No one makes the choice to risk their lives to come to Australia in search of refuge, easily. Any of us are willing to do anything, which might save our lives.

It’s a tortured decision, both figuratively and sometimes literally, to leave behind family and at unimaginable personal cost. To therefore suggest that the computer games found on the Zero Chance website, and some creative short films it advertises for could dissuade people from accessing human rights they are entitled to, is to directly insult the intelligence of Sri Lankan people who have already long been suffering, and whose suffering has been well documented. 

The Zero Chance website and associated short film competition suggests that those from Sri Lanka, or anywhere, fleeing persecution and coming to Australia are doing so unlawfully. This is factually wrong. It is anyone’s legal right, if they have a well-founded fear of persecution, to seek a country like ours, in whatever way they can.  The suggestion that those who have endured years of suffering may have been deterred by a computer game or a short film – is to undermine the significance of their fears and genuine concerns.

The United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) released a report on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka this year, which high-lighted particularly the problems facing minorities such as Tamils and Muslims, who are being marginalised and excluded.

OHCHR report references ‘’extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture and sexual violence affecting Sri Lankans from all communities.”

Asylum seekers may reconsider their desperate decision to cross the seas in search of permanent safety if there was a more viable path to safety – which our Government could offer instead of this campaign.

Together, we call on you to shut down ‘’Zero Chance’’.