“Revealed”? Before the birth of this algorithm, or the birth of the guardian newspaper in “Australia”, or academic research on this topic – Australian subcontracted detention security companies have had their own way to “measure” or make “behaviour risk assessments” of refugee detainees.    This is not new to us. Many of us refugees detained during Prime Minister John Howard’s time and  considered “high risk” – were isolated and incarcerated in separate detention compounds that were widely known to detainees as “trouble” making compounds.     No one knows to d ..read more

In Australia, racist and bootlicking queers run the show. RISE queer eX-detainees have been calling Queer festival organisers to remove police from queer parades including Mardi Gras and Midsumma festivals. Have they listened to us? No! They ignored us and stayed silent, aligning themselves with the government including the military, police, refugee detention industry profiteers and prison industry profiteers. Now what is the outcome of police queerphobia? It has taken such a toll on us and our resources have been burnt all this time, for us to call for a boycott of police in Mardi Gras and M ..read more

On Sunday 21/01/2024, Victoria Police and their associates were given space at the Midsumma Festival held in “Melbourne” and advertised as “Australia’s premier LGBTQIIA+ cultural festival”. Just one day later, on Monday 22/01/2024, Victoria Police officers violently targeted people protesting against the docking of a ship owned by an Israeli company for Israel’s genocide and occupation of Palestine. Legal observers at the protest flagged Victoria Police’s unlawful use of pepper spray, as well as pushing over and dragging a disabled protester out of their wheelchair, then aggressively telling ..read more

As eX-detainees, in so-called Australia, we acknowledge that the land we seek protection on is the land of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples whose sovereignty was never ceded. ‘Always was, always will be Aboriginal land’. For the 12th year running, RISE eX-detainees, the FIRST self-determined advocacy and welfare organisation in “Australia” governed and led by eX-detainees, is making a public statement, supporting the boycott of “Australia Day” aka Invasion day. On behalf of the eX-detainee community, we continue to acknowledge Sovereignty was never ceded, and we stand in solidari ..read more

Earlier this year, in January 2023, RISE eX-detainees published our open letter to the Midsumma Festival where we urged the Midsumma Festival to immediately cut ties with security company Serco, Victoria Police, military or any current relationships with politicians both federal and state. Until now, we still have not received any response from Midsumma at all. Festivals such as Midsumma cannot continue if they allow police, military, and detention architects and profiteers to participate and be part of their festivals. eX-detainee refugees are victims – survivors of police brutality, militar ..read more

Today the “Preventative Detention regime” bill – another white supremacist migration law was passed in the Australian Parliament.  The Australian Labor Party and the Liberal National Party are sticking together once more to wage fear-mongering anti-refugee and anti-immigrant campaigns, thus increasing discrimination against and persecution of Refugees and immigrants of colour.   After launching a fear-mongering public relations campaign, they increase public support before enacting laws that uphold white supremacist practices. Is this not Labor’s typical knee-jerk reaction we h ..read more

RISE eX-detainees highly condemn the Pakistan Government who have announced that it would deport 1.7 million undocumented Afghan displaced people back to Afghanistan.  So far Pakistan has forcibly deported over 300000 Afghan refugees and Pakistan officials are also charging $830 for undocumented refugees who want to leave Pakistan.  Afghan refugees, especially Hazara refugees are one of the most persecuted people in the world. The world is allowing this crime against humanity to be carried out in Pakistan without any shame.  Afghan ex-detainee members in RISE have also alerted ..read more

In 1992, the Australian Labor government introduced indefinite administrative immigration detention to block non-white refugees from coming to Australia by boat, and last week the Australian high court declared it unlawful. The news of the high court decision triggers traumatic memories for many of our community members, and RISE eX-detainees receive this news with unease. This law has been in effect for over two decades, during which time ALL succeeding Australian governments tortured, mistreated, and forcibly deported thousands of refugee ex-detainees back to danger. RISE eX-detainees, incl ..read more

We, Refugee eX-detainees in so-called Australia, mark the 13th of September 2023 as eX-detainees’ Day for the eighth year in a row. On eX-detainees’ Day, we commemorate the ongoing political struggle, pain, suffering, and resilience of refugees around the world, many of whom are detained while crossing borders to seek protection. On this day, we also focus on raising our collective voice to spread awareness, challenge this injustice, and continuously stand against border imperialism, which has cost millions of lives in and out of detention centres. We also honour the detainees who have died i ..read more

At present, there are over 103 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, with over 32 million refugees among them. Over 1 million refugee children were born as refugees. What is the main aim of “Refugee Week” or “Refugee Day,” originally initiated by UNHCR (the UN High Commissioner for Refugees), a mostly white, non-refugee led organisation? Highlighting fairytale-like sad and happy refugee stories, running a fundraiser for your refugee saviour organisation, or showcasing “exotic” cooking shows or “cultural” shows on “Refugee Week or “Refugee Day,” while refugees surviving persecution and ..read more