To mark Refugee Week 2020, we came together for a virtual ‘Watch Party’ of the film “Sirocco: Winds of Resistance”, followed by a Q&A panel.

You can watch the Q&A panel discussion at the Youtube link here

Thank you to our special guests Kamal Fadel, Meredith Burgmann, and Randi Irwin for joining the AWSA community in the online webinar! And thank you to everyone who came along to celebrate the long and continuing struggle of the Saharawi people for freedom and independence! It was a fascinating discussion on the COVID-19 lock-down in the refugee camps, the current state-of-play in the international community regarding the long-promised referendum, and what Australia can do to support Saharawi independence.

Eyewitness News, June 2020

EWN, Eyewitness News, Opinion,  June 2020
By Catherine Constantinides, international climate and social justice activist and human rights defender and
Vitalio Angula, socio-political commentator and independent columnist

World Refugee Day was held globally for the first time on 20 June 2001, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. It was originally known as Africa Refugee Day, before the United Nations General Assembly officially designated it as an international day in December 2000.
Each year, World Refugee Day is marked by a variety of events in many countries around the globe in support of refugees.
The people of Western Sahara continue to be the forgotten people of Africa and the world.

(read EWN article….)