A toddler sits in a sandpit, staring vacantly into space. There's no-one around, but he doesn't seem to notice.
Dr Emma Adams, a perinatal and infant psychiatrist explained why "I have seen babies behave like that, and often it's most clearly when the parents have a significant mental illness or trauma," Adams says. "We saw so many people who were depressed who clearly weren't getting appropriate treatment… When a child's attachment figure is absent or scared themselves, those children can become frozen."
Dr Adams felt "absolutely appalled and ashamed" over what she saw in the detention facilities. "I saw some women who were clearly depressed - that blank, flat expression. Some were tearful, some talked of suicide. And when their babies were indicating they were distressed, there was a distinct lack of engagement, which I see with severe post-natal depression in my community practice," Adams said. "But they weren't waiting outside in a queue in a psychiatric appointment. This was just their every day."
More than 340 children are detained in Darwin's three detention facilities, alongside about 40 pregnant women, most with babies due within the next 10 weeks, according to refugee advocacy group ChilOut. Nationwide, there are almost 1,200 children in detention.
Adams and Caroline de Costa, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology in a report detailing the visit and meetings with refugee service providers wrote that families detained in Darwin were exposed to "unnecessary cruelty", "There appeared to be no acknowledgement whatsoever that parents' sense of agency, their dignity, was taken from them. That the system itself destroys the family unit and makes pro-active parenting nearly impossible." In November an asylum seeker and her sick newborn baby in Brisbane. The mother, a Rohingya woman from Myanmar, was detained for several days while her baby stayed in a neonatal intensive care unit.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at the time that he deeply regretted what happened, but refused to apologise on the government's behalf. "I don't, as it were, apologise for what happens when people come to Australia illegally by boat...” The government announced in December that it would disband the Immigration Health Advisory Group, which gave advice on the health needs of refugees, and replace the group with an independent health adviser. The nation's top medical body, the Australian Medical Association, criticised the move, arguing that specialist health advice was necessary to ensure refugees had access to quality health services.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/01/families-split-australia-migrant-centres-20141684231408575.html
Dr Emma Adams, a perinatal and infant psychiatrist explained why "I have seen babies behave like that, and often it's most clearly when the parents have a significant mental illness or trauma," Adams says. "We saw so many people who were depressed who clearly weren't getting appropriate treatment… When a child's attachment figure is absent or scared themselves, those children can become frozen."
Dr Adams felt "absolutely appalled and ashamed" over what she saw in the detention facilities. "I saw some women who were clearly depressed - that blank, flat expression. Some were tearful, some talked of suicide. And when their babies were indicating they were distressed, there was a distinct lack of engagement, which I see with severe post-natal depression in my community practice," Adams said. "But they weren't waiting outside in a queue in a psychiatric appointment. This was just their every day."
More than 340 children are detained in Darwin's three detention facilities, alongside about 40 pregnant women, most with babies due within the next 10 weeks, according to refugee advocacy group ChilOut. Nationwide, there are almost 1,200 children in detention.
Adams and Caroline de Costa, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology in a report detailing the visit and meetings with refugee service providers wrote that families detained in Darwin were exposed to "unnecessary cruelty", "There appeared to be no acknowledgement whatsoever that parents' sense of agency, their dignity, was taken from them. That the system itself destroys the family unit and makes pro-active parenting nearly impossible." In November an asylum seeker and her sick newborn baby in Brisbane. The mother, a Rohingya woman from Myanmar, was detained for several days while her baby stayed in a neonatal intensive care unit.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at the time that he deeply regretted what happened, but refused to apologise on the government's behalf. "I don't, as it were, apologise for what happens when people come to Australia illegally by boat...” The government announced in December that it would disband the Immigration Health Advisory Group, which gave advice on the health needs of refugees, and replace the group with an independent health adviser. The nation's top medical body, the Australian Medical Association, criticised the move, arguing that specialist health advice was necessary to ensure refugees had access to quality health services.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/01/families-split-australia-migrant-centres-20141684231408575.html
1 comment:
The Australian media’s witchhunt seem to have done their job well on this issue - 59 per cent of the Australian people think most boat arrivals are not genuine refugees despite the fact that 70-97% are actually found to be genuine refugees. 60 per cent want the Abbott government to “increase the severity of the treatment of asylum seekers.” Only 30 per cent of Australians think asylum seekers should not be treated more severely.
One wonders given the costs and risks (including risk of death) involved in coming to Australia in an overcrowded, leaky fishing boat, why people even think that someone who wasn't a genuine refugee (ie absolutely desperate) would take the chance?
The Australian government operates a system of refusing to reveal information on turning back boat-people. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the Abbott government needed to stop ‘‘hiding the truth and start answering the most basic questions’’ about what it was doing with asylum seeker boats on the high seas.
‘‘It isn't right that Australians need to buy the Jakarta Post to find out what the Australian government is doing,’’
The Australian government is buying up to 16 hard-hulled lifeboats - similar to those carried by cruise ships and oil tankers - to which asylum seekers will be transferred and returned to Indonesia if their vessels are unseaworthy.
http://m.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australians-want-boat-arrivals-treated-more-harshly-poll-20140108-30g97.html
http://m.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-defends-governments-closed-book-approach-to-asylum-seeker-policy-20140109-30isy.html
Post a Comment