100 signatures reached
To: Chief Executive and Board of Midsumma
Midsumma stop promoting refugee torturers
To develop and implement an ethical policy of not accepting donations, having Carnival Stalls or Pride March contingents from organisations and corporations associated with human rights abuses, including detention of asylum seekers, and operation of private prisons
Why is this important?
LGBTIQA+ Pride is fundamentally linked to civil and humanitarian rights. Midsumma and Pride have both emerged from a long history of campaigns for recognition, respect and an end to abuse and discrimination of LGBTIQA+ people, and are a celebration of the progress that has been made in Victoria and Australia.
However, in many countries, LGBTQA+ people face enormous and terrifying discrimination, abuse and torture, and are forced to seek asylum. LGBTIQA+ asylum seekers in Australia have been and continue to be held in detention centres run by private Multinational company SERCO. Detainees have been abused, medically neglected and forced to live under terrible conditions for up to 12 years in Australian prisons run by SERCO.
SERCO had a stall at Midsumma Carnival in 2022 and has promoted it's support for LGBTIQA+ staff on its social media. However, this company profits from the abuse of asylum seekers, in which many SERCO staff are complicit, if not actively involved.
Midsumma should be advocating for the rights of LGBTIQA+ refugees, not accepting money or aligning themselves with companies who profit from the torture of LGBTIQA+ people. We call on the director Karen Bryant and the board of Midsumma to develop and adopt a charter of ethics about which corporations and institutions you will work with.