Refugee Week 2025 is here. It’s a powerful reminder that together, we can build a future where compassion, dignity and safety guide the way.
Right now, thousands of people here in Australia seeking safety are facing cruel, inhumane policies that deny their basic rights. Meanwhile, over 122 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes, including from the conflict in Sudan and the genocide unfolding in Gaza. It’s more urgent than ever to use our voices.
This year’s theme, Finding Freedom: Diversity in Community, celebrates the power of inclusive communities and reminds us that freedom is more than safety – it means belonging, dignity, and the opportunity to thrive, no matter who you are.
Refugee Week does two important things at once: celebrates the incredible contributions refugees make to our communities, and shines a light on the urgent challenges they still face.
Over seven days (15-21 June), through our toolkit that guides you through 7 actions for 7 days, we’ll explore critical issues from Afghan women’s resistance through sport to community sponsorship programs, from medical evacuations to permanent protection. Each day brings opportunities to learn and connect with grassroots organisations.
But first, here’s what you need to know about the issues at the heart of our actions:
- Afghan Women & Girls: sport as resistance
- Medical Evacuation: restoring life-saving healthcare
- Rohingya Refugee Crisis: supporting stateless communities
- Queer Refugee Rights: identity-based protection
- People Failed by Fast Track: permanency for 7,000+
- Permanency for Palestinians fleeing genocide
- Community Sponsorship: expanding proven pathways
1. Afghan Women & Girls: sport as resistance
Established in 2007 after the fall of the first Taliban regime, the Afghanistan Women’s National Football Team (AWNT) was a powerful symbol of women’s empowerment in a post-Taliban Afghanistan. It was no surprise then, when the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, the AWNT was an early target – its very existence was a direct challenge to the Taliban’s oppression of women and girls.
Since taking power in 2021, the Taliban has enacted a near total “evisceration of women and girls from public life,” resulting in what the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan has called “the most extreme forms of gender-based discrimination” in the world.
Women and girls are banned from participating in nearly all aspects of public life, including secondary and higher education, many types of work, and sport. The restrictions are so severe that the human rights organisations, the UN and Amnesty among them, have called for the Taliban’s gender discrimination regime and gender persecution to be investigated as crimes against humanity.
Even before the return of Taliban rule in 2021, playing football as a female in Afghanistan required a tremendous amount of courage and determination. Then, as now, the players kept focused on showing the world that women are equal to men and to provide hope for the many Afghan women and girls dreaming of a future of opportunity and safety
2. Medical Evacuation: restoring life-saving healthcare
In 2013, Australia introduced offshore processing, sending people seeking asylum arriving by boat to detention centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Prolonged confinement in harsh, degrading conditions, exposure to violence, and inadequate healthcare have caused severe mental health deterioration, with nearly 88% suffering from anxiety, depression, or PTSD.
Before the landmark Medevac Bill was passed in early 2019 (and later repealed) sick refugees held in offshore detention faced average waits of 2-5 years for transfer to Australia for urgent medical care. Hundreds suffered in brutal conditions and medical treatment was grossly inadequate.
There have been multiple, preventable deaths of people held in offshore detention. Coronial inquests have confirmed the lack of early intervention and delays in medical care caused deterioration, and ultimately loss of life, from treatable conditions.
The Medevac law introduced a transparent, independent process that removed political interference from medical decisions and included clear timeframes and provisions for keeping families together during transfers.
Under the Medevac scheme, 192 people were transferred to Australia for urgent, often life-saving medical care. However, in December 2019, the law was repealed after a “secret deal” between the government and key crossbencher, Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie citing an undisclosed outcome she claimed would improve medical care for refugees offshore.
Around 100 people are being held in Nauru today. In PNG, about 30 refugees remain abandoned without access to adequate medical care, 12 years after they were sent there.
Most of these people have physical health conditions, with 20% face life threatening conditions, according to a recent ASRC report. Almost 90% of those in PNG have severe mental health issues, with 40% experiencing chronic suicidal ideation. Many report being denied medical care, or asked to pay for care they cannot afford.
Doctors and human rights organisations, including the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) and Amnesty International, have repeatedly called for the reintroduction of the Medevac legislation, calling it a critical lifeline for refugees and people seeking asylum who have been abandoned by the Australian Government in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Nauru, where an escalating health crisis demands urgent intervention.
In January, a UN Human Rights Committee confirmed that Australia is responsible for people who arrive on its shores seeking safety and are then abandoned offshore. Despite efforts to shift responsibility to Papua New Guinea or move detainees between facilities, Australia remains accountable for their treatment and must end offshore processing, bringing people seeking asylum to safety in Australia or facilitating their resettlement in other secure countries.
Advocates and doctors are calling for Medevac laws to be urgently restored, to put decisions on medical treatment back in the hands of doctors, not politicians.
3. Rohingya Refugee Crisis: supporting stateless communities
A Muslim ethnic minority group who have lived in Rakhine State, Myanmar for centuries, Rohingya people face ongoing persecution and are subject to institutionalised discrimination and systematic violence. Rohingya people have lived in Myanmar for centuries but been denied citizenship by the state since 1982.
On 25 August 2017, Myanmar’s military launched a brutal campaign against the Rohingya people in Myanmar, subjecting them to a devastating campaign of ethnic cleansing. The military carried out extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, and mass destruction, forcing over 740,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
Today, over one million Rohingya refugees remain displaced, living in inhumane conditions in Cox’s Bazaar, the largest refugee camp in the world.
The vast majority of Rohingya in Bangladesh are not formally recognised by Bangladesh as refugees, and are subjected to live in temporary shelters, unable to lawfully work, and have extremely limited access to education. Amnesty Australia visited Cox’s Bazaar in 2023 to document the inhumane conditions there.
Access to food, water, health care and shelter is deeply inadequate, and the population of the camps is threatened by malnutrition and large outbreaks of infectious diseases. These refugees are currently being impacted by US foreign aid and World Food Program cuts.
It is the largest humanitarian crisis in our region.
A UN report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar in 2018 stated that military leaders in the country must face charges of genocide.
Since leading a military coup in 2021, SAC-backed forces have killed over 5,000 civilians. Amnesty has documented widespread abuses including torture, arbitrary detention, and unlawful airstrikes. Despite calls to suspend aviation fuel imports used in these strikes, shipments continue. Rohingya people make up the world’s largest stateless population.
Whilst Australia recognised the Rohingya genocide in 2018 and committed $235 million in aid (2023–2025), only a few hundred Rohingya refugees have been accepted since 2008 – a response that falls far short of the scale of suffering.
4. Queer Refugee Rights: identity-based protection
LGBTQIA+ individuals often face discrimination, persecution, and violence, which can lead to forced displacement and the need for international protection. In some countries, same-sex relationships are criminalized, sometimes even punishable by death, leaving many LGBTIQ+ people with no option but to seek refuge elsewhere.
However, even in countries of asylum, they may continue to experience stigma, abuse, and marginalisation. Living as an LGBTQIA+ person can be life-threatening in many parts of the world, and even where there is no immediate danger to life, persistent discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, expression, or sex characteristics can severely harm an individual’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
The Forcibly Displaced People Network (FDPN), Australia’s first LGBTIQA+ refugee-led organisation, advocates for community-led solutions and fights for those who cannot safely advocate for themselves. Founded in 2020, FDPN amplifies the voices of LGBTQIA+ forcibly displaced people by providing support through community connections and also engages in national and international advocacy, ensuring the unique needs of LGBTQIA+ refugees are central to policy-making and global refugee forums.
What can you do? Push for inclusive refugee processes that protect LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum.
5. People Failed by Fast Track: permanency for 7,000+
Introduced in 2014, the ‘Fast Track’ system was designed to deter people seeking asylum by making it harder to access protection. It promised to clear backlogs and speed up processing – but in reality, Fast Track was anything but fast or fair. Many waited years for outcomes, often without legal help or interpreters which meant they were left to complete long and complex visa application documents in English alone.
Around 7,000 people who arrived between 2012–2013 remain barred from applying for permanent protection visas. Many live on bridging visas renewed every six months, with limited or no access to work, healthcare, or support. Their lives remain on hold; unable to study, build stability, or reunite with loved ones after more than a decade of uncertainty.
6. Permanency for Palestinians fleeing genocide
In a landmark 2024 report, Amnesty International’s research determined that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip by treating them as subhuman.
This genocide has seen almost two million Palestinians endure relentless bombardment, and constant forced displacement and starvation as a weapon of war. More than 52,000 Palestinians, nearly a third of them children, have been killed since October 7, 2023. The healthcare system has entirely collapsed.
Despite this, Australia’s response has been deeply inadequate. Over 7,600 visitor visa applications (nearly 70%) have been rejected, mostly for failing to meet the “genuine temporary entrant” criteria. But how can anyone return to a war zone where a genocide is unfolding?
Just over 3,800 visitor visas have been granted, but only approximately 1,500 of those have managed to arrive. Palestinians in Australia are being offered Temporary Humanitarian Concern visas but these are only temporary and leave people stuck in limbo, without some basic rights needed to rebuild their lives.
It is time Australia steps up and fulfils its international and moral obligations. A genocide – carried out and supported by our allies – is taking place before us. Palestinians deserve permanent safety and the same rights as any Australian.
7. Community Sponsorship: expanding proven pathways
At its heart, community sponsorship is a simple but radical idea: ordinary citizens play a key role in assisting refugees to reach and settle into a new country. Not only does it allow for positive change at a local level; it’s an idea that is helping change the conversation about people seeking asylum, even in the most hostile of environments.
How does it work? The people who do the sponsoring generally have to enter into an agreement with their government that they will raise the necessary funds, and assume responsibility for helping with logistical matters like finding accommodation, registering children in school and accessing medical care.
The people who are sponsored have usually been waiting for months or years in a place where they are unsafe or they cannot live in dignity; currently many such people are living in countries like Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
In Australia, after years of advocacy led by Amnesty through our My New Neighbour campaign, the Australian Government announced that the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) will become a permanent part of the Humanitarian Program in 2026.
First launched in 2021 following public pressure, CRISP offers refugees wraparound support and access to government services, and has enabled around 550 UNHCR-referred refugees without family ties in Australia to resettle with direct support from trained community groups.
From genocide in Gaza and war in Sudan, to the persecution of Afghan women, queer refugees, and stateless communities like the Rohingya, Refugee Week marks a critical time for collective action. Here in Australia, thousands are still denied basic rights through cruel systems like offshore processing and the Fast Track system.
But there is hope: we are coming together, communities are mobilising, and you can be part of the change.
The Refugee Week Toolkit will empower you to learn, connect with communities, and take meaningful action. From demanding protection for Palestinians to standing with LGBTQIA+ refugees or supporting community sponsorship, each step helps us drive change. In a world where over 122 million people have been forcibly displaced, join us and help show what’s possible when we stand together.
Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 10 million people who take injustice personally. We are campaigning for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all – and we can only do it with your support.
Act now or learn more about our Refugee Rights campaign.
