Refugees waiting to register in the camp at Vinojug, Macedonia
Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education
The Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education works to promote human rights, social justice and eco-justice through research, community education, advocacy and networking. Our priority areas are Indigenous People and Reconciliation, Refugees and People Seeking Asylum and Pacific Island people affected by climate change.
Our Focus Areas
The Edmund Rice Centre has identified four priority areas of focus:
The Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the first peoples)
The Rights of Refugees and People seeking asylum (the last to arrive)
The Rights of the Peoples of Oceania, especially those struggling for climate justice (the next to move)
The Rights of the Earth (our collective home)
Leading Australian and Pacific not-for-profit organisations, including the Edmund Rice Centre, have jointly called on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to step up Australia’s climate action targets.
The organisations included the Pacific Conference of Churches, Oxfam Australia, Greenpeace Australia Pacific and the Climate Council.
First Nations Peoples and Reconciliation
Working with First Nations peoples in Australia is a major focus of the Edmund Rice Centre.
At the heart of this work is our commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN in 2007 and sets out the rights of indigenous peoples, such as their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health and education.
The Edmund Rice Centre works to overcome the injustices faced by First Nations Australians in a number of ways, including:
Holding Immersion Programs as part of our "Lets Talk" Reconciliation program
Working to provide a voice, space and status for First Nations Australians to engage in our system of Government or influence policy makers
Forming partnerships with groups such as ANTaR, Caritas and educational bodies.
Reconciliation - The Unfinished Business of Our History
First Nations Peoples and Reconciliation: Edmund Rice Centre’s Director Phil Glendenning speaks with Senator Pat Dodson
Current Projects
The Edmund Rice Centre launched its new research report Refugee Employment Experience: Struggles, Strategies and Solutions in July 2021.
The report highlights the refugee perspective on working and looking for work by listening to what refugees themselves say about their job seeking efforts and their experiences in the Australian labour market. The report calls for several changes in how refugees are supported to find employment, including: moving away from the generalist JobActive model to the provision of more tailored support, shifting the focus of employment support programs from providing training opportunities to creating opportunities to work, and addressing the systemic discrimination refugees face in the labour market.