Global Refugee Forum 2023 Australian Community Sponsorship Pledge
At the end of 2022, there were 108.4 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, including 35.3 million refugees. That same year, only 114,300 were able to access resettlement.
The power of community sponsorship programs lies in its capacity to increase this number and expand the avenues for refugees to resettle, providing an inclusive opportunity for ordinary people to collectively welcome refugees into their communities.
At the Global Refugee Forum in 2019, Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia and Settlement Services International (SSI) launched a civil society pledge to generate and demonstrate widespread support for the introduction of a community sponsorship program. Following this, Australia’s first ‘designed for purpose’ community sponsorship program, the Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP), was launched in mid-2022.
With dozens of refugee households now successfully welcomed by groups of everyday Australians, and life-changing outcomes for refugee arrivals and sponsoring communities alike, CRISP is a crucial step towards broadening Australia’s resettlement efforts. Still, more needs to be done.
We welcome the Australian government’s ambition to progressively increase community sponsored and other complementary places to 10,000 per year, additional to Australia’s humanitarian intake. Stand with us in support of realising this ambition and sign the Community Sponsorship Pledge.
By doing so, we will collectively tell the Australian government and the rest of the world that the Australian community stands ready to welcome more refugee newcomers each year through community sponsorship.
Endorsed by the following organisations (as at 1 February 2024):
ACT AEU Relief Teachers
Alfred Deakin Institiute
Allegra Spender MP
AMES Australia
Amnesty International Australia
Amnesty Margaret River
Angie Talleyrand
ART + ENVIRONMENT
Armidale Sanctuary Humanitarian Settlement
Asylum Seekers Centre
Association for Services to Torture and Trauma Survivors
Australia Chin Community
Australian Neighbourhood Houses and Centres Association
Ballina Region for Refugees
Bridge for Asylum Seekers
Bubbletent Australia
Cassinia Community
Castle of Kindness Refugee Sponsorship Group
Cheltenham Highett Refugee Sponsorship Group
Cisarua Learning
Coastal CRISP
Corrections Victoria
Eastern Hills Sponsorship Group
Embrace Sanctuary Australia
End Child Detention Coalition Australia
Eugene Dennis
Everyday Church
Friends of Refugees Byron Shire
Fulbe Australia
Grandmothers for Refugees
Happy Home Refugee Support Group
Hatchone Pty Ltd
HOST International
Huon Refugee Support Group Inc
Lions Eye Institute
Lismore Region Refugee Settlement
Margaret River Welcome
Montmorency Asylum Seeker Support Group
Moreton Bay Refugee Friends
Mountain Mentors
NAYBA
Ocean Shores for Refugees
Our Village
PoppySmack Sauce
Presentation Sisters Wagga Wagga
Pride Foundation Australia
Refugee Advice & Casework Service
Refugee Council of Australia
Roseville Uniting Church Refugee Support Group
Rural Australians for Refugees – Bendigo
Rural Australians for Refugees Inc
SASS Group 6
SCALES Community Legal Centre
Settlement Council of Australia
Settelement Services International (SSI)
Social Justice Group St Vincent’s Parish Ashfield NSW
Socio-Cultural Syriac Inc. Association
South Gippsland Rural Australians for Refugees
Sustainable Resource Use
Symon Capital
Tasmanian Quakers Peace & Justice Committee
Tasmanian Refugee Rights Action Group
Terrigal Uniting Church Refugee Support Group
The Bread & Butter Project
The Kimberley Foundation
The Salvation Army
True Support & Therapy
Tweed Welcomes Refugees
Uniting Church Action for Society and Environment
Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania
Welcoming Australia
Whittlesea Community Connections
Women’s International Solidarity Australia
Via Advisory
You Belong Australia