Transcript
FREYA DINSHAW: We've been acting and working with a number of people who for a number of years have been separated from their loved ones in offshore detention centre. As you will be aware, the situation after five years has reached a real crisis point and for many of the people we work with the situation is just unbearable. We've taken action to the United Nations to try and bring these families together and we hope that the Australian government reunites them as soon as it can.
KORO VAKA'UTA: What can the United Nations do, apart from give a little slap on the hand, is there anything binding that they can do to force the Australian government to act?
FD: Australia has signed a number of binding international treaties that govern how they can treat these people including how they are meant to protect the family unit and offer children protection to that end. But the real key here is that for the next few years Australia is on the Human Rights Council where it has pled to make progress in the promotion, protection, realisation of human rights. So it is saying to the world how much it cares about human rights on the world stage and it will be exposed in a big way if it ignores any clear rulings from the UN in a big case like this.
KV: From the looks of it, the plight of these families being separated, it's for some cases anyway it has just been a case of timing.
FD: That's right. A number of the families didn't realise that what they thought was going to be a separation of a couple of days when they were coming by different boats to Australia, would end up being years and years on end with no hope or sight of being reunited due to the Australian government's harsh policies. For example, one of the families we work with were taking a mini-van to get to the boat. There wasn't enough seats on the van and so the father took another car and missed the boat eventually and that made the difference between the family being together or living apart as it has for the last five years.
KV: I note that one of your MPs [Andrew] Wilkie has given his intention to put a bill to bring people from Nauru for medical attention, is that a step in the right direction or is that sort of negligible?
FD: It is a step in the right direction and we are increasingly seeing more pressure and leadership from politicians to try and do something about the escalating crisis that is happening on Nauru, particularly in relation to the children. We hope very much that children and their families are brought to Australia for medical treatment that is urgently needed. As we hope that the handful of people stuck in Nauru and Manus brought to be back with their families in Australia so that the enduring harm that is being caused to every single one of the people that we are working for can be put to an end and they can live together as a family in safety.
KV: This is quite a large action. What's the timeline here? What happens next?
FD: In terms of the timeline, the case is being brought to the UN Human Rights Committee which is one of the world's leading authorities on international human rights and it will be brought before a panel of 18 independent international law experts with the next step in the case being for the Australian government to provide comment in its response to the case.
