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Novak Djokovic’s compulsion to stay at a Melbourne residential facility was unusual not only because he was one of the world’s top men’s tennis players, but also because he was released just four days later.
For more than 30 asylum seekers who are permanently suffering at the Park Hotel, a protected area called “Park prison”, there is no such escape.
The Serbian tennis player unknowingly looked at their plight last week when the cancellation of an entry visa that allowed him to defend his Australian Open title caused him to temporarily stay in contention.
Soon, the refugee helpers waiting outside the front gate were joined by several angry Djokovic fans, as well as anti-vaccine protesters drawn by the military. vaccine-suspicious tennis star problem.
“It’s amazing [the asylum seekers] was closed two years ago inside Melbourne, and it took an argument for a tennis player to clarify the situation, “said Claire Gomez, a nurse who is assisting the detainees.
Djokovic was relocated to a better place after a judge ruled that his visa had been revoked. it was illegal, despite threats of dismissal for non-vaccination as well errors in his refugee letters. But government efforts to expel the player have highlighted strict Australian border laws.
Djokovic’s former allies remain behind the walls of places that have made headlines around the world because of its unhealthy diet, including worms in other foods, and the mental and physical stress that refugees experience. Many are looking forward to a trip to countries like Canada and the US but stay in asylum limbo.
Mehdi Ali was transferred to the Park Hotel from Nauru, a Pacific island where hundreds of asylum seekers seeking to enter Australia were detained in so-called dangerous prisons. “Island prisons”, two months after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
He has been protected in Australia for almost a decade, when his Iranian family took him on a boat to Australia at the age of 15.
His mind was a little troubled by the uncertainty of when his imprisonment would end – exacerbated by the sight of ordinary citizens doing business through the window.
“In prison, they kill you but you can’t see the lives of other people,” he said over the phone inside the hotel. But I’m in the middle of the city and I can’t leave. It’s like starving to see someone eat before you. ”
Craig Foster, a footballer who became a human rights activist, was pleased with how Djokovic’s plight attracted worldwide attention to Australia’s strong border government. The tennis player, one of the highest paid players in the world, now has the unique opportunity to share his experiences and inform people about it, he said.
Foster said the torture of prisoners reduced Australia’s suspension from the world, especially when Canberra demanded it coercion is accused of human rights abuses. The policies followed by the successive Australian governments were a “global scandal” that had a profound effect on national identity, he said.
Foster added: “There is a human cost to this great politics. They are the political leaders on the chessboard of the eternal game.”
Novak Djokovic was encouraged by campaigners to report on prisons © Mike Frey / AFP / Getty
Australia operates detention centers in Nauru and Papua New Guinea for “people aboard”Who are detained for attempting to enter the country. There were another 1,459 people in detention and other places within Australia since September last year, according to the government.
Kim Matousek, a protester outside the “Park Prison”, said the closure measures had also become a major cost to Australian taxpayers. “Its cost is prohibitive,” he added. It would be cheap to let them go.
A report by the Refugee Council of Australia published in 2019 set the cost of government policies at A $ 9.6bn (US $ 7bn).
A spokesman for the Australian Border Force encouraged immigrants such as those at the Park Hotel to choose migration options, adding that the military “remained committed to the lives of the detainees”.
He added: “Australian border laws do not change; people who travel to Australia illegally by boat will not settle here. Temporary relocation to Australia for medical treatment is not the answer. ”
Hervé Lemahieu, head of research at the Lowy Institute think-tank, said the “performances” of the Australian border movement violated national confidence and freedom of immigration.
He states: “It is difficult to reconcile such perceptions of border security with the fact that we are living in the same country with so many migrant workers around the world.
Only the US and UK relocate more refugees than Australia, according to the government.
The most recent data from an Australian statistics office shows that there are 7.6m immigrants living in the country, and about 30 percent of the population was born overseas. But a coronavirus epidemic occurred moving numbers to be empty for the first time since 1946, the number of immigrants declined sharply last year.
Lemahieu said even border security is difficult was politically active, “part of the money” was that hundreds of thousands of legal refugees, mainly from China, India and the UK, were welcomed each year at the front door.
This makes the Park Hotel very difficult for the government to justify. “This raises serious questions about whether these people represent a threat to us or whether they are sacrificed lambs because of border security policies,” he said.
Mehdi, now 24, said she would not regret going to Australia because it was not her choice to do so, but mourn the loss of a young man who was unjustly imprisoned in prison.
“Sometimes I wish I could die in the ocean,” he says.
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