Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) issued a call today for the people of the Pacific whose lives are daily affected by the impact of climate change and rising sea levels, not to be excluded when the world gathers in Copenhagen in December. 

Climate change advocates from within church groups in Australia are heading for the Pacific island nation of Kiribati to strategise with colleagues there, on how they will communicate the plight of the people of Kiribati at the UN Climate Change Summit when the two groups travel to Copenhagen together in December.

The cases of Grace Gichuhi and Teresia Muturi, who have been told by the Department of Immigration to return to Kenya where they fear genital mutilation, are clear examples of the need for complementary protection, according to the Edmund Rice Centre.

Our only concern is for the peace of all the people of Sri Lanka: Sinhalese, Tamil, Burger, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Christian. 

At present the world lacks accurate independent and reliable information about what is happening in the north of the country. Unlike when the devastating tsunami hit Sri Lanka aid agencies and the international media have yet to allowed access to the region. A war, such as the one Sri Lankans have endured for three decades, is no less a disaster for the people who are innocently caught up in its prosecution and aftermath. 

“Asylum seekers do not come to Australia because they think that the government has ´softened on border protection´. Asylum seekers come to Australia because of horrendous violence and conflict in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.¨