Australia offers $17m payout to Indonesian children jailed as adults
More than 120 Indonesians, who were tragically misjudged as adults by Australian authorities when they were, in fact, innocent children, have prevailed in a significant class action lawsuit that exposes a story of injustice. The Australian government is now faced with a substantial A$27 million payout and must confront the consequences of its past actions. These individuals, once wrongly accused of being people smugglers, were thrust into a harrowing situation, with some as young as 12 years old.
This incident is a part of the ongoing narrative surrounding Australia's asylum seeker policies, which has been moving toward resolution over the past decade, as expressed by Sam Tierney, one of the advocates for the plaintiffs. The poignant stories of these victims intersected on Christmas Island's shores and in the heart of Darwin between 2009 and 2012 when they arrived on smuggler's vessels, innocent children deceived by promises of well-paying jobs, unaware of their role as unwitting carriers of asylum seekers.
The past is marred by a dark shadow, where the rule of law faltered. Australian authorities of that era should have repatriated these children to their home countries instead of treating them as criminals. Their decisions were based on the unreliable method of wrist X-ray analyses, which is now discredited but was once used as a judgment tool. Innocent children were unjustly confined solely because of their perceived age.
In a heartbreaking revelation, a prison guard named Colin Singer disclosed to the BBC in 2018 that he believed the Australian government intentionally imprisoned these children, while the Indonesian government remained indifferent to their plight. This ordeal was compounded by a significant report from the Australian Human Rights Commission, which highlighted numerous violations of the boys' rights and mishandling of their cases.
At the forefront of this struggle is Mr. Ali Jasmin, the lead claimant, who seeks justice and accuses Australian officials of negligence and racial discrimination. The Australian government has been involved in similar lawsuits in recent years, including a A$70 million settlement with refugees and asylum seekers in 2017 and another case involving an Iraqi asylum seeker.
Thursday's settlement, while not an explicit admission of wrongdoing, now awaits final approval from the Federal Court. Ultimately, it is a moment of reckoning and, hopefully, a step toward a more just and compassionate approach to immigration and asylum policies in Australia.
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