It is over 40 years since I have established the Committee for Family Reunions (Komitet Laczenia Rodzin) in Australia. Its history shows a great success of Polish lobby in Australia during the early 1980s when communist Poland was undergoing a major transformation with emergence of Solidarity movement and when many refugees from Poland arrived in Australia.
The Committee was established in late 1980 and its members included Dr Sev Ozdowski (Chair), Dr Martin Krygier, Ms Isabel Lucas and Mr Aleksander Peczalski (Secretary). Mr Jerzy Boniecki allowed to use his postal address (P.O. Box 104, Woollahra, NSW 2025) for correspondence to the Committee and provided some monies for its administrative expenses.

The purpose of the Committee was to facilitate reunion of Polish families. In 1980 many Poles decided to emigrate from Poland and in the 1981–82 period, 5732 Polish settlers arrived at Australia (often after seeking a refugee status in Austria and other Western countries). Initially, some families had decided that the husband/father will migrate first, check the conditions in the settlement country, and if satisfied, invite his family to join him.

However, the communist Poland authorities regarded their “unauthorised” emigration as an offence and breach of Polish passport rules and often punished those who migrated to Australia by not allowing their families to join them. The situation become particularly difficult after martial law was declared in Poland on 13 December 1981.
The unresolved family reunion issue led to major trauma amongst the new Polish settlers in Australia, political demonstrations, including hunger strikes and threats of violence against Polish consular and diplomatic staff in Australia.

The Committee undertook the following actions to address the problem:

. Advertised in the Polish-Australian media and sought support of the Polish diaspora and human rights organizations in Australia for work of the Committee.
. Sought people who needed assistance with family reunion to register with the Committee – some 70-80 individuals registered. Organized letter writing campaign.
. Actively lobbied Australian Parliamentarians and relevant federal authorities to make representations to the Polish communist authorities to allow for family reunion to proceed.
. Liaised extensively with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tony Street, and his department.
. Conducted significant media campaign to inform Australians of the situation.
. Made representations to the communist authorities in Poland and their diplomatic/consular representatives in Australia. A meeting of the Committee with Consul Marian Bark took place on 2 May 1981.
. Wrote to Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski.

The Committee work has proven to be very effective as by the end of 1983 families of all those who registered with the Committee were reunited. In early 1984 the Committee ceased all its operations. The Committee archives will be deposited in Emigration Museum, Gdynia, Poland.

My best congratulations to the Australian Council for Human Rights Education President Zeny Edwards for the establishment of the ACHRE e-News. The second issue of e-News is attached. Worth reading – it provides a good summary of HRE recent developments in Australia.

2021-11-01 ACHRE eNews No.2

It was sad to learn about the resignation of New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian from Parliament today. Ms Berejiklian is facing an ICAC investigation into whether she breached public trust.

In my view, Gladys has been a witness to how much migrants can achieve in Australia.

Born in 1970 as the eldest of daughters to Armenian immigrant parents, Krikor and Arsha. Her grandparents were orphaned by Turkish soldiers in the Armenian genocide in 1915. Ms Berejiklian spoke only Armenian until she was five years old, when she began learning English. She has remained involved in the Armenian-Australian community, serving a term on the Armenian National Committee of Australia.
In 2004, as Australian Human Rights Commissioner, I was privileged to be invited to address the Armenian Community at the anniversary of the Armenian genocide function in North Sydney (my speech is here 2004-04-29 NSW – Genocide Armenia to Rwanda) .

Ms Berejiklian has been a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly since 2003, representing the seat of Willoughby. She assumed office of the Premier on 23 January 2017 and won the 2019 state election. She has led our state through some of its most challenging times, from bushfires to drought, from floods to storms, and a once-in-a-century pandemic – always putting the needs of the people of NSW first.

Thank you Gladys for your decades of dedication and service to NSW. I wish you all the best for the future.

Sev Ozdowski with Gladys Berejiklian, NSW Premier

Information source: Falun Dafa Information Centre, USA

DID YOU KNOW? IN THE TRANSPLANT MARKET, THE CHINESE REGIME IS THE SOLE STATE-SANCTIONED PLAYER WITH A MURDER-FOR-PROFIT INDUSTRY. And now, China may be rewriting medical standards to entice other regimes to follow suit. This was one of many revelations presented at The World Summit on Combating and Preventing Forced Organ Harvesting international webinar, which also disclosed estimates that more than a million have died due to forced organ harvesting.

Countries that follow ethical medical procedures cannot compete: it’s cheaper and faster for patients to get organs in China. This economic reality alone could push other regimes to follow Beijing’s macabre methods.

But the world is also waking up to the CCP’s crimes. A petition campaign in 2018 addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights garnered over 3 million signatures across the globe. This month, over 400,000 viewers attended World Summit live webinar sessions. And now you also have an opportunity to refuse the CCP’s encroachment of our medical ethics by adding your signature to the Universal Declaration on Combating and Preventing Forced Organ Harvesting here.

I encourage everyone interested in human rights and, in particular, in human rights education to join this conference.
A PDF copy of the invitation is attached here.. Invitation..

———-
INVITATION LETTER

The XVIII International Human Rights Congress continues the work developed in its seventeen previous editions, which have always addressed topics related to philosophical, historical and legal foundations, as well as the practice of Human Rights in Brazil and other countries. This event also intends to be a privileged space for talking about new perspectives related to Human Rights, public policies and innovation in this area.

The expectation is that the event will be held between November 8 and 12, 2021, at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, completely online, being open to students, teachers, professionals and activists from social movements, with the aim of to reflect on Inequalities, DESCA and the 2030 Agenda.

For that, it will count on the collaboration of several Higher Education Institutions, including: Universidade Católica Dom Bosco – UCDB, MS, Brazil; Faculdade Estácio de Sá Campo Grande – FESCG, MS, Brazil; Universidad Complutense de Madrid – UCM, Spain; Federal University of Grande Dourados – UFGD, MS, Brazil; University of Washington, Tacoma – UW, United States; Mato Grosso do Sul College – FACSUL, MS, Brazil; State University of Mato Grosso do Sul – UEMS, MS, Brazil; Universidad de Salamanca – USAL, Spain.
The event will also count with the participation of the Public Ministry and other institutions and bodies of the state and federal Judiciary.

In view of the above, we invite you to join the International Commission for the Promotion of the XVIII IACHR. This committee will assist in publicizing the event on various social media networks and research groups, as well as in the dialogue between possible collaborators / speakers and conducting institutions, namely, Institute of Human Rights of Mato Grosso do Sul – José do Nascimento – IDHMSJN; Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul – UFMS; and Catholic University Dom Bosco – UCDB.

Certain of counting on your collaboration, we put ourselves at your disposal and thank you in advance.

Sincerely,
Rosângela Kato Getulio Raimundo Lima Ynes da Silva Félix President
of IDHMS.JN Standing Committee on CIDH Organizing Committee of XVIII CIDH

Go to the AUDIO section to listen to prof Sev Ozdowski’s interview with Ms Dorota Banasiak (Producer, Radio SBS Polish Program).

On 13 August 2021 The Epoch Times newspaper has published an article by Daniel Teng about my USA Human Rights award from Friends of Falun Gong. Please see the link below.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/survivor-of-communist-poland-wins-human-rights-award-for-supporting-falun-gong_3947122.html

On 16 July 2021, I was presented with the 2021 Friends of Falun Gong Human Rights Award in Washington DC. I regret that because of COVIS-19 Sydney lockdown I was not able to travel to Washington DC to receive the award in person. For my address delivered at the award ceremony see: 2021-07-18 The 2021 Friends of Falun Gong Human Rights Award, Washington DC, 16 July 2021, Statement by Prof Sev Ozdowski, | Dr Sev Ozdowski AM

Enclosed is the photo of the Human Rights Trophy that arrived in Sydney today. It is a beautifully hand-crafted piece of art that was manufactured at a jewellery factory in New York City. Enclosed is a short documentary about the factory that crafted this beautiful trophy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX-Rxz0egiw&lc=Ugy2cPNVzeCuTP8n1uV4AaABAg

Thank you to all who helped with the acknowledgement of my work to advance human rights in China. The Trophy will be displayed in a very prominent place.

On Friday 30 July Prof. Sev Ozdowski AM, Chair, Australian Multicultural Foundation and former Australian Human Rights Commissioner took part together with Prof. the Honourable Bob Carr, former Premier of New South Wales (1995 to 2005) and former Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs in a dialogue organised in recognition of the International Day of Friendship titled ‘International Friendship and Multilateralism’.

The discussion was moderated by Ms Lissa McMillan, the former ABC and SBS journalist. The webinar was hosted by Mr Ahmet Polat, Executive Director, Affinity Intercultural Foundation and Dr Patricia Jenkings, President, NSW Branch, the United Nations Association of Australia. Closing remarks were offered by Affinity Advisory Board member, Mr Richard Broinowski AM.

The discussion covered a range of issues impacting on the current state of multilateralism and on the promotion of dialogue among civilizations, countries, cultures and individuals. The contemporary approach to multilateralism by China, Russia and the USA were discussed.

Here is the link to the webinar’s live stream video event:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/98etjoxti10mo3q/AACGvEKTXIgC0Hv-QfdLqtLqa?dl=0
Alternatively watch on:
YouTube: https://youtu.be/G9YJWNAXmis
Facebook: https://fb.watch/777tHWFbEQ/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Affinity_IF/status/1421034003537096706?s=20
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/affinity-intercultural-foundation_international-friendship-day-international-activity-6827790338208485376-IElj