Many 'first world' countries such as Australia, are making the process of seeking asylum increasingly difficult by denying refugee claimants work permission, language classes, access to health services and basic financial support. Hence refugee claimants, while waiting up to three years for their cases to be heard and a decision to be made, can often live in poverty without access to basic services and life necessities. All of this in spite of article 14 of the Universal of Declaration of Human Rights which states:

'Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution'.

In Brisbane, the Refugee Claimants Support Centre (RCSC) endeavours to alleviate the hardships and difficulties refugee claimants face in Australia. A non-government organisation, the RCSC exists to provide refugee claimants with support, resource information, emergency relief, a friendly and safe environment, and a community to which they can belong.

It was in such an environment of support and belonging that the Refugee Claimants Choir was created. It started with refugee claimants sharing their culture by teaching one another the songs of their homeland, and then, under the musical direction of Centre volunteers, developed into a Choir that, since 1998, has performed successfully at a number of public venues in Brisbane and Canberra.

Following these performances an opportunity was recognised to use the success of the choir to record a CD to educate and raise the public's awareness of the plight of refugee claimants. RCSC and Lifeline Brisbane worked with refugee claimants to identify generic themes common in their journey. It began with their homeland in peaceful times, the trauma and chaos of war or persecution, their escape to Australia, the difficulties of adjusting to a new environment, the frustration of seeking asylum, and their overwhelming desire for peace and acceptance.

The Brisbane Ethnic Music & Arts Centre Inc (BEMAC) contributed to the project as did a number of Brisbane musicians, many of them from diverse cultures and some of them former refugees. All contributed to the crafting of the CD entitled Scattered People as it expressed the experiences, frustration and hopes of the refugee claimants in original songs and music.

Funding for the CD came from the Sidney Myer Foundation and Brisbane City Council. The Council also saw the potential of the music and stories of the refugee claimants to become part of BCC's Brisbane Stories community web site, which showcases the cultural life of Brisbane and its people.

Also called Scattered People the web site project commenced in mid 2000, and was developed through a partnership between Lifeline Brisbane, the Refugee Claimants Support Centre, and Brisbane City Council. The project commenced at a time when membership of the original Refugee Claimants Choir was depleted as a result of a number of member's claims for refugee status being rejected. These rejections lead to an increase in depression and anxiety amongst refugee claimants at the centre, thus making it difficult to involve them in the development of the web site.

To minimise the trauma to the refugee claimants willing to contribute their stories and images, it was decided to build on work done during the development of the CD. Hence the web site was based on the twelve themes of the CD covering the journey of refugee claimants from their home country to Australia, and through the process and experience of waiting for their cases to be heard.

As a visitor to this web site you may find these stories of refugee claimants and their response to seeking asylum in Australia confronting. The stories of refugee claimants are not necessarily happy ones because their journey has not ended despite their arrival in a safe country. They exist in a continuing state of flux until they receive a determination on their case. Many are not granted refugee status and their journey continues on as they are either forcibly returned to their home country or seek asylum elsewhere, while those who are granted asylum begin the long painful process of trying to forget their past and settle into a new country and culture.

Unfortunately while oppressive regimes, conflict and persecution remain in the world there will always be refugees. Equally, as long as the current policies of the Australian government, and those of governments in other first world countries, continue to deny basic rights to those seeking asylum, refugee claimants here in Australia will continue to face persecution and deprivation, albeit of a more subtle kind.

This web site is dedicated to those refugee claimants who have been forcibly returned to their country of origin.