Albanese Government must bring Australians in Syria home
The Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the Albanese Government to repatriate all Australian nationals still held in detention camps in Syria, after Save The Children recently warned it would be forced to commence legal action if the Government failed to act.
Many Australians have remained trapped in the camps for four years, away from their homes and relatives in Australia, despite other countries taking steps to repatriate their nationals from Syria.
The United Nations has reported that young boys in the camps are at risk of being removed from their families and placed in men’s or adult prisons, as 17-year-old Yusuf Zahab was before he died in a Syrian camp. Before his death, he and his family had begged the Australian Government to bring him home.
All Australian nationals have the right to return to Australia. The rights and protections of citizenship cannot depend on the whims of governments. The Albanese Government’s failure to act earlier has cost lives and put other lives at risk.
Save the Children are preparing to launch a legal challenge if the Albanese Government does not act immediately to bring the remaining Australians home.
Josephine Langbien, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said:
“The Australians trapped in Syrian camps have been held for four years in dire conditions while others around them were repatriated. They have a right to come home, and they should not have to resort to litigation to force their own government to bring them back.
“The Albanese Government must take responsibility for the safety of its citizens and ensure that no more lives are lost. All of these people, children and adults alike, deserve a future. They must be brought home to their families and communities in Australia.”
Image credit: Orlok on Shutterstock
Media contact:
Michelle Bennett
Engagement Director
0419 100 519
michelle.bennett@hrlc.org.au
Media Enquiries
Chandi Bates
Media and Communications Manager
University of Melbourne urged to drop repressive anti-protest and surveillance policies
The University of Melbourne is being urged to abandon policy changes that restrict staff and students’ right to protest and permit the widespread surveillance of people using their wifi network.
Read more
Expanded protections for marginalised groups welcomed in Allan Government’s anti-vilification laws
The Human Rights Law Centre welcomes the additional protections for marginalised groups in anti-vilification laws passed today by the Allan Government. These laws expand protections from vilification to include people from LGBTIQA+ and disability communities, and provide communities with important civil law avenues to address vilification.
Read more
Aboriginal human rights experts take Australia’s racist youth justice policies to the UN
Aboriginal leaders are calling on the United Nations to take urgent action to address Australia’s discriminatory and punitive youth justice policies
Read more
Acknowledgement of Country
The Human Rights Law Centre acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands across Australia, including the lands of the Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung, Gadigal, Ngunnawal, Darug and Wadawurrung people where we work from.
We pay our respect to Elders past and present. This land always was, and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land. Sovereignty has never been ceded.
WARNING: This site contains images or names of people who have passed away.