6 th Asia Pacific Consultation on Refugee Rights 20 th -22 nd September, 2016 Ambassador Hotel, Thailand

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3 6 th Asia Pacific Consultation on Refugee Rights 20 th -22 nd September, 2016 Ambassador Hotel, Thailand Steering Committee meeting Room: Garden Lunch break Pre-APCRR6 (Monday 19th September) Legal Aid & Advocacy Working Group (LAAWG) Regional Roundtable APRRN-ICVA-Mercy Malaysia Workshop on Capacity Strengthening Room: Garden Informal Dinner for Youth Participants (by invitation only) Venue: Cabbages & Condoms (Sukhumvit Soi 12) Please meet in the hotel lobby at 6.30pm sharp Registration Day 1 (Tuesday 20th September) Opening plenary session - Positive Practices in Refugee Protection Arash Bordbar Dr. Gopal Krishna Siwakoti (INHURED International & Chair of APRRN) & Asmoro Hadiyanto (APRRN Secretary General) Muzafar Ali (Cisarua Learning Centre) Najeeba Wazefadost (Australia National Committee on Refugee Women) Julia Mayerhofer (APRRN Secretariat) Jessica Marsh (Trust Law, Thomson Reuters Foundation) Session description: The opening session of the 6th Asia Pacific Consultation on Refugee Rights (APCRR6) will be split into two parts. The first part will be very much focused on setting the tone of the threeday consultations and reflecting on this year s theme - Positive Practices. Opening remarks will be provided by APRRN s Chair and APRRN s new Secretary General. This will be followed by two speakers coming from refugee backgrounds speaking about their experiences in mobilising community initiatives, highlighting resiliency and agency of refugee communities as positive examples to follow. The second part of the session will provide a brief overview of the consultations and explain the structure as well as objectives of APCRR6. The session will be concluded by a brief presentation on the Trust Law Initiative of the Thomson Reuters Foundation Coffee/Tea break Workshop 1: Strengthening the role of refugee youth in advocacy 1

4 Rez Gardi (New Zealand Global Refugee Youth Consultation Representative) Arash Bordbar & Sarah Yahya (Australia Global Refugee Youth Consultation Representatives) Shoaib Muhamad (Kuram Welfare Home) & Imtiaz Ali (Pakistan Youth Assembly) Youth from the Thai-Burma border (TBC) Daniel Gamboa (New Zealand National Refugee Youth Council) Youth are the driving force behind any community and are the key agents of social change, economic development and innovation. Their involvement also helps foster stronger ties with local youth, promoting greater tolerance and trust, thereby strengthening the resilience of the community. To do so, we must engage youth in the conversation and in finding solutions, for themselves and their communities. Providing examples of good practice and testimony from youth and people working with youth, this session will explore what positive practices and initiatives refugee youth have taken to advance their own rights. It will showcase the exceptional contribution young people can have despite the disruption of displacement. Recognizing the individual roles we all have to play in supporting refugee and asylum seeker youth, this session will also lead participants to positive action through a group based exploration on how to best build on and support the resources, skills and capacities of youth. Workshop 2: What's next for the Rohingya after the 2015 regional crisis? Lilianne Fan (The Geutanyoe Foundation) Chris Lewa (The Arakan Project) Hermanto Hasan (The Geutanyoe Foundation) Deepa Nambiar (Asylum Access Malaysia) Puttanee Kangkun (Fortify Rights) Saud Tahir (Socio-Legal Information Centre) This workshop will be comprised of two parts. Firstly, updates on the situation in Myanmar and other countries where Rohingya are seeking refuge will be provided. This will be followed by a structured discussion on key issues, especially APRRN s role as a regional network, with a focus on developing national-level advocacy strategies for the next 2 years. Outcomes from these discussions will feed into the Action Plans of APRRN s Geographic Working Groups to be agreed upon during Day 3 of APCRR6 (22nd September). Workshop 3: Mental health, psychosocial responses and positive practices 2

5 Dr Malabika Das Dr Gladston Ashok Xavier (Department of Social Work, Loyola College, India) Dr Laura Friedrich (Burma Border Projects, Thailand) Dr Wais Aria (Tabish Organisation, Afghanistan) Ms Jonnet Bernal (Centre for Refugees, Christian Action Humanitarian Services) This workshop brings forth the topic of psycho-social health and wellbeing to dialogue around conflict-induced displacement in Asia. A diverse group of APRRN members will present their experiences, challenges and positive practices regarding psycho-social care and service. The workshop aims to create a meaningful platform for exchanging ideas, forging collaborative practice, strengthening service infrastructure and evolving awareness of psycho-social health of displaced persons around Asia. Room: Peony Lunch break Workshop 4: Working with community interpreters Speaker: Alice Johnson, Cairo Community Interpreter Project (CCIP) In this interactive workshop, participants will learn about positive practices in community interpreting in refugee NGOs, discussing interpreter system coordination issues such as interpreter recruitment, vetting, ongoing assessment and oversight, as well as ethics, standards of conduct, and interpreter training and linguistic resource development for both interpreters and other organizational staff. Participants will have the opportunity to 1) assess strengths and challenges in their organization s current interpreting systems, 2) exchange knowledge and ideas with other organizations facing similar interpreting needs, and 3) identify concrete steps to take back to their organizations in order to strengthen the capacity of their interpreting systems. Workshop 5: Resettlement and alternatives pathways TBC Dor Achiek (Settlement Services International) & Tim O Connor (Refugee Council of Australia) Brian Barbour (Japan Association for Refugees) Il Lee (APIL) Rachel O Connor (NZ Red Cross) Gul Inanc (Open Universities for Refugees) 3

6 It is widely acknowledged that, whilst resettlement is one of the three durable solutions, it is a pathway that is becoming increasingly difficult to access and is available to an everdwindling number of refugees. There are some positive examples in the region particularly Australia and New Zealand - however - these systems can also be improved. Recently, resettlement programmes have commenced in Japan and Korea. These are the first countries in Asia to adopt formal resettlement programs. However, as the resettlement quotas are quite small, civil society must strategise for advocacy opportunities to increase resettlement opportunities in the region. With a lack of other options, alternatives to resettlement also need to be pursued. Gul Inanc from the Open Universities for Refugees will discuss some of her experiences and thoughts from work both within and outside the region. Room: Peony 4 Workshop 6: Engaging with governments - Exploring effective advocacy strategies Daniel Gamboa Salazar (New Zealand National Refugee Youth Council) Anderson Selvasegaram (SUKA Society) Lilianne Fan (Geutanyoe Foundation) Vicki Mau (Red Cross) Tamara Domicelj (Act for Peace) Aligning with the overall theme of APCRR6, this session will explore some positive practices from across the region on engaging with governments. The first presentation from SUKA society will provide an overview of advocating and working with governments on a national context i.e. Malaysia. This will be followed by a presentation on the successful engagement with governments at the provincial level i.e. in Aceh, Indonesia. This will particularly focus upon engagement during and after the Andaman Boat Crisis. The third presenter will present on Working with the authorities: a Red Cross approach. This will discuss the broader approach and role of Red Cross national societies in engaging with governments, and look at a few examples of members of the Red Cross Asia Pacific Migration Network. Vicki will touch on the Red Cross role as auxiliary to government in the humanitarian field, and use the case study of Australian Red Cross specifically in the context of raising issues of humanitarian concern relating to migrants. The final presentation - Joint advocacy: considerations and opportunities - will briefly consider different modes and understandings of advocacy, reflect upon the merits of engaging members in mutual capacity-strengthening in this area, and pose some questions regarding the challenges and opportunities which confront us as a network in maximising our impact and amplifying our expertise with respect to our joint advocacy pillar of work Coffee break Workshop 7: Engaging with refugee communities - Recognising and Hearing Diverse Voices 4

7 Linda Bartolomei (Centre for Refugee Research, University of New South Wales) Najeeba Wazefadost (Australia National Committee on Refugee Women) The purpose this workshop is to share knowledge and experience of strategies which support the genuine engagement of refugee communities with a particular focus on the active inclusion of refugee women and girls. This workshop will provide the opportunity to explore good practice and challenges from the perspective of both humanitarian actors/ NGOs from refugee backgrounds and those from non-refugee backgrounds. The session will be documented and will inform the development of a WAGAR information toolkit for information sharing. The session will start with two brief presentations and then break participants into groups to discuss the theme in more detail. Workshop 8: Discussing livelihoods and labour market opportunities for refugees Alice Nah (Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York) Caroline Stover (Boat People SOS) Lars Stenger (JRS Indonesia) Speaker from India (TBC) William Gois (Migrant Forum Asia) This workshop will provide an opportunity and space to discuss livelihoods and employment opportunities in more detail. The workshop will begin by sharing the outcomes of a regional meeting that was recently organised by the Regional Support Office of the Bali Process as well as the outcomes of the latest Track 2 Dialogue meeting. It would then highlight the Indian experience as a positive example as it provides some refugees with work permits and refugees are also provided with accompaniment and skills matching services. The workshop would also draw on experiences from the migrant rights movement and explore lessons learned and better collaboration. After the initial presentations, participants would break into small groups to discuss the following: Utilising upcoming and existing advocacy opportunities (Bali Process, Track II Dialogue, September 19 High Level Meeting and GFMD) Discussing other positive practices that provide refugees with livelihoods and employment opportunities in and outside the region Exploring pilot projects and how to move forward at national level Workshop 9: Open Discussion on post-deportation and post-voluntary return support and monitoring Themba Lewis (Rights in Exile) 5

8 Rejected asylum seekers often face great risks upon their return - they may be subject to arrest, detention, torture and other forms of harassment. Increasingly we are also seeing more and more refugees return to their countries of origin because of high levels of desperation due to limited durable solutions and lack of access to basic rights. They often face similar issues upon their return. This workshop will be an open discussion on some of these issues and how APRRN members in different countries can support returnees and deportees better and ensure their protection upon their return. It seeks to address the following questions: How can we gather better evidence highlighting the mistreatment and human rights violations of deportees? What are good practices in post-deportation and post-return monitoring? How can we facilitate a better network to alert members to potential deportations or returns? How can we build on the already existing Post Deportation Monitoring Network? What are good practices in providing assistance and support to deportees/returnees? Room: Peony Welcome Dinner Venue: Rosableng Restaurant (directly opposite from The Ambassador Hotel) Day 2 - General Assembly - For APRRN members only (Wednesday 21st September) Side session: Consultation with APRRN members on the Alternatives / Regional Options Paper prepared by the #LetThemStay coalition Misha Coleman is the Executive Officer of the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce, one the agencies which co-ordinated the successful #LetThemStay and Church Sanctuary movement this year in Australia. The #LetThemStay coalition is now embarking on a call for a Federal Government Summit of Solutions, to thrash out policy alternatives which have been proposed in a range of recent reports. Misha will bring the key, new elements of these recent reports for the purpose of gaining feedback from APRRN members about which of the key Australian policy reforms APRRN members would like to see us focus our collective efforts on, post the Australian election Session 1: Welcome remarks Secretariat Report Governance and Finance Sub-Committee Report Presentation of the membership survey Q&A and introduction to breakout groups Coffee break Session 2: Participants breakout in small groups to discuss different areas of APRRN in more depth. This session is aimed to get feedback and direction from members on issues such as membership engagement, Working Group functioning, communications, the Strategic Plan, overall impact etc. 6

9 Lunch break Session 3: Report back and discussion Approval of key items any constitutional changes Coffee break Session 4: Elections Short briefing with new and old SC members Day 3 Thematic/Geographic Working Groups (Thursday 22nd September) Thematic Working Group Coffee break Thematic Working Group 2 Thematic Working Group 3 Room: Peony Thematic Working Group 4 Thematic Working Group 5 Room: Peony Thematic Working Group 6 Room: Peony Lunch break Southeast Asia Working Group East Asia Working Group Coffee break South Asia Working Group Australia, NZ and the Pacific Working Group Brief reporting back and closing Steering Committee meeting Room: Garden Lunch break Post-APCRR6 - Friday 23rd September Immigration Detention Working Group Meeting on Alternatives to Detention Meeting 7

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