chilout : children out of detention

Your participation makes a difference. Choose an activity from the menu on the left and get involved. Be sure to join our mailing list so that you can keep up to date with all the latest from Chilout. Be part of a forthcoming event in your state.

Contact your MP

ChilOut wants you to visit and lobby your MP in person. We have guidelines to help you prepare, and need your feedback on your visit to help us in our campaign. Read more...

ChilOut mailing list

Our regular "call to action" list is the electronic mailing list for supporters of ChilOut. You can sign up by filling in our contact form. ChilOut organisers use the list to keep supporters up-to-date with news, events and our regular calls to action. See our mailing list page for more details.

Visitors program

Many ChilOut supporters are involved in visiting detainees at Villawood, Maribrynong and other detention centres. Find out all about it on the visitors' program page.

Write to a detainee

Another way to directly get involved is by writing to a detainee - a letter can provide such a tangible connection to "the outside".

Help for Visa Holders living in the community

Life can be very tough for families and children are released from immigration detention, and other refugees and asylum seekers living in the community. All of them face difficulties overcoming the effects of past trauma, in their country of origin. Many of them are also overcoming health problems caused by their detention in Australia. Their visa conditions are an added burden for them to cope with. Read how you can get involved and help...

Make a donation

Information on how to make donations to detainees and ChilOut.

Visit the online store

You can also donate to Chilout by purchasing calendars, t-shirts, CDs and books from our online store.

ChilOut Sydney volunteer list

We have a mailing list for Sydney-based people who can help out with practical tasks. Some examples include helping out at events with ChilOut stalls, helping with transport requests for refugee friends, pick ups and drop offs of jobs from printers, T-shirt people etc. in Sydney. To join the list send an email to .

To join our regular call to action list, please sign up here...

The Justice Project

The Justice Project Inc has been formed to co-ordinate a refugee reform campaign and to campaign for a restoration of genuine human rights in Australia. Visit their web site and download a copy of their campaign kit.

Support HREOC's report of its
National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention

The long-awaited report has been tabled in Parliament, on Thursday, 13 May 2004.
Read media releases and reports...
What can we do to support the Inquiry's recommendations?

Posters to download and print

Send a gift to a child behind the razor wire

If you would like to send a gift to a child in detention, we have suggestions and details of to whom and where to send them. Read more...

Siev X National Memorial Project

In October 2001 the Siev X refugee boat sank in international waters on its way to Australia. Three hundred and fifty-three people drowned, the majority of them women and children. The Siev X National Memorial Project is an Australia-wide Young People's Art Collaboration, to design and build a memorial to the people of Siev X, on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, the national capital. You can find out more and register your interest to participate by visiting www.sievxmemorial.com.

Visit the on-line memorial site, http://www.sievxmemorial.org.

Phone Cards for Nauru

One thing detainees on isolated Nauru dearly need are phone cards. Telstra PhoneAway cards are suitable. Here are some examples of call costs for 15 minute calls from Nauru to:

Iraq	$23.34	Palestine	$8.34
Afghanistan	$30.84	Bangladesh	$21.84
Iran	$21.84	Australia	$16.90

For people who want to send a phone card to Nauru, please email for a detainee's name and their ID number which needs to be included in the address after the person's name.

Anne Simpson is coordinating bulk purchases through Telstra, and can get a 25% discount. Email to let her know of your donation and deposit your donation into the account:

Banana Coast Credit Union
Account Name: Bellingen Rural Australians for Refugees
BSB: 704 328
Account Number: 171411 S11

Read more about the phone card project on www.nauruwire.org...

Petition To End Detention of Children and Separation of Families in Australia

View and sign here: http://www.petitiononline.com/dtention/petition-sign.html
The petition says, in part:

"This is not how we as Australians want to treat families. The needs and rights of children must be put first. We the undersigned call for an immediate end to the detention of children. We call for an immediate change to regulations that enforce separation between parents and dependent children. We call for changes in legislation that will protect future children arriving unauthorised on Australian territory or in Australian waters. Damaging children is not acceptable to us as Australians."

Refugee Council of Australia's Petition

Our Blot on History's Page - Advance Australia's Fear.

Demanding a Fairer Go for Asylum-Seekers & Refugees (November 2003)
Read the Refugee Council of Australia's Petition demanding a fairer go for refugees and asylum seekers who flee to Australia seeking safety from persecution. You are invited to sign the petition.

Quilt For Refugees Campaign

http://quilt_for_refugees.tripod.com/ Appalled by what is happening in our country, we have come together as concerned citizens in this visual expression "quilting" which is a traditional form of protest. [...] Anyone can make a patch for our quilt. You don't need to be able to sew. You can paint, draw with felt tip pens, use transfers, glue, write.....limited only by your imagination (so long as it is your expression about refugees). Read how to get involved...

The Refugee Advocate's Help Kit

http://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/html/resources/advocateskit.html
This advocacy kit has been developed by the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) on behalf of the Detention Working Group for use by advocacy groups and those working with refugees and asylum seekers in NSW.

Current campaigns and issues

Get involved in ChilOut's current campaigns and issues. These change with our regular calls to action.

Run an information session in your local area

Are you keen to change the current government policies on asylum seekers and refugees? ChilOut can help you plan and run an information session in your local area. Contact to be put in touch with other ChilOut supporters in your area. Download our pamphlet to learn more: LocalSessionPlainText.doc or LocalSessionPlainText.pdf

ChilOut needs your help

ChilOut came into existence in August 2001. We cannot believe it is now a matter of fact in contemporary Australian society that innocent children continue to be detained, indefinitely, without review, for YEARS. The trauma induced by not knowing how long detention is to last, the living with increasingly depressive and increasingly medicated adults, the institutional regime they are kept in, the psychological damage being done, the inhumanity of it all... we cannot let this continue unchallenged in public. Please fill in our contact form if you would like to lend us your experience in event management, publicity, logistics, graphic or photographic design, or to help ChilOut in other ways.

Make a child protection report

ChilOut would like all children currently held in immigration detention centres reported to the state authorities responsible for child protection. You can participate in this campaign by sending the standard letters available for download here.

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