The President of Australia’s Human Rights Commission, Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs, will be a special guest of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan at an event in Sydney on August 27 that aims to separate the facts from the myths about asylum seekers and refugees.
According to Sister Clare Condon, Congregational Leader of the Good Samaritan Sisters, there is an urgent need to examine the facts about refugees and asylum seekers, and Professor Triggs is well equipped to do this task.
“Professor Triggs is an international lawyer. She can give the facts about the reality, the international conventions that Australia is a party to, and how we are conforming or not, to our commitment,” Sister Clare told The Good Oil.
“She is passionate about human rights especially for those driven from their homelands.”
Professor Triggs took up her appointment as President of the Human Rights Commission in 2012. She has combined an academic career with international commercial legal practice and worked with governments and international organisations on human rights law.
Professor Triggs hopes to focus her presidency on the implementation in Australian law of the human rights treaties to which Australia is a party, and to work with nations in the Asia-Pacific region on practical approaches to human rights.
All those interested in the facts are invited to attend the evening with Professor Triggs. A special invitation is extended to Good Samaritan Sisters and Oblates, staff and students of Good Samaritan Colleges and their families, and other ministry colleagues and friends.
Rather appropriately, the event follows on the heels of Refugee and Migrant Sunday (August 25), an annual day of commemoration in Australia’s Christian Churches which celebrates the dignity of people who are refugees and migrants and the contribution they make to life in Australia.
“As Sisters of the Good Samaritan our call is to be neighbour if we are true to the parable. At the time of Jesus, Jews and Samaritans were anything but friends even though they were neighbours. The parable challenges the status quo,” said Sister Clare.
“In our globalised world, we who are so gifted with a wealthy and prosperous country should do all we can to assist those who are refugees.
“We could also learn from those who have suffered much and who seek to come to this country and to contribute to its fabric, as have so many other migrants in the past.”
This event is an initiative of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan and the Good Sams Foundation.
Download the event flyer here.
Event: An evening with Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs, President of the Australian Human Rights Commission “Refugees and asylum seekers: where to from here?”
Date: Tuesday August 27, 2013 at 7pm
Venue: Trixie Forest Hall, St Scholastica’s College, 2 Avenue Road Glebe Point, Sydney
Cost: Donation (tea or coffee provided at conclusion of the evening)
Please RSVP: By Friday August 23, 2013 to Mary Robinson Ph: (02) 8752 5303 or E: mrobinson@goodsams.org.au
