A REFUGEE who arrived in Australia as an unaccompanied minor is fighting an immigration ruling denying a reunion with his family.
Sayed Abdul Rahman Shahi arrived on Christmas Island from Afghanistan as an unaccompanied minor seeking asylum in May 2009, and was granted a protection visa in September.
Three months later his family applied for visas as "split family", but in the nine months it took the Immigration Department to process the application, Mr Shahi turned 18. Because he was now an adult, the department decided his family was no longer eligible to come to Australia.
The Full Bench of the High Court yesterday met in Adelaide to consider Mr Shahi's challenge, which if successful could be another blow to the Gillard government's commitment to breaking the people-smugglers' model.
She questioned whether the department had delayed making the decision because of an informal quota set by the department on the number of family members allowed to enter Australia, or a "go slow" policy in processing split family visa applications for unaccompanied minors.
Mr Shahi's barrister, Lisa De Ferrari, yesterday asked the High Court to overturn the decision by the department and clarify whether the law applied to the age of the visa applicant at the time of application or at the time the decision was made.
She said the existence of a scheme that allowed a cap on the number of visas and the possible authorisation of a delay in processing an application supported Mr Shahi's claims of unfair treatment.
She argued that if the criteria were met at the time of application, then "it is always met".
"In the present case, the delegate took nine months to make a decision in respect of the plaintiff's mother's application for a sub-class 202 visa, then took another three months before notifying her," Ms De Ferrari said.
Barrister Stephen Lloyd SC, representing Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, denied the department was cutting back the number of split family visa approvals through administrative delay. "There wasn't a material delay, there was a nine-month period, but things have to be done," Mr Lloyd said. "There's no evidence to suggest nine months is slow for this type of visa."
He argued that immigration had to account for changes in circumstances between the time of application and a decision, saying not to do so would be absurd.
"A line has to be drawn, and in my submission there isn't any innate unfairness," Mr Lloyd said.
The case follows the decision made by the High Court this month that an unaccompanied child asylum-seeker could not lawfully be taken from Australia without Immigration Minister Chris Bowen's written consent under the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act.
The decision undermined Mr Bowen's aim to break the people-smugglers' model by sending unaccompanied children to Malaysia and thus deterring their parents from putting them on boats.
The High Court has reserved its judgment in the case. (theaustralian.com.au)
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14:01

Refugee challenges department for 'unfairly barring his family'

A REFUGEE who arrived in Australia as an unaccompanied minor is fighting an immigration ruling denying a reunion with his family. Say...
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A plane carrying 36 asylum seeker children has landed in Leonora in Western Australia's Goldfields.
The teenagers, aged between 14 and 17, were flown in from Christmas Island where they arrived without their parents.
The group, predominantly Afghan asylum seekers, waved to the waiting media as they were driven from the airport to the Leonora detention centre.
Thirty more unaccompanied minors are expected to arrive tomorrow.
It is not known how long the asylum seekers will be housed at the centre.
Leonora shire president Jeff Carter says he has serious reservations about their detention.
"I just think we don't try to put children in detention anywhere and to have 70 odd children locked up behind a fence, and you can't say they aren't," he said.
"I imagine DIAC (Department of Immigration and Citizenship) will have all the staff to help them but I just think they would be better off close to the community with their own ethnic background, with families to try and help advance the outcomes they try to do."
WA Premier Colin Barnett says while he does not agree with the detention of children, he believes the Leonora facility is acceptable and a better option than Malaysia.
"I do find it objectionable that children are in detention but I think the Leonora option is probably pretty acceptable," he said.
"There's a fair bit of movement in and out of that area; they can go to school; they can participate in community activities and the like.
"The one thing I am pleased about is that these teenagers are staying within Australia.
"I think what the Gillard government had proposed in sending young people like this unaccompanied to a third nation, Malaysia, is totally unacceptable."
The Federal Member for O'Connor, Tony Crook, says he supports the move to transfer them to the facility.
He is being briefed by the immigration department today.

About face

Jeff Carter says the Immigration Department has done an about-face on the centre after telling him as little as three weeks ago the facility would be shut down.
He says he only found out on the grapevine about the planned arrival of the children at the facility today.
Mr Carter says the centre has been empty because families have been moved to Darwin or South Australia over the past month.
He says when he last spoke to the department a month ago, they were planning to shut down the facility completely.
"I'd like to see DIAC be a bit more upfront of what they are up to," he said.
"Last time we had a meeting with the DIAC manager of the camp, the camp was going to close down.
"Now they are just bringing these juveniles here for reasons I don't know."
Mr Carter says he expects more consultation with the local community.
"They were going to keep a skeleton staff on just to close [it] properly and just move it on but that all seems to have changed now," he said.
The department has declined to comment.(ABC.NET.AU)
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13:58

Unaccompanied asylum seeker teens arrive in Leonora

A plane carrying 36 asylum seeker children has landed in Leonora in Western Australia's Goldfields. The teenagers, aged between 14 ...
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La ciudad autónoma de Melilla ha tenido que acondicionar espacios comunes del Centro de Acogida de Menores como "dormitorios" donde los niños puedan dormir debido a la gran entrada de menores extranjeros no acompañados producidos en estas últimas semanas, según ha informado la consejera de Bienestar Social, María Antonia Garbín (PP).



La ciudad autónoma de Melilla ha tenido que acondicionar espacios comunes del Centro de Acogida de Menores como "dormitorios" donde los niños puedan dormir debido a la gran entrada de menores extranjeros no acompañados producidos en estas últimas semanas, según ha informado la consejera de Bienestar Social, María Antonia Garbín (PP).

En declaraciones a los periodistas, Garbín ha denunciado que las constantes entradas de menores que se han registrado "últimamente" hasta sobrepasar con creces la capacidad del centro de acogida, que cuenta en la actualidad con 170 inquilinos cuando su capacidad óptima es de 120.

La titular de Bienestar Social ha señalado que en un solo día se han producido once nuevas entradas de menores extranjeros no acompañados, todos de edades entre los 15 y 17 años, originarios de las localidades marroquíes cercanas a Melilla.

Garbín ha subrayado que "estas incorporaciones se suman a las entradas irregulares de menores que se vienen produciendo en las últimas semanas y que han llevado al Centro de Acogida de la Purísima, prácticamente, a la saturación".

Esta situación, ha denunciado, ha provocado que "actualmente tenemos alojados a cerca de 170 menores extranjeros no acompañados, lo que nos ha obligado a tener que acondicionar como dormitorios, algunos de los espacios comunes".

La consejera ha pedido a la Delegación del Gobierno, como máximo responsable de las Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad del Estado, que inicie una investigación para averiguar "por qué se están produciendo tantas entradas de menores".(telecinco.es)

Leonardo

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07:14

Menores tienen que dormir en espacios comunes en el Centro de Acogida de Melilla

La ciudad autónoma de Melilla ha tenido que acondicionar espacios comunes del Centro de Acogida de Menores como "dormitorios" dond...
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Niños del asentamiento marroquí conocido como 'Pueblo Perdido', cercano a Melilla.| J.F. Ferrer
Niños del asentamiento marroquí conocido como 'Pueblo Perdido', cercano a Melilla.| J.F. Ferrer

Los centros de menores de Melilla se encuentran actualmente saturados, y el principal de ellos supera en un 40% su capacidad, lo que ha supuesto que se tengan que utilizar las zonas comunes para que algunos de los inmigrantes acogidos puedan dormir durante la noche.
Así lo ha asegurado a Efe la consejera de Bienestar Social y Sanidad,María Antonia Garbín, quien ha reiterado su preocupación por el importante repunte que se ha registrado en la última semana en la entrada de menores extranjeros no acompañados.
Garbín ha aseverado que a fecha de hoy el centro de la 'Purísima', el de mayor capacidad y el que se toma como referencia, está "muy por encima" del número deseado, ya que hay 168 menores acogidos.
La capacidad inicial del centro era para 160 menores, pero fue necesario acondicionar uno de los módulos para albergar a menores infractores, por lo que el número máximo se redujo a 120.
Según estas cifras, en la "Purísima" hay actualmente casi medio centenar más de menores de su cifra máxima, algo que ha elevado la preocupación del Gobierno melillense.
Los menores relatan que acceden a la ciudad autónoma por la frontera con Marruecos, por lo que la consejera melillense ha pedido que se investigue este hecho y se tomen medidas.(Elmundo.es)
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20:30

Saturación en los centros de menores de Melilla

Niños del asentamiento marroquí conocido como 'Pueblo Perdido', cercano a Melilla.| J.F. Ferrer Los centros de menores ...
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A little more than a year since the reopening of an Israel Prison Service holding facility for unaccompanied minors, most of whom are refugees from Sudan and Eritrea, the prison service's own data reflects major problems at the facility - problems that constitute a violation of the international Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Israel is a signatory.
Haaretz has learned that since the facility has been in operation, there have been 19 serious suicide attempts among the 179 children that have been held there. Those 19 cases do not include other attempts that the authorities characterized as efforts to attract attention.
holding facility - 26092011
Minors from Sudan and Eritrea outside their holding facility.
The suicides were prevented due to the alertness of the staff at the facility, which is formally known in Hebrew as the "support facility for foreign unaccompanied youth." The site, which was opened following an examination of the detention of foreign children by the Knesset and the High Court of Justice, was established to avoid the prospect of detaining unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers at prisons for adults. In practice, however, it is run by the Israel Prison Service rather than social welfare or educational authorities.At maximum capacity, the facility can hold 60 children, meaning that once the facility is full, other children are still sent to regular prisons. The facility was established as a transit station for children who were expected to stay for a short period while they were being evaluated, under the assumption that they would then be referred to dormitories run by the social affairs or education ministry, or that they would be released entirely.
The suicides were prevented due to the alertness of the staff at the facility, which is formally known in Hebrew as the "support facility for foreign unaccompanied youth." The site, which was opened following an examination of the detention of foreign children by the Knesset and the High Court of Justice, was established to avoid the prospect of detaining unaccompanied minor asylum-seekers at prisons for adults. In practice, however, it is run by the Israel Prison Service rather than social welfare or educational authorities.
Because the holding facility for foreign youth is not set up to accommodate girls, five unaccompanied foreign girls are being held at the Givon prison.
An inter-ministerial committee rule requires that no child be detained by the prison service for more than 60 days, but the Israel Prison Service's own data reflects cases in which children have remained at the holding facility for 13 months. More than half of all the children are there for more than two months, and 12 have had stays of more than five months. Despite the fact that the committee prohibits children under 14 from being detained at the facility, there are in fact children there who are under 14 years old.
The social affairs and education ministries warned when the inter-ministerial committee's procedures were adopted that they could not accommodate the children. Haaretz has learned, however, that a dormitory at Nitzana that was opened four months ago currently has available space for another 20 children.
Due to an apparent lack of coordination among government agencies, the prison service said it is powerless to place children through the education and social affairs ministries. The Education Ministry said it has not been provided with current information on children awaiting placement, but 12 children are already being prepared for transfer to youth dormitories.
The prison service also noted that some detainees will not be accepted by other residential facilities because they are HIV positive or have hepatitis or tuberculosis, conditions that the facility for unaccompanied minors is not equipped to handle.
The facility was visited recently for the first time by outside parties at the initiative of MK Nitzan Horowitz, in his capacity as chairman of the Knesset Committee on Foreign Workers. The visit included representatives of organizations with an interest in providing assistance; members of the press did not accompany them on the visit.
"It's a mark of shame on Israeli society," said Horowitz, "that various authorities, notably the social welfare and education ministries, are evading responsibility and are allowing prison service staff to deal with difficult problems and impossible situations." (haaretz.com)
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09:42

Israeli holding facility for minors violates international child-protection law, Haaretz learns

A little more than a year since the reopening of an Israel Prison Service holding facility for unaccompanied minors, most of whom are refu...
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