NetIPR -- briefing

Friends, today 10th December 2022 marks the birthday of NetIPR (Network for International Protection of Refugees). The NetIPR organisation was founded 24 years ago on the auspicious Human Rights Day of 1998, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On this my NetIPR organisational birthday, I am remembering my (late) patrons, Sr. Janet Mead (1937-2022) and Revd. Martin Chittleborough (1936-2014). These two outstanding individuals, both South Australians, were being kind and generous to me in setting up the NetIPR refugee advocacy organisation. The objective since the founding been:

The Network will function purely as a refugee advocacy network, in contrast to the refugee support network/groups. It will take interest in the matters of protecting human rights of the refugees and displaced persons. The Network will not be involved in matters such as the individual casework of refugee. It will not be engaged in resettlement/sponsorship of refugee to Australia. It will primarily be devoted to responding to government policies, including that of Australia, with regards to the refugees and displaced persons.

Of course the time and so do our lives have moved on. I myself have abandoned the "Mean streets of Adelaide" in 2011 and moved to Sydney -- cleaning jobs are available here :-) :-) :-). The executive members seemed also scattered and moved on with their lives -- two of them actually traced via Facebook. The NetIPR organisation, which I've founded and my patrons supported, has survived nevertheless in its spirits and beginning to transform as the internet blogger's publication entity. The official internet domain and website "netipr.org", that I have initiated and maintained since 2003, have still been active, alive and kicking, so to speak.

With the realisation in late 2017 that the Commonwealth Government of Australia may have been engaged in the crime against humanity enslaving refugees; And so also of Burma's long simmering "Rohingya" conflict had erupted again in that year, I had set up two additional internet domains and maintained the following self-funded websites:

1. The Australians for ICC Witness
www.aus4iccwitness.org

2. The Rohingya FAQs by NetIPR
www.rohingya-faqs.org

The Network's objective was also to contribute, whenever possible, to removing root causes of refugee flights, of which inevitably will found to be political. After 24 years in this refugee advocacy tasks, I find all political entities ( government and non-government ) are mostly short-sighted, invariably self-serving and not necessarily cooperative in refugee causes. Given universal lack of political will to address global refugee causes, one might need equivalent global powers to tackle. Evidently, a grassroots activists lacking such powers, what one must do is to spread the message and tell the truth to the world. As the grassroots activists we must learn to be self reliance and be survive. The availability of Internet and modern communication tools have been of great assistance, if not the game changer, to our causes.

By having friendships and the privilege of working with this two distinguished South Australian patrons, what I've learnt as an activist has been to be Humble; Be humble, yet, courageous on keeping the tasks at hand in whichever meaningful ways. To this end, I've been carrying out legal and political research re: refugees, and distributing my finding to others users, so to say. -- Cheers, U Ne Oo, NetIPR.

Network for International Protection of Refugees, Objectives.
[#1] http://www.netipr.org/uneoo/file.php?f=u54uFf.Iqe5fv.204