AUSTRALIA’S hardline immigration policies overshadowed the launch of its bid to join the UN Human Rights Council, as the government and rights lawyers argued bitterly over the case of a pregnant asylum seeker who says she was raped on the island where she was detained.
Protests took place in Sydney over the treatment of the 23-year-old Somali woman, Abyan, who says the pregnancy resulted from the rape. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton accused lawyers of fabricating stories about her treatment. Human rights advocates say she was denied basic medical attention and likened her removal from Australia to CIA-style rendition.
Australia has agreed to take in 12,000 Syrians but its policy of turning back refugee boats and holding asylum seekers in prison camps on poor island nations such as Nauru and Papua New Guinea has undermined any goodwill.
Abyan travelled to Australia last week for an abortion but was sent back to Nauru. The authorities claim she changed her mind. Her lawyers say she asked for counselling and more time to regain her health.
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