Young boys moped around behind the high walls of Christmas Island's Phosphate Hill detention centre the other day. One paced with hands and wrists slouched in pockets and his awesome baseball cap pulled down, another bounced ping-pong balls repeatedly on a bat, another threw a tennis ball in the air.
Who we were looking at, and just how old, has become a political football.
With 18 persons making claims to be below 18 years old on the initial yacht to arrive since the Malaysia policy came into effect, the federal government is mauled by the opposition and UNICEF for telling there would be ''no cover exemptions'' for minors.
That number fell by one not long ago. ''One particular person has now self-uncovered being an grown-up,'' stated an immigration speaker. The Immigration Office would most likely perform ''basic age determination checks'' on the other teenagers, she reported.
Almost all the team are said to be 16 or 17 years of age, federal government sources reported. The littlest child is with a parent or guardian.
But 13 in the group say they are unaccompanied minors, raising the chance of the governing administration sending unaccompanied young people to Malaysia, where they're going to be forced to support themselves while they wait around years and years for processing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, mentioned: ''Some these are visibly young children, others are people who suggest they're 17 and there'd be further more examination done on that.''
He was quoted saying there'd ''no blanket exemptions'' considering that ''as sure as night follows day, that if you have blanket exemptions people smugglers would exploit that loophole and put children on boats and we'd be dealing with the dangerous situation of boatloads of children.'' Nonetheless the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, said: ''If a parent or gaurdian engages in an act of bastardry towards the little one, we can't make it worse for that child by dropping them in a 3rd country with no any error. I am sorry, one evil shouldn't be compounded by another evil by a government".
''I realize where exactly the government is coming from, I am certain the worry about having more children come unaccompanied but, ultimately, we got to put the kids first here. I really do not like the theory we are mailing them to Malaysia.''
Mr Bowen said assessments were being created for prone asylum hunters before any moves occur.
A well known immigration lawyer in Sydney, Mr. Christopher Levingston is frustrated with this move by the Immigration Minister Chris Bowen. "Even if there are inappropriate doings in the part of some asylum seekers, the state apparatus can't and must not participate in an act of cowardice. This is wrong, just wrong", Christopher Levingston says, "This is a open air violation of Child Convention, UCCPR and all signed and ratified international laws and Australian domestic laws".
Thirty-five single male adults on the boat are held at the high-security North West Point detention center. Even though they had been read a statement on Thursday telling them they wouldn't be processed in Australia and would be transported to Malaysia, sources within the centre said a number of men were surprised to watch morning television and listen to about the Malaysia transfer. The men asked guards what might occur to them.
These individual men are probably be one of the first small group transferred to Malaysia.
There are 693 asylum seekers in detention on Christmas Island, including the newest boatload. Many are being held at North West Point, with family groups and children at Phosphate Hill.
Spirits amongst staff members is low. ''The worsening of the psychological wellness of workers is worrying,'' said the Union of Christmas Island Workers leader, Kay Bernard.
Nevertheless, she accepted the appointment of a new administrator in the detention facility.
Who we were looking at, and just how old, has become a political football.
With 18 persons making claims to be below 18 years old on the initial yacht to arrive since the Malaysia policy came into effect, the federal government is mauled by the opposition and UNICEF for telling there would be ''no cover exemptions'' for minors.
That number fell by one not long ago. ''One particular person has now self-uncovered being an grown-up,'' stated an immigration speaker. The Immigration Office would most likely perform ''basic age determination checks'' on the other teenagers, she reported.
Almost all the team are said to be 16 or 17 years of age, federal government sources reported. The littlest child is with a parent or guardian.
But 13 in the group say they are unaccompanied minors, raising the chance of the governing administration sending unaccompanied young people to Malaysia, where they're going to be forced to support themselves while they wait around years and years for processing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, mentioned: ''Some these are visibly young children, others are people who suggest they're 17 and there'd be further more examination done on that.''
He was quoted saying there'd ''no blanket exemptions'' considering that ''as sure as night follows day, that if you have blanket exemptions people smugglers would exploit that loophole and put children on boats and we'd be dealing with the dangerous situation of boatloads of children.'' Nonetheless the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, said: ''If a parent or gaurdian engages in an act of bastardry towards the little one, we can't make it worse for that child by dropping them in a 3rd country with no any error. I am sorry, one evil shouldn't be compounded by another evil by a government".
''I realize where exactly the government is coming from, I am certain the worry about having more children come unaccompanied but, ultimately, we got to put the kids first here. I really do not like the theory we are mailing them to Malaysia.''
Mr Bowen said assessments were being created for prone asylum hunters before any moves occur.
A well known immigration lawyer in Sydney, Mr. Christopher Levingston is frustrated with this move by the Immigration Minister Chris Bowen. "Even if there are inappropriate doings in the part of some asylum seekers, the state apparatus can't and must not participate in an act of cowardice. This is wrong, just wrong", Christopher Levingston says, "This is a open air violation of Child Convention, UCCPR and all signed and ratified international laws and Australian domestic laws".
Thirty-five single male adults on the boat are held at the high-security North West Point detention center. Even though they had been read a statement on Thursday telling them they wouldn't be processed in Australia and would be transported to Malaysia, sources within the centre said a number of men were surprised to watch morning television and listen to about the Malaysia transfer. The men asked guards what might occur to them.
These individual men are probably be one of the first small group transferred to Malaysia.
There are 693 asylum seekers in detention on Christmas Island, including the newest boatload. Many are being held at North West Point, with family groups and children at Phosphate Hill.
Spirits amongst staff members is low. ''The worsening of the psychological wellness of workers is worrying,'' said the Union of Christmas Island Workers leader, Kay Bernard.
Nevertheless, she accepted the appointment of a new administrator in the detention facility.
No comments:
Post a Comment