Couple recognised for refugee work
Annemarie Evans writes in SCMP – Jan 26, 2012
As the Australia Day 2012 Honours List is announced in Canberra today, two Hong Kong-based awardees will be on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, helping executives see how it feels to step into the shoes of a refugee. Four times a day over five days, Australians Malcolm and Sally Begbie will be introducing, among others, the Europe boss of Yahoo, Rich Riley, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee and the CEO of JPMorgan Private Bank, Andrew Cohen, to a simulated “Refugee Run”. They will try to cross international borders, be interrogated by soldiers, internally displaced or kept in holding camps. It’s an activity that the two co-founders of Hong Kong charity the Crossroads Foundation and their team have been carrying out in partnership with the UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, since 2009, and it is for their services to humanity that the Begbies are recognised as Officers of the Order of Australia today. The honour has been conferred on them “for distinguished service to the international community in the provision of humanitarian relief, particularly through the Crossroads Foundation, and as a significant contributor to United Nations”.
“It’s extraordinary, we can’t quite believe it,” said Sally Begbie, 60, from Davos. The organisation, which the couple founded in 1995 with some boxes of flood relief goods in their bedroom, has mushroomed into a series of projects run from their site at Tuen Mun by 70 workers, including their two sons and daughter-in-law. The Begbies said they were undeserving of their award. “We’re painfully aware of the extent of global need, people starving to death, abused,” said Sally Begbie. “There are 43 million people globally who are international refugees or internally displaced. In that sense we feel undeserving. We only make a small dent. “A big piece of this has been the generosity of the Hong Kong people and the government allowing us to operate at a rent of HK$1 a year.” The Begbies are in Davos with a team that includes former refugees. Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales and business magnate Richard Branson previousy took part in the Refugee Run. While several groups are in Davos to criticise the forum, and capitalism, as economies slump, the Begbies prefer to influence by example. “If we can impact the thinking of these people, then it is a wonderful thing,” said Malcolm Begbie, describing how one chief executive, after a Refugee Run, took “all of his international leadership to a Thailand refugee camp for a day”. “We grieve whenever there is a downturn in the economy,” said Sally Begbie. “The most vulnerable people are going to be impacted by that.”
The Refugee Run border crossing
Charter for Compassion
The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.
It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.
We therefore call upon all men and women – to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion – to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate – to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures – to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity – to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings, even those regarded as enemies.
We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.
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“I believe that at every level of society – familial, national and international – the key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion. We do not need to become religious, nor do we need to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities. I try to treat whoever I meet as an old friend. This gives me a genuine feeling of happiness. This is the practice of compassion.” – Dalai Lama
The Golden Rule - a poster hanging at the United Nations HQ
Changing hatred into reconciliation
My name is Jonathan and I’ve been a refugee in Hong Kong since 2009. Truly, we don’t like being here because we miss our family and country. If we had a calm, peaceful homeland, we wouldn’t be here. The main reasons for persecution are two – political and religious. Personally, I escaped my country because I was a political activist from my university days. After graduation the policies of the government we had supported drifted badly. They wanted every power to benefit themselves, not the people they should be serving. We realized that we couldn’t support them anymore. At my first job with a telecom company (half government owned) my boss surprisingly knew everything about my past. He pressured me so relentlessly that he chased me out of the job. I was supervising a city branch, when an issue came up where I had to endorse the crediting of phone lines for the World Food Programs. However, a senior manager snuck onto the WFP billing telephone numbers for a construction company. This scam was brought to my branch trusting I would keep my mouth shut. I instructed the casher to add these numbers to WFP’s bill, as I knew what the consequences were if I refused.
However, WFP complained about it and an investigation started. A panel was called to explain what we knew about this situation. They zeroed into me and accused me of being incompetent. I knew they had always looked to firing me and this was an easy way to scapegoat me. At my second job I was working for a driving license project under the Ministry of Works and Transports. My boss, who used to be my junior, suddenly ended my contract and explained this was something that was beyond her control as it came from higher up. This came on the heel of threatening phone calls, like, “Watch your step! You will get hurt! It’s not worth your life!” I was warned this was my last chance to come to my senses as I was very active with an opposition party. One night my home was ransacked and everything destroyed. I lived with heightened fear that I would be kidnapped or shot in the streets. My family advised me to withdraw from politics, as I had nothing to benefit if I got killed. Even my uncle, a high ranking military officer, advised me to find an activity that kept me out of trouble with the government. Closer to the summer elections, the phone threats escalated, “If you don’t care about yourself, then make arrangements for your family’s funeral!” I knew life was cheap for these animals with guns.
Visiting a family we have happily housed
Doves of peace in armored vests
This has been the year of protest and doves of peace have worn armored vests to resist the bloody repression of crazed, autocratic dictators who raged ruthlessly from Tunis to Cairo, from Tehran to Kinshasa. No one could have predicted the chain of events triggered by a humble Tunisian fruit-vendor who set himself alight to protest the abuse suffered trying to retrieve a confiscated cart. All he wanted was to make a modest living to sustain his family. But the authorities disallowed his simple dream and their callous, pitiless misconduct – endured daily by most people across the world – launched the Arab Spring of revolution. The self-immolation of one aggrieved citizen, whose voice could not be heard, ignited the fire of an entire population which forced the President himself to escape to Saudi Arabia. Who would have guessed that? However inspiring the initial success was, every subsequent victory was paid dearly with blood and tears. These ironfisted tyrants cling so obstinately and embarrassingly to power that Nietzsche comes to mind, “Shame, shame, shame – that is human history!”
At Vision First we welcome refugees from 42 countries, each a troubled hotspot in an embattled world, that is trying to peacefully topple leaders buttressed by troops, tanks and torture chambers. When outraged masses rally against corrupt governments, the forces of justice, backed by goodwill and Twitter, initially succumb to the forces of repression, backed by gunfire and tanks, in an unequivocal imbalance of power. That’s the inevitable first step when vampire states, often run by thieving families for decades, have no better way to legitimize their rule, than gangsters have to dominate their neighborhood. The only difference is we often see these thugs-in-suits in the news, standing smugly for photo sessions with the leaders of western democracies, the World Bank and the United Nations. With so much blood on their hands, you would imagine they would be arrested and carted off to the International Criminal Court, but we have learnt that investment agendas commonly trump national integrity.
With the Christmas season upon us, we hold in our prayers those who suffer far away from their families, those who lost loved ones this year, those who abandoned their way of life, their work, their studies and everything cherished to become refugees in Hong Kong. At Vision First, we are often reminded how privileged we are to hear first-hand the voices of opposition from Egypt and Jordan, the cries of protest from Ivory Coast and Togo, the hopes of change from Congo and Somalia. There are deep, sorrowful emotions accompany the lives of those who might never be allowed to see their homeland again. Time Magazine is celebrating the Protester as “Man of the Year, as in 2011 protesters didn’t just voice their complaints – they changed the world.” We applaud their selection, as we owe a very great debt of gratitude to those who risk their life for the core values we share – the very essence of what it means to be human. It’s thanks to the quiet heroism of each anonymous protester that a fresh wind of change is blowing across the planet today. While most outraged citizens continued the struggle in towns and cities, others were persecuted, beaten and tortured so severely they had to seek protection abroad. Having seen the photos of their murdered friends, burnt-out legal offices and ransacked homes, we understand the urgency of their escape until the time when gun muzzles stop flashing. What would we have done to save our families?
Infuriated by images of protesters dragged by their hair, stripped, beaten and kicked by troops in Tahrir Square, a bleeding student cried out “You can kill our body, but you cannot kill our spirit!” This event parallels what occurred twenty centuries ago, when power-crazed leaders failed to end a revolution still going strong today. Two thousand years ago they feared a Protester born in a manger in Bethlehem, who first escaped as a refugee to Egypt, but then returned to challenge the abusive authorities that persecute the very people they should serve. If you don’t know your history, you are doomed to repeat it. Today’s despots have learnt nothing from the failure of the Massacre of the Innocents two millennia prior, but hold fast to the delusion that butchering their people will make them cower in submission. Christmas has come again and we would do well to remember those who have nothing to celebrate, but the compassion others show for their broken lives. Christmas is a time to rejoice, so please ensure you are making somebody else’s day special, too.
Christmas lunch courtesy of ANZ Bank
Dignity: a call to action for the future we share
... think ... reflect ... actualize ...
“We must be grateful to those who remind us of our common bond. Pick up this book and look in the eyes of your relatives, those distant cousins you have not seen in so many years, for whom your heart ached without knowing. And know that in protecting their rights and their way of life, you protect the wellbeing of us all and the future we share together”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
The most beautiful people we have known
My name is RM, from West Africa, and I have been a political refugee in Hong Kong for five years already. I speak for dozens of dear friends when I say that, as days turn into weeks and weeks into months, we keep asking ourselves what will happen to our lives. We cannot return home for fear of persecution and death … we cannot travel to another country and … crucially, we aren’t allowed to lead a normal, productive life here. We are living with faith and hope that the light at the end of this tunnel is a bright, unexpected solution and not an oncoming train!
My beloved mother taught me to always look on the bright side of life, but sometimes that bright side is so stained that there is nothing to see. We all believe in God and pray to him daily to make our lives here on earth and beyond better. Even as we pray to our different gods, we understand that success in anything will always equate with our effort. I often look back at the fateful time when I decided to oppose my corrupt government and, in a matter of days, security agents were hunting me down with sinister intentions. That forced me to escape, if I cared to remain alive. While I succeeded to save my life, that decision brought nothing but failure and suffering. I often wonder how things would have worked out if I didn’t care about my people’s rights and my country’s future. Maybe I would still be at home, with family, with friends and with hope for tomorrow.
We talk about life-changing-events, well, let me assure you that life can change in a matter of seconds and sometimes we hardly have time to calculate our choices critically. Time remains our biggest enemy as we cannot go back and undo the worst decisions we made in life. In a way, we are trapped in the prison of our mistakes, like jumping into a river and being carried helpless into dangerous currents. The river might carry us away from enemies, but can you hear the raging rapids ahead? Still I have hope. Still I have faith. I must move forward no matter what, as everything that happens in the world will be accounted for, if not today, then at a time beyond our knowledge.
All in all – no matter the suffering endured – we have to be thankful to be alive, even if life itself is the only blessing that remains. In the darkness of my desolate existence, I want to remain positive. I accomplish this by making a difference for those around me. That’s why I volunteer at charities to help my brothers and sisters who walk hopefully at my side. No effort is wasted, no matter how insignificant it might appear to our anguished mind. I am determined to survive, so that one day I can look back with a smile and say, “Life was nothing like what I expected, but I spent my time well. I don’t regret the decision I made, as along the way I learnt to help others and I met some wonderful people. Failure is not being knocked down, but not rising up again. God knows I keep doing my best!”
Now I would like to dedicate this letter to my refugee friends, reminding them to be proud of being survivors. Perhaps these words describe you best: “The most beautiful people we have know are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen, they struggle into being.” I cannot offer you my picture, but this poor tree captures the essence of my being: it too was tragically trapped on the stairway of life – with no way up and no way down!
No way up and no way down
“Oh I am so so happy for your good letter! And thank you for encouragement. Let’s meet once and talk, yes, my friend, I am happy also to get brothers here in Hong Kong. There is a proverb in our language, let me try to translate in my bad English, “A neighbour or friend who is close to you is more good than a brother who is so far from you”. So my friend Vision First, stay strong! One time we will find a smile and light, because now we have survived. Even if we are not yet stable, but one time we will be okay. I believe in GOD!” – a VF shelter member
Refugee status fight will go to top court
Austin Chiu writes in SCMP, December 15, 2011
Three Africans claiming refugee status won permission to mount a challenge in the top court yesterday. They will fight a ruling that the government is not bound by an international principle that a person should not be returned to a place where his safety might be in peril. The three also want to overturn a court ruling, affirmed by the Court of Appeal last year, that the government has no obligation to screen claims for refugee status and can instead pass them to an international institution. The claimants were among six seeking refugee status who lost a 2008 judicial review into whether or not the government had followed the universally accepted practice under international law of not expelling people who have a well-founded fear of persecution. Their case was that it had not.
The Court of Appeal yesterday granted the three permission to argue the case in the Court of Final Appeal on the grounds of its great public importance. The top court will have to clarify whether the principle of non-refoulement, or non-return, is a compelling international law or norm and whether it has been excluded from Hong Kong law. The Court of Appeal last year upheld arguments that the Director of Immigration had full discretion to decide whether to expel a claimant to refugee status. It ruled that Hong Kong, which is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, was not bound by the principle of non-refoulement. If the top court rules the principle is not excluded from domestic law, the judges will also answer the question of whether the government is obliged to conduct its own inquiries into claims for refugee status.
At present, the Director of Immigration refers such claims to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. If the commissioner accepts a claim is genuine, the government gives the applicant temporary refuge in Hong Kong until he or she is accepted for resettlement overseas. If the claim is rejected by the commissioner, the director will deport the claimant, although he may exercise his discretion not to expel an applicant for humanitarian reasons. The application was made before Mr Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, Madam Justice Maria Yuen Ka-ning and Mr Justice Johnson Lam Man-hon. The government has a firm policy of not granting refuge and asylum because Hong Kong is small and densely populated and vulnerable to abuses of such claims. China has been a signatory to the refugee convention since 1982.
VF: Historically, Hong Kong is a city built by refugees, most of whom arrived from China in the decades of unrest that followed World War 2. Hong Kong citizens have always accepted asylum seekers, from the Mainland and from the rest of the world, as many know first-hand what it means to be an exile in a foreign country. Consider the ‘brain drain’ that followed the the Tiananmen crack-down in 1989, when tens of thousands fled the city for the perceived safety of Canada, States, Australia and New Zealand.
Today it is high time for the HKSAR government to step up and take its responsability to protect those who seek refuge in our city. Nothing less than a comprehensive, integrated policy towards asylum-seekers and refugees is required to secure the lives of thousands who suffer in penniless neglect, through no fault of their own. Support Vision First to support refugees – thank you!
A note on the shelter's board
Those arms were full of injuries
I’m Anamika from Sri Lanka, Hello! Everyone of you might have heard that some asylum seekers were detained recently for working illegally in warehouses. This is also a story of such an asylum seeker whom I visited recently in prison. He is 29 years old, he came Hong Kong 6 years ago, he left his country because he faced problems from terrorists. When I went to Lai Chi Kok Detention Centre, I asked him, “Why did you gone for work? Are you not aware that asylum seekers can’t work here? Aren’t you aware you might be jailed for up to three years and nobody will take care of your wife and child?” He replied me, “I know that very well but my situation forced me to go for work.” So I asked him what kind of situation forced him to go for work then he told me his long story:
“I came to Hong Kong 6 years ago in order save my life as the government wanted to kill my father and family for supporting the opposition parties. My family can’t afford for all of us to come so they managed at least to send me here. I have 2 younger brothers and a younger sister. My father was the backbone for my family recently he was kidnapped by the terrorist and shot to death, after savagely torturing him. All my family burden has come to my shoulders a my mother is very old and sick from illness and worries. Though I came here to safeguard my life, now I have the responsibility to take care my family as well. Now my brothers are in high school, my sister is growing older as well. If I only save my life here then who would feed them? What would happen to my old mother and my brothers and sisters? What about their future? I’ve been waiting these 6 years for a response from UNHCR, but I didn’t hear anything until now. There are many Sri Lankans who have been waiting much longer than me. Even if I want to call anyone I need money for buy telephone card, can ISS provide that money? What about my daily needs? Do I have to beg for every single dollar for another 6 years? No and never. So I decided to go for work and earn money to help my family. Anyway it’s not work, it is slave work, for 12 hours from morning till night in dangerous places for only 250$. And sometimes the boss find reason not to pay us even that! Why does this HK government thinks only food and some rent help is enough for an asylum seeker? Then who would take care his family back in his country? There was a meeting at UNHCR last week and most refugees admitted they had to work here and there to survive in the city where everything is very expensive. My life is so painful here.”
When he was saying these I observed his arms, those were full of injuries . By seeing those injuries, I can understand how hard he has been working those days. One thing everyone have to remember that asylum seekers came here to save their life, but their situation forcing them to work. So what is the solution for this? It is only in the hands of HK government that should know refugee protection starts with food and rent, but ends with a durable solutions for those it MUST protect here. Thank you!
Key actors from East Asia come together in Hong Kong to find collaborative solutions for refugees
On November 12, 2011 the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network will bring together key actors from Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Macau and Taiwan to identify gaps, collaborative solutions, debate key issues and challenge misconceptions about the most vulnerable population in Asia: refugees.
Over half of the world’s refugees are found in the Asia Pacific Region, yet few countries in the region have developed any law or policy to address refugee issues. East Asia has the potential to lead positive developments in the field of refugee protection in the Asia Pacific region: Japan and Korea are amongst the few countries in Asia to sign on to the Refugee Convention, and although it is not yet a state-party to the Convention, Hong Kong has a strong civil society and rule of law that has led to several alternative systems of protection. The Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRR”) believes that East Asia has both the capacity and the responsibility to establish a better refugee protection system and to support other countries in Asia to adopt protection mechanisms.
The East Asia Working Group of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network holds yearly symposium to bring relevant parties together and discuss key strategies and persistent issues. In 2010, a symposium was held in Seoul, Korea under the theme “Alternatives to Detention of Asylum-Seekers and Refugees”. The symposium created a unique space for dialogue between governments and civil society about refugee protections systems in their own countries. In June 2000 the “International Symposium on Refugee Protection in the New Era and Civil Society” held in Japan focused on Japan’s pilot resettlement programme of Burmese starting in 2010. In 2011 it was Hong Kong’s turn to host the East Asia symposium. Hong Kong civil society recognizes that unless all levels of the community are actively engaged to bring about change, any progress will be slow, piecemeal and temporary, and as such is striving for broad collaboration among civil society leaders to contribute to solutions.
The symposium will be spread into 4 different panels with each of them addressing a different thematic focus. Key note speeches will be delivered by Brian Barbour (Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network & Japan Association for Refugees), Giuseppe de Vincentiis (UNHCR) and Ruby Puni (Consulate General of Canada). The first panel will discuss innovative ideas and solutions to common challenges around the region. This will be followed by a more in-depth discussion on key legislative and policy changes relating to refugees – this panel also provides an opportunity to discuss policy or lack of policy and its direct impact on refugee livelihoods. The afternoon panel takes a closer look at the practical needs of the refugee population in East Asia, and the consequences of social exclusion and the toll that a life in limbo can take. In particular the right to work will be discussed and how governments can find long-term solutions for successful integration. The symposium will conclude with a unique panel under the theme “Nothing About Us Without Us”, where 3 refugees will present their story and the enormous challenges they are facing in their daily survival.
The symposium will bring together key refugee rights advocates, practitioners, service providers, researchers and refugees themselves from Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Macau. Prior to the symposium the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network is organizing a Refugee Mental Health Training to equip service providers with the tools and knowledge to deal with the mental health needs of refugees. The symposium is being coordinated by the East Asia Working Group of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network and is jointly organized by: Vision First, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Society for Community Organization (SoCO), NANCEN, Japan Association for Refugees (JAR), International Social Services (ISS), Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre (HKRAC), Christian Action Chungking Mansions Service Centre, Centre for Comparative and Public Law at HKU, and Barnes and Daly Solicitors.
