ChildFund and Australian Rugby join forces to bring sport to youth in Asia

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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 6 April 2017: This International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, two Australian organisations are highlighting the importance of sport in a unique partnership.

Australian Rugby Union (ARU) and ChildFund Australia have been working together to give children from some of the poorest regions in Asia the chance to take part in an innovative sport for development program: Pass It Back.

With funding support from the Australian Government, the ARU and ChildFund have been working together with non-government organisations and national rugby federations in Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines to grow and expand ChildFund’s successful Pass it Back program.

Using a fully integrated rugby and life-skills curriculum, Pass it Back not only promotes the right to play in communities where children have little or no access to organised sport, but provides important learning opportunities around leadership, life skills and gender equality.

Earlier this year, two of Australia’s top rugby players, Lewis Holland and Nicole Beck, spent three days in Kim Boi in northern Vietnam running coaching and referee clinics and supporting a team competition involving more than 160 young players and coaches from remote communities of Laos and Vietnam.

Gold medallist Nicole Beck says of the experience: “It was a privilege to be able to travel to these communities and support the development of new talent. I am particularly impressed that in Laos and Vietnam, where rugby is a relatively new sport, so many girls and young women are jumping in and giving it a go.”

ChildFund’s Pass it Back program was set up for children in rural and remote communities of Laos and Vietnam, who face significant challenges around poverty and inequality. Now, working in partnership with the ARU, Pass It Back will be expanded to marginalised communities in the Philippines ensuring more children will be able to overcome challenges, inspire positive change and ‘pass it back’ to their communities.

ChildFund Australia CEO Nigel Spence said: “The knowledge, skills and attitudes built through this program will support young people to overcome these challenges, and be strong leaders and role models within their communities. We are very excited to be partnering with the ARU, one of the world’s leading national governing bodies for rugby, to expand the Pass it Back program to more children in Asia.”

To date, more than 2,500 children and youth in some of the remotest and poorest communities in Laos and Vietnam have benefitted from participation in the program, with girls making up more than 50 per cent of the players and coaches.

Adam Thomas, Head of Community and Pacific Partnerships at Australian Rugby Union said: “The ARU has significant experience in implementing sport for development programs in the Pacific and we’re looking forward to building on that work in Asia through this partnership with ChildFund.

“One of the most remarkable achievements of Pass it Back has been its success in attracting girls and young women to the game of rugby. As we work with ChildFund to extend the program, we hope more women and girls are just as eager to try it out.”

ChildFund Australia has joined more than 70 organisations — including the Refugee Council of Australia, the Australian Council of Social Services, international aid agencies, unions and church groups — in calling on the major political parties to end the mandatory offshore detention of refugees.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, published in The Australian today, the organisations express deep concern for the fate of the children and families currently resident in camps on Manus and Nauru.

The statement notes: “This is a crisis. We are calling on both major parties to form a bipartisan commitment to immediately evacuate the camps and bring these people to safety.”

ChildFund Australia CEO Nigel Spence said: “Successive governments, from both sides of politics, have failed to address the serious failings of Australia’s offshore detention policy, which put already vulnerable lives, particularly children, at further risk.”

This is despite evidence from a series of independent inquiries which show that conditions for children and families in Manus and Nauru are inhumane. To date, the Moss Review and Cornell Reports, the Forgotten Children Report by the Australian Human Rights Commision, as well as the subsequent release of the Nauru Files, have all called for an end to offshore processing.

Mr Spence added: “Australia’s policy contravenes our obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“Right now, Australia cannot guarantee the safety of those who are resident in offshore processing centres. Under these circumstances, the only fair and reasonable course of action is that Australia offers refuge to these children and families, and closes the camps.”

Joint Statement

We, as a coalition of organisations and community groups from around Australia, are writing to express our concern regarding the humanitarian crisis that Australia has created.

Successive Australian governments have managed and funded offshore detention camps on Manus Island and Nauru. The people detained there are clearly Australia‰Ûªs responsibility. This situation has reached crisis point, and immediate action must be taken.

Beyond the reports of physical and sexual abuse, including of children; inadequate medical attention; suicides and attempted suicides; even a murder; the extinguishment of hope has pushed people to the edge.

Many of these people have been recognised as refugees. We owe them protection and safety now.

Meanwhile, politicians are spending years engaged in lengthy negotiations as to the fate of these men, women and children. With the US resettlement deal in serious doubt, the most obvious and humane solution is to clear the camps and bring these people to Australia until a safe long term, appropriate outcome for them can be guaranteed.

We do not have years. Australia cannot allow another person to die or suffer because of our actions.

This is a crisis. We are calling on both major parties to form a bipartisan commitment to immediately evacuate the camps and bring these people to safety.

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