Children are being used as a bargaining tool to get people to return home. In a letter received this week from an Iranian on Christmas Island, he says he has been told he will be separated from his pregnant wife two months before she gives birth. I have requested from the Immigration officers to discuss my situation, however, they keep telling me to go back home if you want to be next to your wife during delivering the baby, he writes. Several sources have described harrowing scenes on Christmas Island last month when Immigration officers forced two unaccompanied Sri Lankan children aged 12 and 14 on to a plane to return home. They were part of a group of 84 Tamils who had arrived on the Coco Islands after 34 days at sea and within 48 hours were put on a plane and sent back to Colombo. The children were crying and screaming and begging to be able to stay, said a witness. One of the security officers realised they were too young and no one was accompanying them and so took them off the plane. Then there was a stand-off while someone rang Canberra and were instructed by someone very, very senior to put them back on the plane. The latest figures released by the Immigration Minister show there were 1128 men on Manus Island, 606 men, women and children on Nauru and 2158 people on Christmas Island. The government will not reveal how many children are living inside the Nauru detention centre although child refugee advocate Sophie Peer estimates between 80 to 100. The leash is off, said Pamela Curr from the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre. The hardliners in the Immigration Department can do what they like. And family separation is the tool of choice. Read more: smh.au/federal-politics/political-news/asylum-policy-of-deterrence-threatening-families-20131114-2xjnr.html#ixzz2kgix8exE
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 05:11:28 +0000
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