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The government’s withdrawal of support for hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers is set to impact its bid for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council.
At least 63 refugees and asylum seekers have been issued with the new final departure bridging visa, which cuts off all government support and pressures recipients to return to Nauru, Manus Island or their country of origin. The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a Swiss-based human rights network, intends to contact multiple UN special rapporteurs in an effort to have the UN condemn the policy. GIESC spokesperson Lucy McKernan told Guardian Australia the bridging visa was “embarrassing to Australia” and “morally and legally indefensible.”
Read more here
Alex McKinnon, The Saturday Paper
