MYAN has released a COVID-19 Policy Platform identifying seven priority areas for young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
We are calling for targeted approaches in policy and service delivery in:
Employment, Income Support, Education, Digital Access, Mental Health, Family Violence and Racism, Discrimination and Youth Justice.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of everyone in the Australian community in acute and unpredictable ways. For young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, it has exacerbated pre-existing access and equity barriers in all aspects of their lives – including in education, training, employment, health and well-being, and income support.
MYAN has held regular national meetings with young people and the sector to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on young people’s lives and on youth and settlement service delivery. They have highlighted their concerns and challenges (in the immediate and longer term), as well as innovative responses to addressing these – including the importance of building on young people’s strengths and capabilities.
MYAN has developed this Policy Platform to share these key concerns, provide recommendations for addressing them and to inform our ongoing advocacy work and the advocacy work of others in the sector, at the national and state/territory levels.
Targeted, specialist approaches are essential to ensure that young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds are safe, healthy and connected throughout this pandemic, and to mitigate the massive disruptions to economic, social, and civic participation now and into the future.
Young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds have demonstrated their immense resilience, adaptability, and resourcefulness at this time, and many are leading initiatives in their communities in response to the COVID-19. MYAN affirms the importance of recognising and building on young people’s strengths and capabilities, and working with them as partners in service planning and delivery – particularly in times of crisis. They have a critical role to play in both responding to and reimagining a post-COVID 19 world.
