https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/01/a...ntl/index.html
Children will be brought to Australia from Nauru, but they won't be allowed to stay
By Helen Regan, CNN
Updated 1016 GMT (1816 HKT) November 1, 2018
(CNN)Dozens of refugee children and their families set to be transferred from the tiny island of Nauru won't be allowed to permanently settle in Australia, the country's Home Minister Peter Dutton said Thursday.
Dutton's comments came after Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that his government is working "quietly" to remove the remaining children on Nauru, where they were sent as part of Australia's strict immigration policies.
Australia reintroduced offshore detention centers in 2012 after a surge in the number of asylum seekers trying to reach the country by boat.
"Our policy hasn't changed, we have said very clearly that we don't want boats to restart. People are not going to settle here permanently," Dutton said during an interview with Sky News Australia's David Speers.While the government has declared its policy a success after a sharp drop in boat arrivals, human rights activists say hundreds of refugees -- including children -- have been traumatized by the ordeal.
In recent months, pressure has been building on the government to allow the refugees to move to Australia or New Zealand, but Dutton said Thursday repeated the country had no desire to offer the refugees a permanent home."Our desire is to remove people from Manus and Nauru, return them back to their countries of origin," he said referring to Australia's two offshore migrant processing centers. "We have been very clear that people won't settle permanently in Australia and we want the people smugglers to hear that loud and clear." In Australia by Christmas?
Australia's top diplomat in the United Kingdom, High Commissioner George Brandis, said earlier in a radio interview that the government expects the remaining children to be transferred by Christmas.
Refugee advocate groups said they welcome moves by the government to transfer the children, but stressed that they need to be removed immediately.
"On the one had we are ecstatic that publicly the government has committed to getting children off Nauru, but on other hand, we still have concerns about whether or not that will happen, and how quickly that will happen," said Jana Favero, Director of Advocacy & Campaigns for the Asylum Seeker Resource Center.
Thirty-eight children remain in offshore detention on Nauru, including six toddlers, according to group.
Favero said that 15 children are in critical need of medical attention, five of whom have either attempted suicide or have suicidal thoughts. There are also young teenagers who are attempting to self harm. "It's absolutely not what you would think is normal behavior in children," she said. "We absolutely cannot wait until Christmas to get them off."
The move comes after months of pressure by refugee advocate groups, medical professionals and lawmakers on the government to transfer the remaining children from Nauru.
On Saturday, more than 1,000 people marched through the streets of Sydney and 500 in Melbourne protesting the Australian government's offshore detention centers on Nauru and Manus Island and its treatment of asylum seekers living there, according to CNN affiliate 9 News
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/01/a...ntl/index.html




Rispondi Citando
