It is estimated that several thousand Assyrians, most from Iraq's Assyrian region, remain stranded in neighboring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, unable to find resettlement in Western nations. Many of these Assyrians were displaced following the ISIS invasion of the Nineveh Plain Region in northern Iraq and the Gozarto Region in northeastern Syria. Others have left since the defeat of ISIS, driven by economic hardship and instability.
The meetings, held across several community centers in Sydney's western suburb of Fairfield, home to one of the largest Assyrian communities in Australia, were organized separately by the Assyrian National Council of Australia, Assyrian representatives from the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Assyrian Australian Association. The organizations reportedly advocated for the resettlement of Assyrian refugees to Australia.
Hermiz Shahen, President of the Assyrian National Council of Australia, urged the Department of Home Affairs to review the most vulnerable refugee cases for possible resettlement, coordinate with UNHCR to identify at-risk Assyrian families, and reform the Community Support Program (CSP) to better assist refugees facing financial hardship.
The CSP program allows individuals, businesses, and community organizations to sponsor refugees, supporting their resettlement and integration into Australian society through private funding and community engagement. The program receives far more applications than the yearly visa quota allows, leading to significant processing backlogs that can take eight or more years.
"Our purpose is not to encourage our people to leave Assyria, but to uphold their human rights wherever they live," Mr. Shahen said. "We look to Australia's humanitarian leadership to help those who have nowhere else to turn."
The same message was echoed by representatives of other Assyrian organizations and churches in their meetings with the ministers.
An Outdated Approach?
The humanitarian position of the Assyrian-Australian community leaders, although noble and coming from a genuine desire to help, stands in contrast to growing efforts by other Assyrian organizations that focus on aiding displaced families return to their homeland. One such organization,The Return, reports a rising number of inquiries from diaspora Assyrians interested in moving back.
With improved security, stability, and a range of active Assyrian-led initiatives on the ground, some argue that it is no longer accurate to claim that displaced Assyrians "have nowhere else to turn." The Assyrian-Australian community's continued emphasis on refugee resettlement is increasingly viewed as outdated and out of step with the wider trend toward return and reconstruction.
The emerging consensus among many Assyrian groups is that refugees should return once conditions permit, conditions that, they argue, have improved significantly since the defeat of ISIS. This has prompted some to suggest that Assyrian organizations in Australia should encourage the government to launch programs supporting voluntary return, rather than focusing solely on relocation to Australia.
One such state sponsored initiative is the Hungary Helps program, launched by the Hungarian government in part to facilitate the return of displaced Assyrians. Rather than focusing on diaspora resettlement, the program emphasizes strengthening the Assyrian Christian presence in their ancestral homeland.
Projects include the restoration of damaged homes, schools, and churches in towns such as Tesqopa and Batnaya in the Nineveh Plain Region, as well as agricultural training and humanitarian aid for displaced families. Observers note that Australia, a far wealthier nation, could do far more than Hungary to help Assyrians rebuild their lives on their own land.
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