Fil-Australian's Deportation Stirs Up Political Storm
The wrongful deportation of a Filipino-Australian has triggered a
political blizzard in Australia, causing a huge embarrassment for the John
Howard government. The case has exposed an immigration “culture that views
everyone as an enemy,” among others.
BY CAESAR BEN BASAN A.
BAROÑA
Bulatlat
SYDNEY, Australia -
The wrongful deportation of a Filipino-Australian has triggered a
political blizzard in Australia, causing a huge embarrassment for the John
Howard government. The case has exposed an immigration “culture that views
everyone as an enemy,” the bungling practices of Australian and Philippine
authorities and a discriminating mandatory detention policy in Australia’s
immigration policies and practices.
Filipino community
groups, human rights advocates and Australian opposition leaders have
variously called the mistreatment an “apparent mishandling of human beings
who have never deserved such treatment” and “amounting to racism and
sexism and a blatant disregard of women’s and human rights.”
|
Vivian Solon |
Wrongful
deportation
Vivian Alvarez Solon,
also known as (aka) Vivian Young (her married name), was reported missing
after failing to fetch her son in Queensland, Australia in February 2001.
She was later found in Lismore, New South Wales in a gutter in April that
year. Suffering spinal, neck and head injuries she was brought to the
Lismore Base Hospital and then transferred to a Sydney hospital. A month
later, she was sent back to Lismore for rehabilitation in a private
hospital.
An account claims she was involved in a car accident, but a social worker
who saw her said her injuries looked like a result of bashing. What was
clear was that Solon was mentally distraught, as she could not explain
herself and defend her rights. She told hospital staff she was Australian
but they did not believe her since she could not produce an Australian
passport.
Three days after her hospital release in July 2001, she was deported,
despite medical warnings she was not fit to travel and a seizure that was
reportedly witnessed by Immigration officials. The Philippine embassy
interviewed her before she left and assumed she had Philippine
citizenship. Solon’s deportation was facilitated by travel documents
approved by the embassy. An Australian police officer escorted her to
Manila and is said to have handed her over to someone from the Overseas
Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).
For four years, Solon was left in the care of nuns of the Mother Teresa
Missionaries of Charity in Olongapo City, 126 kms north of Manila, in the
company of the frail and the dying.
Now it is know that for 18 years prior to her deportation, Solon,
formerly married to Robert Young, had been living in Australia. She has
two children, one now living with her former husband and the other in
foster care. Reports said she was suffering from physical and mental
abuse.
In September 2003,
the Australian Immigration Department, headed by Sen. Amanda Vanstone,
apparently found out its mistake. By then, the Australian government could
not find where Vivian was in the Philippines. The department in statements
to Australian media previously maintained that Solon’s case was only
discovered in the previous weeks.
Australian authorities asked the Philippine branch of Interpol to look for
Solon, but couldn’t find her. The Philippine branch failed to find even
the employee to whom Solon was turned over four years ago.
She was found in the Olongapo hospice after its chaplain, Australian Mike
Duffin, recognized Vivian after watching satellite television news about
the search for her. Australian Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone, in an
interview with Australian radio, stopped short of accusing Duffin of
delaying contact with Australian authorities.
Vivian’s half-sister, Cecil Solon, went for her in the convent. Vivian
Solon was reported to have difficulty recognizing her half-sister at
first, attributed to trauma.
Calls for a Royal Commission
The search for Vivian Solon has added sparks to the Federal government’s
system of dealing with mentally-ill patients and the Australian
Immigration system. Mental health experts blame the federal immigration
system for Solon’s mistreatment.
Psychiatric expert Ian Hickie said in media interviews that people with
mental illnesses often had difficulty answering questions about their
personal details and would be mistaken for illegal immigrants by officials
who did not recognize their symptoms.
"Additionally, if they do not speak English or they don't look
Anglo-Saxon, the danger is there will be an assumption about illegality,"
he said. "If the question is never asked, 'Do they have a medical or
psychiatric explanation?' or if the expertise is never provided, the
danger of a mistake is high," he added.
The Howard government has apologized to Solon. It has also set in place an
inquiry headed by former Australian Federal police commissioner MickPalmer.
However,
Filipino-Australians and Australian opposition leaders said that the
government’s incompetence calls for an independent royal commission to
investigate. They have also told the Howard government to give Ms. Solon
compensation and arrangements for medical care.
Filipino-Australians’ reactions
Filipino-Australians under Migrante have called for the resignation of
Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone’s resignation.
Lina Cabaero, spokesperson for Migrante Philippines-Australia, said on
Australian national media: "This has caused a lot of concern in the
Filipino community.”
Cabaero also puzzled
over the reason the Philippine government facilitated Solon’s deportation
despite her physical condition. Solon was strapped to a wheelchair when
she left on a plane to the Philippines. Cabaero also asked why the
Philippine government didn’t look for Solon’s relatives when she was
deported.
Gabriela-Australia on
the other hand said: “There is something seriously worrying about a
government that appears to be suspicious of women who disclose sexual
violation and trafficking, of immigrants with refugee stories and those
mentally ill.” The Filipino women’s group said that Vivian had been very
unlucky to fall under all categories.
Gabriela-Australia also said that the “continuing institutional negligence
of Vivian Solon’s case” amounts to “racism and sexism and a blatant
disregard of women’s and human rights for all.”
Vivian Solon is set to go back to Australia and has not pushed for a
lawsuit. She will meet her children living in Queensland.
Cabaero told Australian national media that her group’s concern at the
moment is for Solon to have a guardian from the Immigration Department.
"In her vulnerable state, she needs someone to liaise with them and to
help her before she comes back to Australia," she said. Bulatlat
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