Refugees combine with courage to speak out

REFUGEE Week will serve as a call for unity and positive action.
Dandenong’s Barat Ali Batoor is an ambassador for the event, which runs from Sunday 14 June to Saturday 20 June.
He left behind his mother and siblings in Afghanistan to make his way to Australia and a new home.
The theme for this year’s Refugee Week is ‘With courage let us all combine’, taken from the second verse of the national anthem.
“The theme celebrates the courage of refugees and of people who speak out against persecution and injustice,” Mr Batoor said.
Refugee and asylum seeker stories will feature on the Harmony Square big screen in Dandenong from 11am to noon on Saturday 20 June.
Dandenong Library will host a forum from noon to 1pm on Friday 19 June which is designed to challenge thinking on asylum seeker and refugee health and wellbeing, legislative changes and advocacy.
Panellists will include solicitor Sally Szmerling from the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre, Monash Health manager Jacquie McBride and City of Greater Dandenong cultural liaison officer Mustafa Najib.