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In 2013, Australia said asylum seekers who came by boat would be sent offshore and never settle in Australia.
3,127 people were sent to Nauru and Manus Island after that.
What happened to them? That's what this new series for @GuardianAus is all about. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/lives-in-limbo
3,127 people were sent to Nauru and Manus Island after that.
What happened to them? That's what this new series for @GuardianAus is all about. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/lives-in-limbo
I spent months going through every piece of government data I could find to help create this timeline — which shows where those 3,000 people have been throughout the last 7 years. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2020/dec/10/timeline-australia-offshore-immigration-detention-system-program-census-of-asylum-seekers-refugees
The upshot: almost half of them are still waiting for resolution — despite the vast majority being recognised as refugees. They're either still offshore, or temporarily in Australia on a medical transfer without any right to stay. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/10/lives-in-limbo-more-than-1500-asylum-seekers-still-face-uncertain-future
Here are the numbers, and here's what they look like in a person's life...
Almost 300 people are still offshore. Nur has started a successful business in Nauru, but his wife was pregnant when he fled and he hasn't been able to meet his 8-year-old daughter, who's now 7. If he resettled somewhere, they could reunite. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/10/i-just-want-to-see-her-once-his-daughter-is-eight-and-he-has-never-met-her
More than 1,200 people are in Oz without a permanent right to stay. The gvt calls them "transitory persons". Some are in detention. Others, like Betelhem, are free but treated differently. She's been here for years but still not able to plan a life. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/08/am-i-am-i-different-the-future-is-uncertain-even-after-detention
About 750 people returned home. Murtada couldn't tolerate life on Manus Island and returned to Baghdad in 2014. But things had gotten even worse since he left, so he fled again. He got another boat from Turkey to Greece and is now living in Austria. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/10/i-was-nothing-for-some-asylum-seekers-the-only-option-was-to-return-to-danger
Almost 900 people have resettled in the US, a pathway that's now drawing to a close. Mehdi Savari has been there for 18 months. He is 100cm tall and didn't get appropriate facilities in PNG for the first 5 years. His life in the US is tough. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/10/you-cannot-work-with-us-you-are-not-normal-person-resettled-in-the-us-but-still-an-outsider
A few hundred people — many of them transferred under medevac — are in detention in Australia. Some for over a year. Thanush was transferred to Oz after a suicide attempt. Detained in a hotel, he made another in May. He's still in detention in Melbourne. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/10/reza-is-bleeding-his-head-was-all-blood-some-memories-will-never-go-away
A small number of people have resettled elsewhere than the US. Teen Syrian refugee Ali Kharsa left Nauru with his Dad in 2015 after his mother made it to Canada. He's now a Canadian citizen, a student, and a rapper called MC AK. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/10/are-they-just-gonna-dump-us-here-refugees-given-a-number-for-a-name-on-nauru
Recently, UNHCR has stepped in to help a small number of people still held offshore. Hamid was in a desperate situation: held on Manus for years, then detained in the even worse Bomana immigration centre. He's now in France, still angry at what he endured. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/10/fire-in-front-of-me-and-fire-behind-me-all-hope-lost-in-the-green-hell-of-manus
Stay tuned as we release more stories from this project over the next few days (my last freelance project before I joined @AAPNewswire). The amazing team behind it: @michaelbgreen, @BenDohertyCorro, @NickEvershed & @alexspring.
