The pro refugee #LetThemStay movement in Australia continues to march on and seems to have won it's first victory: Baby Asha can stay!
Remember baby Asha? The baby sent to Brisbane Children’s Hospital? She was at Lady Cilento Hospital receiving burn treatment after a water spilling accident at the Australian off shore refugee processing/detention center in Nauru. Once Asha had completed her treatment, she was to be sent back, based on a recent ruling by the Australian High Court that changed longstanding policy that refugees who had reached Australia's center, would be kept on shore for processing (i.e. determining if a person qualifies for refugee or "asylum" status).
Asha was part of a small group of Asylum seekers covered by this new ruling, and quickly became a focal point of a grassroots campaign to #LetThemStay in Australia.
Asha became a focal point of the campaign.
Australia's 1-year-old asylum seeker #BabyAsha will eventually be sent back to detention https://t.co/4bLovq9GfJ by @Iyengarish@TIMEWorld
— Brendan McDonald (@7piliers) February 22, 2016
Why Australia wants to send #babyasha to a detention camp miles from the country https://t.co/PvGnlaAVospic.twitter.com/s8iyHbANbF
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 22, 2016
Doctors and staff refused to release little Asha, and staged a blockade outside of the hospital. This one-year old baby was going to stay in Australia, they demanded. Candle light vigils, and a Twitter hashtag campaign #BabyAsha began trending worldwide. It worked, partially. In a plea deal with the Brisbane children’s hospital, the politically conservative Turnball government agreed to put Asha in a community detention inside Australia center BUT only for a limited amount of time.
Despite this deal stated by the Prime Minister, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton vowed to have Asha and her family sent back to the Nauru detention center.
This fight over Baby Asha takes place against the backdrop of the larger asylum seeker (the term commonly used in Australia for refugees) situation.
Asylum Seekers coming to Australia
Australian immigration law stresses that for an asylum seeker to gain refugee in Australia they must be proclaimed genuine refugees. Meaning, if their level of vulnerability matches the guidelines outlined by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) then they can be resettled in Australia.
Immigration Minister #PeterDutton vows baby Asha will be returned to #Nauruhttps://t.co/nnD6bmTwQ6#ZippedNewshttps://t.co/fLJJuIepf4
— News in Summary (@news_in_summary) February 22, 2016
Unfortunately, asylum seekers have little means to prove their vulnerability, and are too often forced to live on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru during the lengthy review process.
Living in Nauru:
The island of Nauru is where Australia deals with many asylum seekers, all too often it seems indefinitely.
According to Amnesty International, the living conditions on Nauru are shockingly bad. There is a complete lack of health services, lack of legal representation for asylum seekers and lack of progress on refugee processing. The physical conditions are equally appalling. Asylum seekers sleep in poorly ventilated army tents and in incredibly close quarters. Rodents and insects are a huge problem, especially when the tents flood, which happens frequently.
Poor mental health plagues asylum seekers in Nauru. There have been multiple hunger strikes to protest conditions, and there are many instances of suicide and self harm. Sexual assault, rape and child abuse are also a serious problem. Essentially, this place is not safe.
In terms of healthcare (like Baby Asha needs), the Australian government recognizes that the 56 beds in Nauru’s hospital cannot accommodate the more than 2,000 people that are in some way in need of care at the facility.
All of this is the backdrop for the debate currently raging in the country over Asha and the 267 refugees at the heart of the #LetThemStay movement.
High Court and Australian Government uphold choices:
267 refugees seeking medical treatment inside Australia are to be returned to Nauru, despite the conditions. Earlier this month, the High Court rejected a case that challenged this situation. Therefore, all 267 refugees, 52 of them BABIES will return to a place where child abuse is endemic.
Legal arguments in favor of this position say that by upholding the decision to refuse resettlement to these asylum seekers who circumvented refugee processing centers closer to their home to arrive at, or near, Australia's shores for processing will deter the people smuggling that all too often brings them to Australia.
The number of refugees seeking resettlement in Australia is minor compared to Europe. Even still, tight border security is a key issue in Australia’s national election this year, as politicians paint those seeking asylum as threats. In reality, they merely want safety for themselves and their families.
:
Refugees to Australia, who are being forced to live in Nauru’s detention center, or in a similar center on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, deserve to have their status assessed immediately once they land in these centers. After all, what have they escaped if they leave one place of hardship to live in another?