Thursday, October 16, 2014

Babies to be deported from Australia

The heartlessness of the Australian government, as often reported on this blog, continues unabated.

A federal court has ruled that a baby born in Australia to an asylum seeker and despite holding a Queensland birth certificate is not entitled to a refugee visa. Ferouz Myuddin, who is 11 months old, was born in Brisbane when his mother was transferred to hospital from a refugee detention centre on Nauru. A judge backed the government's earlier ruling that the baby was an "unauthorised maritime arrival" so could not claim refugee status. Ferouz's family are Muslim Rohingyas who said they fled from Myanmar (also known as Burma) to escape persecution and that  Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar. He and 100 similar babies could now be sent to Nauru.

The federal government now considers amending the Migration Act to retrospectively declare all babies born to asylum seekers who arrive by boat as unauthorised maritime arrivals, irrespective of whether they were born on Australian soil. If the amendments are passed, babies born to asylum seeker parents in Australia will have no right to apply for a permanent protection visa and should be transferred offshore. He said the rule was intended to discourage people smugglers.So according to the callous logic of the judge, victims of criminals should also be penalised and made to suffer, too.

Australia's High Court is also hearing a separate challenge over 157 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka who set out from southern India and were intercepted by Australia security in July. They were held on a customs ship at sea for a month, initially in secret. Their lawyers argued they were illegally detained.

From here

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