JRS Australia’s Annual Report 2021 outlines the unique achievements and challenges faced by JRS Australia, our wonderful supporters, partners, and all whom we serve over an extraordinary and tumultuous year.

We bore witness to terrible suffering, with the rolling impacts of COVID-19, strict lockdown measures, a marked spike in sexual and gender-based violence, and the tragic developments in Afghanistan, Myanmar and other conflict-ravaged countries world-wide, with devastating impact upon diaspora communities in Australia.

Consequently, across 2021, we faced an unprecedented demand for our services, with notable increases in the volume of referrals received, the severity of presenting circumstances, and the complexity of our operating environment. Those whom we serve were largely excluded from receiving Federal Government COVID-19 support packages.

Despite these intense obstacles, JRS Australia was able to serve 3000 people seeking asylum, refugees and migrants in vulnerable situations through 29,813 instances of service, nearly a 140% increase from 2020.

As we tackled restrictions caused by the Delta variant, our team adapted to new working styles and innovative ways to reach the people we serve which included incredible responses from our community and our volunteers. Our work and service would not have been possible without the generous support from our volunteers who dedicated over 11,000 hours to assist us in carrying out our mission.

JRS Australia is proud to have played a role in accompanying and collaborating with diaspora leaders in 2021 on their advocacy journeys. We worked closely with Catholic leaders across the country to engage their parliamentarians regarding the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, and in advocating directly to Ministers, Shadow Ministers, and parliamentarians through our role as Co-Chairs with Jesuit Social Services of the Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum (CAPSA).

To read about the details of our services and advocacy efforts, check out the JRS Australia Annual Report 2021.