Keywords: Jesuit Refugee Services
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FAITH DOING JUSTICE
- Andrew Hamilton
- 23 September 2024
In prosperous times many people in developed nations are sympathetic to refugees and migrants and welcome them into their own societies. In hard times, however, xenophobia spreads.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 17 June 2024
Like all other persons, refugees cannot be defined in numbers. Nor can they be defined by their condition as refugees. They are human beings like us who belong to families, their hearts are free, and they long for the freedom to live human lives, to work and follow their dreams.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Andrew Hamilton
- 07 June 2024
Raimond Gaita insists that there is something precious in each human being. He does not rest this conviction on a particular religious or philosophical grounding. It flows, rather, from a rich reading of human possibilities and questioning of the meaning of life.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 08 May 2024
With the Queensland Government changing the Youth Justice Act, detention of children will no longer be seen as a last resort, causing widespread dismay among youth justice advocates. It invites reflection on what we should expect when we advocate for a cause, ranging from climate change to perceived injustice, and how we should evaluate our efforts.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 04 April 2024
1 Comment
This week, the Federal Government quickly introduced a new policy in response to a recent High Court decision that prevents them from indefinitely detaining a small number of individuals they wish to remove from Australia.
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RELIGION
- Andrew Hamilton
- 27 March 2024
1 Comment
Palm Sunday stands at the intersection of the world of justice and goodness and the brutal political realities in human societies. It mocks the pretensions of power that considers only the expediency of actions and not the human reality of the people affected by them. At that intersection today, refugees lie in the centre.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 29 February 2024
In our more routine lives, most of us have people and groups whom we ignore, we instinctively look down on and we keep away from and people whose beliefs we scorn. We need to be attentive to the people who are commonly regarded as second-class citizens.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 22 February 2024
If the treatment of persons is unethical, it will inevitably lead to ethical corruption in the people and the institutions involved in administering it. It is almost impossible to participate in a policy based on such unethical premises without being complicit in it. If we do, we become blinded to what we owe one another by virtue of being human.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 31 January 2024
4 Comments
What links the debate about the conduct of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the detention of children in a crowded and under-resourced Cairns watch house, and British legislation to send asylum seekers to Rwanda?
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RELIGION
- Bill Uren
- 12 December 2023
2 Comments
The Synod on Synodality raised possible Church reforms like expanding communion to non-Catholics in interchurch marriages and reevaluating the stance on divorced and remarried members. This raises the question: Can the Church reconcile longstanding traditions with emerging calls for inclusivity and ecumenical openness?
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 30 November 2023
8 Comments
Any legislation hastily designed to negate the effect of the High Court decisions will be vulnerable again to be struck down on judicial appeal. That haste suggests an initial disregard for human rights and the rule of law by Governments and an ingrained resistance to any limitation of its power. Vindictive laws come at a heavy cost to the integrity and reputation of the lawmakers.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 21 September 2023
In a better world, people who seek protection in Australia and people removed from prison would not be detained in the same detention centres. But the grounds for differential treatment are not based on the difference between guilty and innocent people; between asylum seekers and 'hardened criminals'. Both groups are worthy of respect and compassion.
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