GENEVA, July 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The United Nations voiced alarm
Tuesday at Australia’s decision to “actively and indefinitely separate” the
family of a recognised refugee in the country by deporting her husband to Sri
Lanka.
The UN refugee agency warned that “the deportation overnight of the
father leaves his Sri Lankan partner, who is a recognised refugee, alone with
their 11-month-old daughter.”
UNHCR said that prior to the deportation it had appealed to the
Australian government to allow the man to remain with his family, but to no
avail.
The move, it warned in a statement, “contravenes the basic right of
family unity, as well as the fundamental principle of the best interests of
the child.”
The UN has long criticised Australia’s policy of “offshore processing and
deterrence”, which since 2013 has seen asylum seekers who have reached the
country shipped off to remote camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
UNHCR said Tuesday that that policy had led to numerous separations of
refugee families, since those who arrive to Australia by sea have been
prevented from reuniting with their loved ones in the country.
It said it was also aware of families separated when a spouse or parent
is transferred from Nauru to Australia for medical reasons, including to give
birth.
“The government of Australia has refused to allow them to be reunited in
Australia, despite the fact that neither Nauru nor Papua New Guinea are
considered suitable places of settlement for the vast majority of refugees,”
it said.
With the latest deportation, UNHCR warned that Australia had gone “beyond
a refusal to reunite families to instead actively and indefinitely separate
them.”
It pointed out that Australia legislation prevents the Sri Lankan mother
in the case from ever sponsoring her spouse to join her and their child in
Australia.
Australian law also prevents her husband from ever obtaining even a
short-term visa to visit his family, it said.