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African report addresses legal barriers

Date : 07 Sep 2009

Our of Africa and Into Court

A new report by the Footscray-based African Legal Service was launched on Wednesday  2 September at Victoria Legal Aid's Lionel Murphy Centre.

Out of Africa and into Court highlights the difficulties facing newly arrived migrants in moving from war-torn countries to a Western society such as Melbourne.

Written by Katie Fraser of the Footscray Community Legal Centre, the report calls for increased funding from State and Federal governments so that settlement agencies can provide face-to-face information to migrants before and after their arrival in Australia, particularly about driving and insurance and how to use utilities. It also calls for more innovative and holistic approaches to helping refugees, including reviews of the infringement system and of VicRoads licence suspension system.

‘Resettlement is not a straightforward process’, said guest speaker Dr Melika Yassin Sheikh-Eldin, manager, Settlement Partnership, AMES and chairperson, Horn of Africa Community Network (HACN).  

‘New arrivals face many confusing and competing demands on arrival and their immediate focus will not always be on legal issues. They have other basic and important needs,’ she told the audience of nearly 100 people.

‘The legal system is very complicated and many refugees might have never lived in a country where law and order is the norm. In those countries, human suffering, violence, oppression, autocracy, intolerance and violation of human rights are part of daily life. It may also mean refugees having to adjust their initial knowledge and expectations of the law.

‘The barriers are huge and designing ways for a smooth transition has to be the ultimate goal of everyone, whether it be the government, the recipient, or service providers.’

Victoria Legal Aid managing director Bevan Warner said, ‘This report well demonstrates that our work in educating the community about the law is never done and  early intervention and preventative approaches, like those identified in the report, are sorely needed. 

‘I congratulate Katie Fraser and the Footscray Community Legal Centre for undertaking such important research and for challenging us all with their seemingly simple, but sometimes difficult to implement  recommendations for improvement. 

‘This is a fine example of work occurring in partnership and the law operating within a community development framework.’

Out of Africa and into Court (PDF – new window) is available online or from the Footscray Community Legal Centre (new window).