Hi All:
Given recent discussion regarding segregation immigration policy in
Australia, I thought this may be of interest to people on the list, I got
this from a Canadian list.
Maria
> Man Sets Self Ablaze Because of Distress Over Daughter With Disability
>
> A man who set himself on fire outside the Australian parliament was
> distraught over a government refusal to admit his daughter with a
disability
> because of medical costs, officials said after the incident.
>
> Shuharyar Kiyani, 48, doused himself with an inflammable liquid and set
> himself alight Monday outside the main public entrance to parliament as
> visiting school children stood nearby. He was in critical condition
Tuesday
> in a Sydney hospital with third degree burns to 50 percent of his body.
>
> Kiyani was angry that his request to bring his wife and daughter to
> Australia had been rejected. Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said an
> appeal in the case was being considered.
>
> Relatives of the burned man met Tuesday with Ruddock. They offered to
cover
> any medical costs if the daughter is admitted to Australia.
>
> Ruddock said the government was concerned about the possible high cost of
> medical treatment for the daughter.
>
> "It's complicated because the child in this case has very severe
> disabilities and the matter that's being assessed is the potential cost to
> the Australian community if the application were to proceed," Ruddock
said.
>
> "Those costs (for medical treatment) go to many hundreds of thousands of
> dollars," he said.
>
> Prime Minister John Howard said Tuesday he was very sorry about the
> incident.
>
> "For anybody to feel that desperate, that sad, and that driven is a very
sad
> thing," he said.
>
> Kiyani was granted permanent residency in Australia several years ago
after
> arriving as an asylum seeker. He had been waiting for years to bring his
> family into the country.
>
> Refugee advocate Marion Le said the incident case put a human face on
> immigration cases that were usually seen by officials as pieces of paper.
>
> "Here is a father, who (whether she's got) ... a limp in the leg or a
> withered arm or not, still loves that child and has every right to have
her
> join him in Australia," she said.
>
>
> END NOTES
> Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
>
>
> (This story was posted on April 3, 2001)
>
>
>
>
> Women with disAbilities Discussion List:
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>
>
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>
>
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