Australia lets refugee baby stay onshore
Print Edition
AUSTRALIAN officials yesterday said a baby girl facing repatriation to an offshore immigration detention camp would go to an onshore facility instead, easing tension that peaked with a blockade outside a hospital where she is a patient.
Doctors at the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane had refused to release the 1-year-old girl after completion of her treatment for serious burns, adding to pressure on the government over its tough asylum policy.
The number of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia is small in comparison with those arriving in Europe, but border security is a hot-button political issue in Australia, which is scheduled to hold a national election later in the year.
Federal Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the infant, known only as Baby Asha, would shortly be released into community detention, which allows free movement, in Brisbane.
However, Dutton stressed that the family could still be returned to a camp on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru, about 3,000km northeast of Australia, if they were not deemed to be genuine refugees.
Asha was flown last month from the Nauru center, which houses more than 500 people and has been widely criticized for its harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse, to Brisbane for hospital treatment.
A protest drew widespread attention and support in Australia, with the Twitter hashtag #BabyAsha trending worldwide.
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