SPAN is an Australian based network of individuals and organisations active in solidarity with the struggles of the Filipino peoples for Human Rights, Self-Determination, Social Justice, Peace and Democracy. SPAN identifies with the poor and oppressed majority of the Philippines and acts upon its special concern for women and children in general and indigenous peoples in particular.



The aims and objectives of SPAN are to:





1. promote the unity of the Filipino and Australian peoples by providing material and moral support to the peoples' organisations in the Philippines and inform Australians through publications, fora, meetings and other educational and cultural activities of the work of the peoples' organisations and facilitate direct people to people contact with the members of these organisations at the grassroots level;



2. promote the rights and welfare of the Filipino migrant community in Australia towards a better economic, cultural and political life and mobilise the Filipino and wider community to work to end the activities of Australian business interests in the international sex trade which profits from trafficking in Filipino women and children;



3. pursue justice for migrant Filipinas and other women of non-English speaking background and their families who are victims of domestic violence and marital murders and challenge the Australian Government to respond effectively to the domestic violence, sexual abuse and the many times above average rate of homicide perpetrated against Filipino women and children by Australian men since 1980;



4. cooperate with other groups towards developing an Australian solidarity culture that responds to the expressed needs of the peoples' organisations in the Asia-Pacific region for a Just and Peaceful world;



5. support the spiritual and cultural re-empowerment of the Indigenous Peoples in Australia and the Philippines and act in solidarity with all oppressed peoples throughout the world for Human Rights, Self-Determination, Social Justice, Peace and Democracy.