During Children’s Week (19-28 October), Save the Children is calling on the Australian Parliament to listen to children and get kids off Nauru.
Save the Children Youth Ambassadors are this week using their voices to demand refugee and asylum seeker children and their families get the health care they urgently need.
The seven Youth Ambassadors from across Australia, aged between 14 and 18, are preparing to take their message to Canberra in November with the support of Save the Children.
Joining the campaign to get kids off Nauru by Universal Children’s Day (20 November), the Youth Ambassadors have today spoken out against the distress and hardship endured by children languishing in effective detention on Nauru.
Save the Children Youth Ambassador Immy Radford, 16, said all children deserved the right to adequate healthcare, education and to just be kids.
“The Government must act by bringing these children and their families to Australia or resettling them in a country that is safe by National Children's Day,” Immy said.
“Children urgently need access to essential services and have their basic human rights fulfilled so they can grow up into healthy and happy adults.”
Fellow Youth Ambassador Bassam Maaliki, 15, urged the government to show compassion.
“The government need to put politics aside and to bring those children to safety, to have the opportunity to heal from the trauma they have lived with for years,” Bassam said.
Save the Children reiterates its call for the Prime Minister to immediately accept New Zealand’s offer to settle the families on Nauru.
“It is deeply disappointing to see the Prime Minister this week renege on the New Zealand offer right when there appeared to be bipartisan support,” Save the Children Director of Policy and International Programs Mat Tinkler said.
"It is vital that these vulnerable children are not forgotten and Save the Children will ensure they’re not."
Learn more about our Youth Ambassadors.
Support the #KidsoffNauru campaign.
For interviews, call Alex Sampson on 0429 943 027