A three-day standoff between Australian police and two pregnant women ended on Monday. Maryam Shirvani and a second, unnamed woman along with their husbands and Mrs. Shirvani's 12-year old son, are eight months pregnant and were flown to Australia to give birth. The families claim that officials promised to house them in the local community or in a hotel, and that they only realized that they were going to stay in an immigration detention center when their bus drove through the compound gates. The government on the other hand, denies making any promises to the family.
The family has asked to return to Nauru immediately despite the inferior medical care, rather than return to detention. This preference is not unexpected for those familiar with the conditions and psychological exhaustion experienced by those detained on Nauru. The women involved in the stand-off had already spent over 15 months on Nauru before being granted official refugee status and placed in a temporary resettlement camp on the island. They had thought that their new status would protect them from being held in an immigration facility again. Many pregnant women have been transported from offshore immigration detention centers to onshore centers because of Australia's excellent medical facilities, but these women and their partners are the first who were already found to be genuine refugees before being taken into custody.
Sadly, the families are now accusing detention center of cruelty, alleging that staff parked the van in the sun on purpose, turned off the air-conditioning, allowed the temperature within the van to reach dangerous levels to the point where both women fainted, and limited access to food and water. A spokesperson for the detention center adamantly denies all of these claims, saying that "Health and welfare of the individuals was monitored throughout this incident," and that "the
individuals involved had access to food, water and amenities, and the
Department and service providers facilitated access to toilets and
health professionals."
These two families, like the many others living on Nauru are living in limbo, as neither Australia nor Nauru will allow them to settle permanently. It looks like the only option for these families is to resettle in Cambodia under the new Australian/Cambodian immigration deal. This agreement allows Australia to send its refugees to Cambodia in exchange for increased aid funding.
The family has asked to return to Nauru immediately despite the inferior medical care, rather than return to detention. This preference is not unexpected for those familiar with the conditions and psychological exhaustion experienced by those detained on Nauru. The women involved in the stand-off had already spent over 15 months on Nauru before being granted official refugee status and placed in a temporary resettlement camp on the island. They had thought that their new status would protect them from being held in an immigration facility again. Many pregnant women have been transported from offshore immigration detention centers to onshore centers because of Australia's excellent medical facilities, but these women and their partners are the first who were already found to be genuine refugees before being taken into custody.
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| The women finally exit the van after three days. (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-02/pregnant-refugee-bus-standoff-enters-third-day-near-darwin/5933112) |
These two families, like the many others living on Nauru are living in limbo, as neither Australia nor Nauru will allow them to settle permanently. It looks like the only option for these families is to resettle in Cambodia under the new Australian/Cambodian immigration deal. This agreement allows Australia to send its refugees to Cambodia in exchange for increased aid funding.
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