Pilot Project: Giving a Voice to Asylum Seekers

Project Member(s): Burn, J.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Uniting Care NSW ACT (UnitingCare NSW.ACT Research Partnership)
Uniting Care NSW ACT (UnitingCare NSW.ACT Research Partnership)

Start year: 2014

Summary: Government, NGO and Voluntary agencies work with and provide services to Asylum Seekers in the Australian community, yet there is no known initiative to document, record and analyse the 'lived' experiences of asylum seekers in the labor market, and asylum seekers vulnerability to exploitation in NSW and the ACT. While there is no academic research on the subject, anecdotal evidence is that asylum seekers and refugees in post-community detention are especially vulnerable to exploitation due to limited work rights, lack of training, immigration restrictions on work entitlements and access to support services. Community workers report that asylum seekers are troubled about their future and isolated due to financial pressure, restricted work rights, study rights and through linguistic and cultural isolation.

Keywords: Access to justice, Asylum seekers, Australia, labour exploitation, work rights

FOR Codes: Justice and the Law not elsewhere classified, Access to Justice

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.