Freedom Challenge is an event that happens every year on the week of the 10th of August and is an opportunity for young people like us, to be able to acknowledge, promote and take action for human rights around the world.

This year however, we are starting our promotions early in light of recent allegations regarding the mistreatment of Asylum Seekers here in New Zealand.

An Asylum Seeker is someone who leaves their country of origin seeking safety for them and their family in another country. This is often due to war, or other dangerous circumstances.

The theme for this year's freedom challenge is “Please take me to a safe place”. Which is a call for Asylum Seekers fleeing dangerous lives in their own countries to be treated as human beings and not criminals. Over the past five years, there have been over 80 people locked in police cells and prisons around New Zealand, having come here seeking help and safety but rather finding hostility, and mistreatment. ‘Please take me to a safe place’ were the words of a young man who was wrongfully imprisoned for seven months, and kept alongside dangerous criminals despite having done nothing wrong.

Recent research done into this matter has found that there have been cases if torture, rape, violence, and forced fight clubs. On several occasions, this has led to Asylum Seekers wanting to end their lives.

In some cases, there has been a clear violation of human rights and represents a failure of our government to provide alternative accommodation for Asylum Seekers while they are being processed. We, as a country need to come together to help these people who are being mistreated by our government. We need to push the need to have somewhere safe where they can stay because they are not criminals. They are people just like you and I, who are simply seeking a better and safer future for themselves and their families.

“Change takes time. It takes relentless perseverance. It takes people power... and that's exactly what we need to do here.”