REUNITING A FAMILY SEPARATED FOR HALF A DECADE

Julian Burnside QC & Jessie Taylor
speak to raise funds for Jarnil Khan Hashimi & family
When: Monday 7 August 2006
Time: 6.00-7.00 pm. Proceedings will begin at 6.00 sharp.
Where: Main Dining Room, University House, University of Melbourne
Parking: Parking is available on campus from 4.00 pm for $4 (coins only)
Cost: $20 minimum per person
Refreshments: Nibbles will be provided after the talk. Drinks available from the Bar.
RSVP: Bookings with payment by 3 August essential. Numbers limited.
Please send cheques (no credit card payment) payable to The Brigidine
Asylum Seeker Project to: Juliet Flesch, History Department, University of Melbourne

Jarnil Khan Hashimi
In his native Afghanistan, Jarnil, who had protested against the Taliban practice of selling women and girls, lost his right leg and the sight of one eye in Taliban reprisals. He fled, and after a long and dangerous voyage, arrived in Australian waters and claimed asylum. He was detained on Nauru for two and a half years.
Jarnil was granted a Temporary Protection Visa in 2004 and went to live and work in regional Victoria. His wife and four children under thirteen remained trapped in Pakistan, unable to join him. In April 2006, however, Jarnil was granted a permanent Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme visa, which will allow him to travel to and from Pakistan and bring his family here. But there is a catch. Jarnil, who works in a Castlemaine supermarket, is entitled to no financial assistance. This fundraiser is to pay for him to go to Peshawar and bring his family home.

Julian Burnside QC needs no introduction to those engaged in refugee matters. He has worked tirelessly and productively in individual cases and in attempting to change punitive Government policy. He acted for the Ok Tedi natives against BHP, and for the Maritime Union of Australia in the 1998 waterfront dispute against Patrick Stevedores. He was elected a National Living Treasure in 2004.

Jessie Taylor was Castan Centre Global Intern to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, 2006 and will talk of her experience with the Australian Delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.