Fair go for the Ramar family!

Our names are Hanne and Claire. We are friends of the hard-working, kind, and caring Ramar family: Ramar Selvalingam, Rajeshwari (Raji) Ramar (centre), and their now-adult children, Remaniya Ramar (left) and Rahul Ramar (right).

This family is in danger of deportation from Australia. They had their work rights stripped from them on Tuesday, 30th April. They need to submit ANOTHER application for protection, and need legal advice for this process.

We are appealing to Minister Tony Burke to reconsider the decisions made in this process.

We URGENTLY need to raise money for the family’s legal appeal, and for the family to be able to live safely in Australia.

Because Remaniya and Rahul came by boat as children to Australia 12 years ago with their parents, they were punished for their mode of arrival by boat. They have lived in limbo for 12 years.

Ramar and Raji worked multiple jobs to pay for Remaniya’s nursing studies. As a boat arrival, Remaniya had to pay international student fees. We managed to get Remaniya a refugee scholarship for the last year of her study at Sunshine Coast University and relieve her parents of some of that financial burden.

Rahul, Remaniya's younger brother, was never allowed to study after school. He wants to be a policeman or work in the armed forces, helping to defend Australia. Now he has risen to be a manager in a cleaning company.

As of 30th April, when their work rights were revoked, the family cannot feed themselves, cannot pay their rent, cannot pay their bills, and cannot afford a lawyer to appeal their situation.

This is like the Biloela Muruguppan family all over again. We have been in touch with the Biloela people involved in the "Home To Bilo" campaign, to seek advice on how best to advocate for the Ramar family.

We are asking Australians to chip in and help this hardworking family. ...All they are asking is to have a fair go!

You have two generations of refugees right here. They fled India because some reported them for not living in a Tamil refugee camp. These camps are notorious for being unsafe for women. They wanted to live safely as a family. They were happy to live in India, but were not able to do so.

So, this family took a very dangerous boat journey to Australia in early 2013, in the hope that they might be able to live in peace, together as a family.

Instead, they were punished by Australia for taking that dangerous boat journey, where they all nearly perished. They could not come by plane, because they had no papers to obtain visas.

They applied for refugee status in 2015, when they were finally allowed to work. They had to earn the money for their own lawyer, contrary to Australia's obligations to the UN Refugee Convention.

Like 94% of Sri Lankan Tamils, they failed Australia's so-called "fast track" refugee processing. They have waited for 12 years, living in limbo, yet still building their lives.

Now they have been given 2 “choices”:

1. To leave Australia, but the children are stateless, so they can't travel overseas in any legal capacity.

2. Apply for another Ministerial Intervention, but have work rights stripped from them.

Because of the children's statelessness, this 2nd option is what the family has opted for.

This is NOT a choice. It is bullying and coercion, creating unnecessary suffering

Sri Lanka is STILL regarded as dangerous for Sri Lankan Tamils:

Sri Lanka is a country in which the children have never lived. Their parents have not lived in Sri Lanka since the civil war, when they fled as little children with their parents.

Please help this family in their appeal to Home Affairs