Australia supports displaced people
The Australian Government will provide A$12.8 million for overseas assistance projects to support displaced people fleeing wars, persecution or political strife in their homelands and help reduce their vulnerability to people smuggling.
The Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship Senator Chris Evans said in Canberra on 23 February that Australia will fund 17 international projects in 2009 aimed at reducing irregular migration.
Among the projects to receive funding, Senator Evans announced A$484,000 for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to build new shelters for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Australia has previously provided around A$1.5 million to improve conditions for Rohingya.
Other projects are helping Afghan and Iraqi refugees, improving asylum seeker processing in Indonesia and delivering humanitarian relief in the north of Sri Lanka.
The full texts of the press releases of Senator Chris Evans, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship are available at - www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/media-releases/2009/#feb
Australian High Commission, Dhaka
24 February 2009
For further information please contact:
Senior Political & Economic Research Officer, AHC, Dhaka.
Tel: 8813105, E-mail: [email protected]