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Human rights lawyers slam Australian government for separating families
The Human Rights Law Centre has released the findings from its latest report that strongly condemns how the Australian government has gone about separating refugees from their families.
Emma Musgrave
The findings from the Human Rights Law Centre’s Together in Safety: A report on the Australian Government’s separation of families seeking safety seek to “expose” the Australian government’s “deliberate use of family separation to push and deter refugees seeking safety in Australia”.
The first measure, according to the report, is the government’s work to ensure “separation by endless deprioritisation of certain family reunion applications, effectively denying permanent residents who arrived by boat the prospect of ever being approved to reunite with their family in Australia.” This is despite some people having lived in Australia for more than a decade, the centre noted.
The second measure, according to the report, is the government’s work to ensure “separation by complete ban on family reunion for refugees who hold temporary protection visas”.
Meanwhile, the third measure, according to the report, is the government’s work to ensure “separation by offshore detention, which includes people sent offshore while family members remained in Australia, and those separated during a medical evacuation”.
“The Australian Government has engaged in a strategic, deliberate and coercive campaign to separate refugees from their families and prevent them from reuniting in Australia, a new report by the Human Rights Law Centre reveals,” the report noted.
“In 2018, the Trump Administration in the United States received widespread international condemnation for tearing apart families at US-Mexico border. However, for years, the Australian Government has escaped scrutiny for its own widespread and systematic policies that separate refugee families and keep them from reuniting.”
The report, which tells the stories of five refugee families, represents a cruel reality, according to Human Rights Law Centre senior lawyer Josephine Langbien.
“All families belong together in safety. But the Australian Government is deliberately keeping refugee families apart for years on end, and forcing people to make unthinkable choices between their safety, their health and being with the ones they love,” she said.
“This report tells the stories of mothers who have partners and children in refugee camps overseas, but cannot bring them to safety in Australia. Fathers who have missed their baby’s first steps and first words, because the Australian Government refused to allow them to leave offshore detention. There are thousands of people across Australia who are separated indefinitely from their loved ones, because the Australian Government has made a deliberate choice to use family separation to try to prevent people from exercising their right to seek safety.
“Families thrive when they are together – the Australian Government can and must end this cruelty and allow these families to be reunited.
“Australia’s family migration system is fundamentally broken, and is causing immense suffering for refugee families. We urge the Morrison Government to put families back at the heart of our migration policies. A fairer family migration system can play a crucial role in our recovery from COVID-19 as Australia begins to reconnect with the rest of the world.”
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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