The Saturday Paper

Emergency Refugee Legal Appeal.

Anonymous Donor matching donations to Refugee Legal — dollar for dollar

- David Manne Executive Director & Principal Solicitor

The current situation for people seeking asylum is beyond urgent — it’s critical.

Many thousands of people seeking our legal help are now in a state of continuing crisis. Rolling deadlines, and the paralysing uncertaint­y they create, constitute their everyday.

In recent months, the emergency created by the government-imposed deadline for asylum seekers to apply for protection has morphed into something even worse — an unfair process and a final ruling on their fate.

So many of our clients are now coming to us in desperate need of legal assistance. They present with Federal Government notices, often with 21 days or less to act. The level of anxiety already among people seeking our help — after years of limbo — is hard to describe.

To make matters worse, the government is now stripping many of the people we act for of basic income support, housing and torture/trauma counsellin­g.

These cuts also apply to some of the people we act for who’ve been evacuated from Nauru and Manus for emergency treatment. It’s unprincipl­ed and unconscion­able. It only compounds their vulnerabil­ity. And their emergency need for legal interventi­on.

Their greatest need is to be granted protection — the legal permission to stay. To secure safety and avoid destitutio­n.

Right now we need an urgent injection of funding to continue to help those in need.

Based on 30 years’ experience, we know that expert legal assistance for people seeking asylum is so often the difference between securing safety, or being deported to danger.

In all that we do, we continue to harness the support of over 550 volunteers, including partnering with over a dozen major law firms to ensure that your donation makes the biggest possible impact. While we’re working to increase our impact, an anonymous donor will double yours — dollar for dollar up to $50,000 — when you make a tax deductible donation before 30 June. Help us to help refugees, who deserve a fair go before the law and the chance to build a better life in safety here.

Please donate now to our

End of Financial Year Appeal at:

www.refugeeleg­al.org.au

With my sincere thanks,

 ??  ?? David Manne Executive Director & Principal Solicitor, Refugee Legal
David Manne Executive Director & Principal Solicitor, Refugee Legal

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