A message from Fr Arnold Heredia, Co-founder of LinCoN

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas with family and friends, we are reminded of the original Christmas story and its striking parallels with the lives of today’s asylum seekers.

Joseph and Mary were forced to leave their home and travel to Bethlehem. Likewise, many asylum seekers were compelled to flee their homes at short notice. The Holy Family found shelter only in a stable; our cohort sought refuge in relatives’ homes. When their lives were threatened, Joseph, Mary fled to Egypt with the infant Jesus. In similar fear, our asylum seekers fled as extremists tracked their whereabouts, escaping to Thailand and Malaysia.

LinCoN continues to work tirelessly to facilitate their resettlement in Australia through the Designated Area Migration Agreement.

  We wish our asylum seekers, supporters and well-wishers a peace-filled and joyful Christmas and every blessing for the New Year.

Refugee and Asylum Seeker Information Update

In many countries, including Thailand and Malaysia, the UNHCR is the sole organisation responsible for receiving and processing asylum applications. Guidance is available on the UNHCR Thailand website.

Thailand hosts the largest Pakistani diaspora in Southeast Asia, estimated at over 250,000 people. Currently, the country hosts approximately 86,500 refugees and asylum seekers from more than 40 countries, alongside nearly 480,000 stateless persons.

In 2023, the Mixed Migration Centre in Thailand surveyed 182 individuals entering from Pakistan, documenting the difficult living conditions they faced. Not all applicants are granted refugee status by the UNHCR. Many subsequently move to Malaysia, which hosts approximately 5,800 Pakistanis.

Neither Thailand nor Malaysia is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. Asylum seekers have no formal legal protections, including the right to work or access to education. Those rejected by the UNHCR are left with no viable options. LinCoN seeks to bridge this critical gap.

Give the Gift of Sanctuary: Aftab Peter’s Family.

 * All names have been changed

Aftab Peter and his family have endured the unthinkable: fleeing the place they called their home in Pakistan after being targeted by the toxic blasphemy laws for simply doing his job as a printer. They had to leave everything behind to escape the shadow of a mandatory death sentence and live as undocumented fugitives in Sri Lanka. But now, after thirteen years of fear and uncertainty, they are just one final hurdle away from permanent safety and the hope of a new life, free from fear and the promise of freedom in Canada.

Margaret gives an update on LinCoN and reveals her involvement with migrants.

The Monarch butterfly is a widely recognized and powerful symbol for immigrants and asylum seekers.  It represents resilience, freedom, transformation, and the right to migrate.