On the first anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka's civil war, Edmund Rice Centre director, Phil Glendenning, who recently returned from Sri Lanka, said tonight that the country is not safe for deported asylum seekers.

“The position taken by Minister Evans yesterday - in urging caution about returning asylum seekers connected to the Tamil Tigers - is a very sound and welcome development. However, based on our experience, similar reservations need to be extended to all those who left Sri Lanka by unauthorized means,” Mr Glendenning said.

The Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) has condemned the Federal Liberal Party’s television ad campaign broadcast in Western Australia and Queensland on Sunday night – calling for an immediate withdrawal of the campaign.

The Edmund Rice Centre today made clear its grave concern at the Australian Government's announcement of suspensions in processing of some asylum seeker claims - three months for Sri Lankan claimants and six months for Afghani claimants.

Edmund Rice Centre director, Phil Glendenning, today issued an urgent appeal from Copenhagen calling Australians to make known to the Government the need for urgent and drastic action on climate change.

“We can't let ourselves fall in the trap of self-interested and cynical hard-heartedness,” he said. “If we do so as a nation, then it is our own humanity that is demeaned by our failure to respond to the humanity of our vulnerable neighbours.”

Representatives from the Pacific Island communities most threatened by rising sea levels, will travel to the Copenhagen UN summit this week, together with Australian human rights advocates, to ensure that the human face of climate change is not forgotten.