Welcome to our 6^th issue of Transitions. We continue to receive great feedback about our magazine, which has been incredibly valuable, both in terms of encouragement and as a source of ideas. To add further to Transitions’ value, we have included a couple of additional features, which we hope you will appreciate.

From Australia's one step removed perspective on world events that result in millions of refugees awaiting some form of resolution to their problems, these events tend to take a rather ephemeral existence in our collective consciousness. They are too many and often too complex and soon cease to be newsworthy for the mainstream media.

These become the ‘forgotten conflicts’, still churning out suffering refugees (or displaced people), but no longer the subject of cover stories and first pages, assuming they ever made it there in the first place. As a small step to address this issue, we will attempt to explore one of these ‘forgotten conflicts’ in each of our issues. We have commenced with Afghanistan, a long-standing conflict so dynamic and so complex that it will spill over to our next issue.

Another new feature of Transitions will include a review of materials and resources useful to people working with refugees in various settings. The last few years have witnessed the production of a variety of extremely useful resources, but many are still not as well known as they could be. This issue takes a close look at the Refugee GP manual produced in Victoria and, despite its title, useful to far more than only GP's.

From the next issue of Transitions we hope to also include a section for the National Forum of Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (NFSSTT), an initial step towards a more national approach to the production of Transitions. This will be happening in the context of a number of measures taken by the forum at a recent strategic planning meeting to further increase its effectiveness as a forum and cooperation and exchange between forum members.

By the time the 7^th issue of Transitions hits the road, STARTTS web-site should have been available on the web for some time. It will contain information about most aspects of STARTTS operations and activities, plus access to materials, resources, articles and relevant links, and of course, to Transitions highlights.

Meanwhile, at STARTTS, the last couple of months have been an exciting, but also challenging period. A two day seminar "Mass Violence and Displacement: Recent Advances In Early Intervention And Training For Mental Health Workers" held in Sydney and co-organised with the PRTU was a resounding success. The two days provided a forum for discussion of a number of issues by both local and overseas presenters. The overall outcome of the two days was particularly affirming of the direction in which torture and trauma services have been evolving in Australia.

On a more challenging note, with the departure of most of the East Timorese and Kosovar displaced persons from East Hills and Bandiana Haven Centres, Operation Safe Haven is effectively drawing to a close. Operation Safe Haven has posed a number of challenges for our team, but none as difficult as those encountered in the last few months. As residents struggled with the tensions associated with the prospect of return, and with the effect of an official announcements about their fate, supporting them and the staff working with them became a bigger and bigger challenge. The imminent closure of East Hills, however, is only the end of an important chapter. STARTTS will continue to provide support and counselling to the displaced people that received an extension to their Australian visa and are now living in the community.

Other noteworthy areas of activity covered in this issue include the progress in the training project with East Timorese health professionals, and plans for the International Day in support of torture victims on the 26 June 2000.

I hope you enjoy this issue

Jorge Aroche