Stephen Fitzpatrick, 20/11/09
This is Suvanthili Esvaran, the 10-month-old Tamil girl from the Oceanic Viking, whom Kevin Rudd promised not to put in an Indonesian detention centre. Suvanthili’s father died in the final days of fighting, early this year, when the Sri Lankan government finally put down the decades-old Tamil Tiger rebellion killing many civilians in the process. Suvanthili’s five-year-old sister, Sudar Esvaran, is also in the Tanjung Pinang detention centre, along with their mother, who refused to give her name. So, too, are Atpudha Rahavan, 5, and her brother Abi Rahavan, 2, as well as Denuvan Srikanthan, a three-year-old boy. Yesterday, with their mothers, they stared and called from behind bars at Tanjung Pinang’s detention centre, which was built with Australian funds. The women said they had been personally promised by Immigration Department head Jim O’Callaghan they would be in Australia within six weeks.
See: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/pms-special-deal-leaves-kids-in-lock-up/story-e6frg6nf-1225799951673; Women and children behind bars; Ben Doherty; ;20/11/09; http://www.theage.com.au/national/women-and-children-behind-bars-20091119-ioxr.html
Tags: Australia, Human Rights, Indonesia, Migrants & refugee, Sri Lanka