In the face of another major outbreak of the Covid-19 outbreak in India, Australia has announced last week that flights between the two countries will be suspended. In order to prevent some people from coming back through third countries, the Canberra government has just decided to ban Australian citizens currently in India from returning to the country for two weeks. Violators will face imprisonment and fines.
Australian citizens who violate the Canberra government’s new rules can be sentenced to up to five years in jail and a fine of more than 40,000 euros, our RFI correspondent Grégory Plesse reported from Sydney on Sunday (May 2, 2021). This is how all Australian citizens currently trapped in India will be treated when they try to return home.
The Australian government believes this is a “tough but necessary” measure to avoid saturation of the current segregation mechanism that all entrants must comply with. It is also intended to prevent Australian citizens in India from attempting to bypass the suspension of direct flights and enter via third country detours.
An interim decision
Although this decision is only temporary and should be lifted two weeks later on May 15, it still caused shock to many Australian humane organizations. The Australian Human Rights Commission has also expressed serious dismay at this new offence, unique in today’s world.
A former anti-discrimination commissioner noted that even though the epidemic in the United States and European countries was definitely not better a few months ago, no such violent punitive measures were offered.
There are now more than 9,000 Australian citizens stranded in India.
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