter in the hills on the northern Thai border.
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February, 2011   Australia: Report criticises lack of safety measures for border surveillance
Sydney, 24 January 2010 – After finding the authorities had no advance warning of the arrival of boats of migrants and refugees in distress, an internal customs investigation has recommended the installation of land-based radar at Australia's remote Christmas Island.
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January, 2011   Thailand: Ahmadi asylum seekers trapped in detention
Bangkok, 18 January 2011 - Ahmadi asylum seekers from Pakistan have lost a great deal. Religious persecution in their country has driven them from their homes, family, and careers to a place that offers little in the way of protection. Despite facing arrest and detention they never lose their dignity and resilience.
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January, 2011   Thailand: Resettlement makes training teachers a challenege
Mae Hong Son, 18 December, 2010 -- With thousands of people resettled a year and new people arriving in the Mae Hong Son camps regularly, retaining and constantly training new staff are almost impossible tasks.
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January, 2011   Philippines: Struggle to be heard
Manila,13 January 2011 – If you are a person displaced by the Moro conflict in southern Philippines, chances are you not only struggle to survive but also to be heard.
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January, 2011   Australia: The new 'boat people'
Sydney, 12 January, 2011 - The Director of Jesuit Refugee Service International, Fr Peter Balleis SJ, has called on Australia to live up to its reputation as a tolerant and multi-cultural nation by showing compassion to boat people, who are "the most desperate and poor of all refugees."
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January, 2011   Australia: JRS Australia offers chapters to two books
How do we reconceptualise the definition of a refugee, and ascertain what services are needed in a world reconfigured by conflict and environmental degradation?
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January, 2011   Australia: JRS opens new refugee shelter
For the first time ever, Jesuit Refugee Service Australia will be able to accommodate entire refugee families after opening its latest shelter, a former boarding house in the Sydney beachside suburb of Manly.
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December, 2010   Cambodia: JRS pays tribute to much loved co-worker
Rome, 22 December 2010 – Former long-term JRS member and survivor of the Cambodian genocide, Sr Marie Jeanne Ath, a Sister of Providence, passed away peacefully in Nancy, close to her congregation's mother house at Portieux, northeastern France.
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December, 2010   Australia: Tragedy proves that refugees are human too
Sydney, 16 December 2010 – JRS Australia Director, Sacha Bermudez-Goldman SJ, says the Christmas Island tragedy in which at least 28 asylum seekers were killed yesterday should drive home the fact that refugees are human beings rather than inconvenient statistics, and that they risk their lives constantly in search of a safe future.
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December, 2010   Thailand: Influx of people fleeing violence in Burma continues
Bangkok, 16 December 2010 – The Thai-Burma border has become a site of international concern as fighting continues along the border in Karen state between the Burmese military and insurgent group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).
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December, 2010   Cambodia: One year without answers
Bangkok, 16 December 2010 – As the one-year anniversary approaches, JRS remembers the Uighur asylum seekers that we came to know well, and again we ask the question: what happened to them? What happened to the pregnant mother and her two children? What happened to the man who had already escaped years of torture at the hands of the Chinese authorities? What happened to each individual who was trying to start a new life in a safe country?
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December, 2010   International: landmine ban makes gains, but serious concerns remain
Geneva, 3 December 2010 – Dozens of countries reported impressive progress in banning antipersonnel mines, clearing mined areas, and assisting victims of the weapon during a week-long meeting of the 1997 landmine ban treaty in Geneva, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), of which JRS is a founding member, said today.
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November, 2010   Indonesia: JRS supports thousands displaced by volcano eruptions
Yogyakarta, 22 November 2010 – Eruptions of the volcano Mount Merapi led to the death of approximately 260 people and caused the displacement of nearly 400,000 others.
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November, 2010   Cambodia: Landmine kills 14 in the northwest
Washington DC, 18 November 2010 – A homemade truck ran over a landmine in Cambodia Tuesday killing 14 people – including a 6-month-old infant, police said. The incident occurred in Battambang province in northwestern Cambodia. The local chief of police said in addition to the infant the dead included eight women and five men.
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November, 2010   Thailand: JRS responds to the influx of people fleeing violence in Burma
Bangkok, 11 November 2010 – An estimated 20,000 people have fled to Thailand since conflict broke out between government forces and the fifth brigade of the ethnic Karen rebel group, the DKBA. Fighting began on Monday morning 8 November in the southeastern border town of Myawaddy, less than a day after election polls opened in the military controlled region.
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October, 2010   Australia: JRS welcomes government move on detention
Sydney, 18 October 2010 – JRS Australia has welcomed the announcement by the government that it intends to move children and vulnerable families from detention into community-based accommodation.
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October, 2010   Australia: Outsourcing asylum not the solution
Sydney, 12 October 2010 – JRS questioned the construction of regional processing centres for refugees as the sole answer to the rising number of asylum seekers coming to the Asia Pacific region.
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September, 2010   Cambodia: Women’s group provides friendship, support and skills to urban refugees in Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh, 26 August 2010 – Le Thi Hong, an asylum seeker from Vietnam, teaches the basics of giving manicures and pedicures to a small group of asylum seekers and refugee women at the JRS office.
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August, 2010   Thailand: JRS helps establish community centre
Bangkok, 26 August 2010 – At the beginning of the month, a group of ethnic Ahmadi asylum seekers finally opened the doors of their new community centre in the outskirts of Bangkok. The new centre is the result of a partnership between JRS and Ahmadi asylum seekers from Pakistan.
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August, 2010   Thailand: Convention on Cluster Munitions becomes binding international law
Bangkok, 1 August 2010 - On the 1st of August the Convention on Cluster Munitions came into force, becoming binding international law in 107 countries around the world.
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August, 2010   Cambodia: Bombs out! Balloons in!
Tuktuks gaily decorated with balloons and Ban Cluster Bomb banners rode around Angkor Wat carrying cluster bomb survivors on 1st August 2010. They were celebrating the entry into force of the Convention to ban Cluster Munitions. Led by Tun Channareth in his wheelchair they handed out leaflets explaining the law and gathering signatures of support.
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July, 2010   Cambodia: Celebrating world refugee day with a football game
Phnom Penh, July 2010 - Undeterred by the storm clouds gathering ominously over Phnom Penh, over 80 urban refugees and asylum seekers clamoured into the back of JRS vehicles and luckily for most, were able to reach Don Bosco vocational school in Phnom Penh Thmey for a World Refugee Day soccer match before the monsoon rains hit.
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July, 2010   Thailand: JRS meets director of Mine Action Centre
Bangkok, 3 August 2010 – On the 3rd of August Ban Landmine Campaigners from JRS Asia Pacific met with new Director of Thailand Mine Action Center (TMAC), Major General Ong-ard Ratanawichai.
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January, 2010   Cambodia: Refugee agreement fails asylum seekers
On 20 December, human rights organisations criticised the Cambodian government decision to deport 20 ethnic Uighur Chinese asylum seekers despite a barrage of protests from the international community.
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