Protests Against Deporting Refugee Baby Continue Outside QLD Hospital

Protests outside Brisbane’s Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital are still going strong, nearing 24 hours since hospital staff publicly refused to discharge a toddler likely to be deported to Nauru.

The child, called Baby Asha by staff, was brought to Australia for medical treatment after sustaining accidental burns in detention. Fairfax reports members of the broader public are staging a protest outside the hospital, supporting hospital workers’ assertion Asha wouldn’t be discharged until a “suitable home environment is identified.” 

Asha’s condition has been described as stable, meaning her possible deportation is the deciding factor in her discharge; in a statement released earlier, the hospital said the decision was made “with the goal of delivering the best outcome.” 

Needless to say, healthcare workers are not entirely convinced a detention centre is a “suitable home environment” for a one-year-old girl and her asylum-seeking parents, despite the recent, highly-criticised High Court ruling declaring the deportation of hundreds of asylum seekers back to Nauru legal.

Baby Asha’s case wasn’t among that number, leading to fears her removal may be imminent. 

Mark Gillespie of Refugee Action Collective told ABC that Asha’s parents, both of whom are currently in Brisbane, are “fearful for their baby and the conditions that they face.”

“It’s just horrible for them and they’re resolute that they don’t want to go back.

It’s just terrible for them.”

MP Sarah Hanson-Young has also given her take on the situation, commending the work of hospital staff despite the looming threat of punishment for their stance. 
“All strength to the medical professionals at the Brisbane hospital…

The doctors know that discharging this baby would send her and her family straight to the dangers of indefinite detention on Nauru.”

This protest comes less than a week after activist group GetUp! plead Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to refrain from deporting the asylum seekers currently on Australian soil.  

At time of writing, neither Immigration Minister Peter Dutton nor his department have made a statement on Baby Asha’s case. 

Source: Fairfax / ABC.
Photo: Facebook.

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