It seems our leaders’ flagrant disregard for international law and human rights has not gone unnoticed by the rest of the world after all, despite their best efforts.
As European nations desperately seek solutions to the worst migrant crisis the continent has faced since the second world war, The New York Times has published an editorial urging leaders not to copy Australia’s hard-line approach to refugees, labeling it “unconscionable”.
Consecutive Australian government’s have defended and downplayed their treatment of asylum seekers attempting to reach our country by boat, but none with such iron-clad militarism as the Abbott Government.
This morning, Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the image of drowned three-year-old Aylan Kurdi (a Syrian migrant whose body was found on a Turkish beach yesterday) as “very sad”- a reminder that we need to “stop the boats”.
The NYT piece describes Mr Abbott’s “ruthlessly effective” attempts to do just that, via turn-backs and cruel offshore detention policies, as not only legally dubious, but “inhumane”.
As Australian citizens our government’s continued mistreatment of refugees is deeply, deeply shameful.
We have seen the recent findings of the senate inquiry into the Nauru detention centre, which contained no less than 30 official allegations of guards sexually assaulting children within the camp and described a terrifying culture of violence and sexual harassment towards women on the island.
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Is the picture in this article of Aylan Kurdi?
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