JSM - Edition Two

A ustralia N eeds T o I ntake M ore C hild R efugees A letter to P rime M inister M alcolm T urnbull Phoenix Kyaw Somerset College Mudgeeraba, QLD Australia Dear Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, I am a ten year old Australian boy and I am currently studying the topic of child refu- gees as my PYP topic at Somerset College, Gold Coast. I was shocked to discover that worldwide, child refugees make up 41 percent of the world’s refugees; there are 6,150,000 child refugees of the 15 million total refugees. I was sad to learn that many of these child refugees live in terrible conditions; some are locked up in reeking underground prisons, every day the prison guards beat them and these children receive only one meal a day. I ask you Sir, how would you feel if some of these children were your relatives? I strongly believe that Australia should increase the intake of child refugees. I believe that Australia has so much land, natural resources and a small population compared to many other countries. We also have great programs in place for refugees and for these reasons, I believe that we could take in thousands more child refugees. By taking in more child refugees, we would be supporting the Rights of the Child Document and supporting equal values for children. In this letter, firstly I will outline the extent of the refugee problem worldwide. Secondly, I will outline the reasons why Australia should take on more child refugees. Thirdly I will describe rights of a child from the Rights of the Child Document 2016, finally what may happen if we don’t take any action. To support my argument, I have included three personal questionnaires (attached to this letter). The first has been completed by a family friend who came to Australia as a child refugee from Cambodia. The second questionnaire has been completed by a family friend, whose parents came to Australia as refugees from Vietnam. The third questionnaire has been completed by my uncle who is one of the official interpreters for Burmese refugees. He has worked on Manis Islands, Christmas Island and Nauru. I have also included photos of some displaced children from an orphanage in Yangon, Myanmar that our family personally support. Primarily, I have recently learnt that a child refugee is a child who has been forced to leave their home country because of persecution, to escape war or because of a natural disaster that has occurred. continued over page...

JSM Edition Two

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