Parliament Day - 215 Million Reasons to support Migrant Workers

215 Million Reasons... The Rights of Migrant Workers & their Families

Campaign for Australian Government to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrants’ Workers Convention

The Australian Migrant and Refugee Women’s Alliance (AMaRWA) is partnering with other Human Rights networks and unions to ratify The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrants Workers and Members of Their Families in supporting the 215 million migrant workers’ and their families (2009 United Nations International Migration Report) as each and every migrants’ rights needs to be protected.

On October 1 2011, a coalition of civil society groups (including NIRWA our lead agency and The Human Rights Council of Australia) and global groups launched a renewed call for Australia to ratify the International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families ("the Migrant Workers Convention").

Chair, Vivi Germanos-Koutsounadis is showing her support for the ratification of the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families. Vivi opened the event at Parliament House.

On November 28th, NIRWA Inc together with the Australian Migrant and Refugee Women's Alliance (AMaRWA) and their partner organisation, Asian Women at Work and the Migrant Workers Task Force joined together in solidarity to support the ratification of the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families.

The Women arriving on the Lawns of Parliament House

200+ Migrant Women traveled from Sydney to stand together on the lawns outside of Parliament House to share their stories - it was a truly inspirational and moving day as they spoke of their exploitation, discrimination and the conditions they are working in.

Vivi Germanos-Koutsounadis opening the day and welcoming all the women who gave up a day of their pay to attend Parliament Day in Canberra.

We will continue working towards the ratification of the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families and will keep you informed of all upcoming events.  

The NIRWA Team 

The Inaugural International Day of the Girl Child

The Australian Migrant and Refugee Women’s Alliance (AMaRWA) congratulates the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and the Australian Government for launching the United Nations Inaugural International Day of the Girl Child.

We are especially delighted with the Prime Minister reiterating that young girls must be encouraged to think for t

hemselves “to have choices and the freedom to exercise them”.

The Australian Migrant and Refugee Women’s Alliance (AMaRWA) applauds the Prime Minister’s emphasis that Education is the key where “Education makes an enormous difference to the health of women and their children, to their job opportunities, their wage levels”.

Choice and Education allows Girls and Young Women to see that there are alternative options aside from traditional cultural arrangements for example; forced marriage, child labour and children and women who are in detention centres.

“We express concerns for the wellbeing of the girl child, children and women and their families who are being held in immigration detention centres offshore in conditions that are detrimental to their physical and psychological health, inappropriate education facilities and options which will affect their lives and urge the government to adhere to their commitment announced in 2010, to move children and families from immigration detention centres to community based detention in the Australia” said Vivi Germanos-Koutsounadis, Chair Network of Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Alliance (NIRWA).

We believe that Gender Equality allows women to have a say in their lives. Gender Equity allows all Girl Child to be empowered to actively participate in a society that is inclusive of their issues. The launch of the Inaugural International Day of the Girl Child is a timely celebration and acknowledgement of the continuous importance of ensuring that all Girl Child and Women must be empowered to play a role in our communities.

AMaRWA will continue to work with the Australian Government and the other six National Women’s Alliances to ensure that Gender Equity allows all Girl Child and women, including immigrant and Refugee and Aboriginal to be empowered to actively participate in the Australian society.

Australian Migrant and Refugee Women's Alliance (AMaRWA) is the peak Alliance for CALD Gender.

You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter

The NIRWA Team

Capacity Building Training Hobart - October 2012

Over 3 days our National Council along with our Member Organisations came together in Hobart, Tasmanian to take part in some Capacity Building Training.

The training comprised of 3 core topics that were presented by Speakers & Facilitators who are experts in their fields.

On day 1, the morning commenced with a Welcome to Country by our Chair, Vivi Germanos-Koutsounadis followed by a Welcome to Hobart from the Australian Migrant and Refugee Women's Alliance, Executive Officer, Sela Taufa.  


We then moved into the first session of the day, Governance.  The Afternoon session covered Leadership training over 3 perspectives; Local, National and International Leadership.

NIRWA Chair, Vivi ~ AMaRWA Executive Officer, Sela ~
AMaRWA Office Admin, Tahlia ~ TAS Delegate, Salma &
NT Delegate, Silpi 

 Day 2 covered Lobby Training and learning the skills involved in putting together a campaign to Lobby not only Government but also your key stakeholders.

The Delegation at Elizabeth Street Wharf on Sunday afternoon

Thank you to everyone for an informative weekend where we all learnt new skills, upgraded our knowledge.  We would also like to thank the Australian Migrant and Refugee Women's Alliance (AMaRWA) team for organising such an inspiring program.

The NIRWA Team

Migrant Women Workers Forum - Sydney

Asian Women at Work and Immigrant Women's Speakout together with Unions NSW and Sydney Alliance are hosting a great event on Sunday, 14 Oct 12 

The Migrant Women Workers Forum will be held in Sydney at 1:00pm at Bankstown

This is a chance for migrant women workers and their supporters to come together and share their experiences, learn new skills, and speak out for change!

Hosted by Asian Women at Work, Unions NSW, Sydney Alliance, and Immigrant Women's Speakout.

Cost is free, but registration is essential!

Book your place now by calling us 9835 8022 or email women@speakout.org.au

The NIRWA Team 

UN figure praises Australia for leading way in empowering women

Official Photo of Michelle Bachelet via UN Women.org

Via:  Richard Willingham regional affairs correspondent | Sydney Morning Herald | August 24, 2012 |

FEMALE leaders have a priceless, long-term positive impact on improving gender equality, with Australia experiencing ''a very special situation'', says the executive director of United Nations Women, Michelle Bachelet.

Ms Bachelet visited Canberra yesterday to ''commend and thank'' the government's leadership and commitment to improving the lives of women throughout the world.

Ms Bachelet, whose family were political exiles in Australia in 1975, told the Herald: ''Seeing women in powerful positions, it opens the sky for young girls who thought they could never become a powerful person in the future.

''This country is living a very special situation. You have the first Prime Minister that is a woman, but also you have the Governor-General, the Attorney-General, you have a lot of important authorities that are women.

''I'm so convinced this will be a major step for what happens to girls and how they see their future in a different way to the way it was two decades ago.''

On a day when the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, took a stand against ''a very sexist smear campaign'', Ms Bachelet, Chile's first female prime minister, was reluctant to comment on domestic politics.

But she did say the attacks were probably fuelled because Australia was dealing with something ''new'' and there was still a lot of male-dominated culture about how to assess leaders.

She lamented the fact that only 31 countries, including Australia, had reached a goal of having 33 per cent female political representation. Rwanda, which has a quota system, has the highest percentage with 56 per cent.

Quotas can work, she said, but were best used as a temporary transitional tool to educate about the benefits of equality. ''Women can provide politics with leadership that can be relied on, as well as providing a different perspective,'' Ms Bachelet said.

She is attending the Pacific Islands forum in the Cook Islands next week, which has a very low level of female politicians. Of the 10 countries without any female politicians, at least six were in the Pacific.

Ms Bachelet said women could be at the forefront of climate change action because it was they who made important decisions. ''What really determines whether a poor rural boy or girl will become a journalist, or a lawyer, is the education of the mother,'' she said.

She said educated women made better decisions, which led to lower early marriage rates and lower HIV infections. ''We cannot think about improving rural women's lives unless we deal with family planning because we need them to have a comprehensive set of tools that will permit them to develop.''

The NIRWA Team

Multicultural Policy Interview ~ SBS

Image:  Children's Sanctuary Multicultural Festival ~ Canberra 2012

On Monday, the NIRWA Chair Ms Vivi Germanos-Koutsounadis spoke with SBS about the Multicultural Policy.


You can listen to the interview with Vivi along with other Community Leaders by clicking on the link below:



http://www.sbs.com.au/podcasts/Podcasts/radionews/episode/220405/Hopes-for-new-direction-in-multicultural-policy

The NIRWA Team

The National Launch "215 Million Reasons Why"

The National Campaign Launch for the "215 Million Reasons Why ... The Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families" was held on Sunday 17th June in Bankstown, New South Wales.


The wonderful teams from Asian Women at Work along with Immigrants Women's Speakout hosted a fabulous event.


Some of the stories shared on the postcards were: 

"Being a migrant that came to Australia as a young child, I had to watch my parents be out of the workforce for a long time. When my Dad did finally get a job, he was treated unfairly, people laughed at him because of his poor language skills - it was terrible" Mustafa


" We need to remove the perception that it is ok to pay Migrant Workers less for the same job"  Malcolm


"As a worker in the refugee area for women and children escaping domestic violence, we support many women with no incomes and no other support" Anon


"Its not appropriate to run an economy based on exploitation and slavery" Mel


"Its vital that we continue to build a better future for all of us in this wonderful country and continue to protect individual rights of people from all ethnic backgrounds"  Sally


There was also some great coverage of the Campaign Launch of "215 Million Reasons Why ... The Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families" in the Local The Express.  You can click on the link below to read the story:

http://express.whereilive.com.au/news/story/plea-for-pm-to-sign-up/

Next stop for the campaign is Canberra in August!  So stay tuned to find out more


The next State Launch will be held in Victoria in July!!

We thank everyone involved for their support, hard work and passion in taking a stand to make a difference.

The NIRWA Team