Baby Asha released from hospital, but may still return to offshore detention
A 1-year-old child of parents seeking asylum in Australia has been discharged from hospital more than one week after doctors refused to release her for fear she would be sent back into offshore detention.
The child, identified using the pseudonym “Baby Asha,” is one of 267 asylum seekers, 37 of them babies, who the government has proposed moving from mainland Australia to Nauru — the Pacific island that hosts one of Australia’s offshore immigration processing camps.
Baby Asha was discharged from Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane early Monday morning, the hospital confirmed on Facebook. “The Department of Immigration and Border Protection advised the child and her family will be moved to a community dwelling,” the hospital announced.
Day 10, 6.45AM last night’s scare has bolstered numbers even more #LadyCilento #LetThemStay #BabyAsha pic.twitter.com/klbJ9zJ3Cv
— Don Sinnamon (@DonSinnamon) February 20, 2016
Despite allowing the move to community detention, Australia’s Immigration Minister Peter Dutton did not offer Baby Asha’s family or their supporters much hope. Speaking on ABC radio Monday, Dutton reiterated that the asylum seekers in question will be moved offshore. “Once the medical assistance has been provided, legal issues are resolved, people will go back to Nauru,” he said.
“We will make an assessment case by case whether or not it is safe for the family to live in the community. We have made that decision in relation to 83 people already and baby Asha’s family are the next in that process.”
Baby Asha and her family came to Australia for medical care after she was burnt in an accident on Nauru. On February 14, the hospital announced that it would not release Baby Asha until “a suitable home environment is identified.” Refugee advocates and medical professionals have deemed the conditions on Nauru inhumane and traumatic for the children housed there, as well as their families.
As news spread about the hospital’s stand, crowds gathered to hold 24-hour vigils calling for the government to allow Baby Asha and her family, as well as other asylum seekers, to remain in Australia.
Thanks @WhiteRabbitSyd for spotting this amazing street art in Chippendale #LetThemStay pic.twitter.com/wmhr0pznEw
— GetUp! (@GetUp) February 22, 2016
The hospital’s showdown with the government came amid a growing #LetThemStay campaign that has featured protests and actions around Australia.
Churches have promised to offer sanctuary to those asylum seekers who fear returning to Nauru and, on Sunday, the head of the Australian Medical Association Brian Owler called for doctors to resist the government’s plans to return asylum seeker children offshore, Fairfax Media reported.
“There is an absolute ethical, not to mention moral, obligation to that patient who is in their care [not to] release a child back into a situation where they have reason to believe that there is a risk of harm,” Owler said at an event in Sydney.
The government has said that its hardline “stop the boats” approach is necessary to discourage asylum seekers from using people smugglers to get to Australia in dangerous sea journeys. Under the policy, those who come to Australia outside of accepted channels are usually sent for processing offshore.
On Monday, the protests continued as the advocacy group Mums4Refugees staged a sit-in at Parliament House in Canberra.
#breaking dozens of mums and bubs conduct sit in at Parliament to demand #letthemstay pic.twitter.com/QQJJnFjUcy
— Mums4Refugees (@Mums4Refugees) February 22, 2016
After the sit in. #MotherMovements only growing nation wide. We demand CHANGE #LetThemStay pic.twitter.com/40ao2pjWG3
— Mums4Refugees (@Mums4Refugees) February 22, 2016
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