Refugee’s $200,000 family reunion fee
Mike Steketee; 22/4/08
After six years in a detention centre and another three years living in Melbourne as a refugee, Hossein is “dying” to be re-united with his wife and two children. The Government has approved a spouse visa to enable them to come to Australia - but only if he agrees to pay $200,000. That, the Government says, is the cost of keeping his wife, daughter and son locked up in the Curtin Detention Centre in Western Australia for three years. The family decided in 2002 that the mother, 17-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter should return to Iran to spare the children further trauma in detention. “There were so many people cutting themselves, hanging themselves and eating things to kill themselves, we were afraid the children would lose their minds in that hell,” Hossein told The Australian.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23578247-5013404,00.html
Tags: Australia, Human Rights