Hassan Al -Kuntar, a refugee who was suspended at the airport for months, helps asylum seekers stranded in Australia

أصبح حسانالقنطار معروفاً في جميع أنحاء العالم باسم "رجل المطار"، بعد إقامته لعدة أشهر في مطار كوالالمبور الدولي، كان خلالها يوثق حياته هناك وينشرها عبر الانترنت في وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي.

Qantar got the right to asylum in Canada last year, and now hopes to help 200 refugees detained on the islands of Manus and Nawaro who have been forgetting, to resettle them in Canada.

Hassan al -Qanatr (38 years) became familiar with the case of asylum seekers on the islands of Manus and Nawaro, while staying at Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia, through social media, and the correspondence of refugees held on the two islands to whom they explained their conditions there.

At that time, Qantar was documenting his private ordeal on the Internet after he was suspended at the airport for months in 2018, after leaving his country in the aftermath of the Syrian war that erupted since 2011.

Now, after obtaining the right to asylum and stability in Canada, he has become a defender of refugee issues to resettle them in Canada..

Kantar works with two charitable Canadian organizations, the Canadian Welfare Association and the Mosaic Association, both of which work in the field of care and resettlement of refugees from the islands of Manus and Nawaro in Papua New Guinea, Australia, and help them reach Canada.

The Australian Refugee Council and Amnesty International have agreed to these new endeavors, which were included in an operation called "The Forms".

"We are trying to give hope to the people," Qantar told the BBC from his home in British Columbia in Canada..

Since 2012, Australia has sent asylum seekers who reach it by boats, to the islands of Manus and Nauro, in order to limit the numbers of expatriates to it, and this policy has raised widespread controversy for years not only within Australia but also outside it as well..

Australia did not allow those coming to it to live and settle in it, not even for those who have truly refugees..

Also read:

Hassan Al -Kuntar was stuck at Kuala Lumpur Airport for more than 108 days

Kurdish refugee wrote a novel via WhatsApp from Manus Island wins the highest Australian prize

The authorities in Malaysia transport the Syrian citizen, who has been stuck at Kuala Lumpur Airport for months

Teenage taps, from the presentation of a dignity as a vehicle and prepared by Mays Baqi.

Episodes

Podcast End

"لاجئون فيغياهبالنسيان"

Australia justifies this policy towards the refugees, which the two main parties in Australia support as humanitarian because it prevents human trafficking and deaths at sea..

But the United Nations and others say that asylum seekers in those islands have often suffered from human rights violations, including sexual and physical assaults..

Doctors have increasingly warned of mental health crises.

Although asylum seekers there are not officially detention, they have become unfortunate to an indefinite time in centers on which the "transit centers", which, according to experts, has become the levels of self -harm, in which levels of self -harm increased.

Some refugees in the United States were resettled under one time agreement.

However, nearly 800 people are still on those islands, according to Human Rights Watch, most of whom have been held there since 2013.

Australia continues to reject an existing offer from New Zealand to receive 150 refugees, on the pretext that its acceptance will open a "back door" to emigrate to Australia..

Why do Syrian refugees not flee to the Gulf states?

An Iranian refugee sets fire to himself in an Australian center

Cases of abuse, sexual abuse and shocks in an Australian refugee center

Disappointment

Kantar was very annoyed by this situation and spoke about it to Lori Cooper, a volunteer at the Canadian Welfare Association, which had an effective role in helping him to reach Canada.

She told the BBC that she was telling her daughter one night about the "desperate situation" of these refugees on Manus Island and Nawaro last May.

This was immediately after the Australian general elections, which was the hope of refugees who believed that the new government helps them change their situation for the better, but the government that was in power previously won again.There were several attempts to commit suicide by some asylum seekers in the wake of the news.

Cooper said to her daughter that night: "My God, we must take care of all these men," and she means refugees on the two islands.

When she woke up the next morning, she realized that her idea was good, and Hassan Al -Kuntar also agreed to that.

"These men were named (the forgotten Manus men), and no one was able to find a way to help them, and it came to me that because of the special special care program we did in Canada, we can find a way to help them if we could raise enough money.".

Special Canadian care programs

Since the 1970s, Canada has allowed citizens from the private sector, as well as approved care groups, to launch refugee care programs directly by providing new arrivals with basic material needs such as food, clothes and housing and supporting integration programs in Canadian society.

Organizations that support the "no forgotten" process will raise funds to care and support refugees in their first year in Canada, and will train volunteer settlement teams to provide the necessary support to them upon their arrival.

According to Canadian care guidelines, nearly 12,500 USD must be collected in order to care for each refugee and settle his affairs for a full year.This means that the groups must collect approximately 3.3 million Canadian dollars for 200 refugees annually.

Australian citizens who support this effort were able to raise more than 100 thousand Canadian dollars currently.

"We have not launched this process to pressure or embarrass the Australian government, as this is not our goal, but we present our initiative in friendly and encourage them to do the right step.".

"A glimmer of hope"

These Canadian organizations have asked the refugees to register their names if they wish to settle them in Canada.And this did more than 200 refugees.

The group plans to focus first on those who are not currently entitled to resettle anywhere in the world and have no other alternatives.

They will start submitting applications upon the arrival of the money from the donors, and it may take to up to the two years from the beginning of registering their names until the completion of the process of actually resettlement..

But Cooper says it may ask the Canadian government to expedite the procedures of these cases.

The concerned refugees are countries such as Iran, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Iraq, some of whom have no nationality of a specific country.

Al -Qantar says that he knows from his personal experience what means living in the darkness of forgetfulness, and he wants refugees to stick to hope and a better future, "I ask them to prove the determination and maintain their faith and their trust in us, they are not forgotten, this is certain.".

---------------------

You can receive notifications on the most important topics after downloading the latest version of the BBC Arabic application on your mobile phone.