U.N. refers Saudi teen to Australia for refugee resettlement

[webfact]

U.N. refers Saudi teen to Australia for refugee resettlement

 

FILE PHOTO - Saudi teen Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun is greeted by Thai immigration authorities at a hotel inside Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand January 7, 2019. Thailand Immigration Police via REUTERS

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The United Nations has asked Australia to consider refugee resettlement for an 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled to Thailand saying she feared her family would kill her, the Australian government said on Wednesday.

 

The teenager, Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, arrived in Bangkok on the weekend appealing for asylum. Australia said it would consider resettling her if the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) deemed her a refugee.

 

"The UNHCR has referred Ms Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun to Australia for consideration for refugee resettlement," Australia's Department of Homeland Security said in an email.

 

The department said it would consider the referral "in the usual way, as it does with all UNHCR referrals". It declined to comment further.

 

The UNHCR office in Thailand also declined to comment.

 

Qunun arrived in Bangkok on Saturday and was initially denied entry.

 

She soon started posting messages on Twitter from the transit area of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport saying she had "escaped Kuwait" and her life would be in danger if forced to return to Saudi Arabia.

 

Within hours, a campaign sprung up on Twitter, spread by a loose network of activists around the world.

 

Within 36 hours it prompted Thailand's government to reverse a decision to force the young woman onto a plane that would return her to her family.

 

She was allowed to enter Thailand and on Tuesday began the process of seeking asylum in a third country through the U.N. refugee agency.

 

Her case has drawn new global attention to Saudi Arabia's strict social rules, including a requirement that women have the permission of a male "guardian" to travel, which rights groups say can trap women and girls as prisoners of abusive families.

 

It comes at a time when Riyadh is facing unusually intense scrutiny from its Western allies over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October and over the humanitarian consequences of its war in Yemen.

 

(Reporting by Byron Kaye, Colin Packham and Jonathan Barrett in SYDNEY; Editing by Robert Birsel)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-09

[pegman]

Great news!

[darksidedog]

Excellent. the UN has obviously decided that her story is genuine and that she should definitely be considered a genuine asylum seeker. All we need now is for Australia to accept (which I am sure they will), and her case will have a happy ending.

I feel for those girls and women still in Saudi suffering from their archaic laws and hope the day will come, when they too can find freedom to be human beings.

[Uttara]

That's great the UN have stepped up but Australia !  Probably one of the worst countries for the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Hopefully she can be fast tracked and not spend years being processed. Good luck to her

[webfact]

Immigration Chief Rejects Saudi Complaint As Rahaf’s Dad Leaves Empty-Handed

By Jintamas Saksornchai, Staff Reporter

 

Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn, Thailand's immigration police chief, at a press briefing Wednesday in Bangkok.

 

BANGKOK — Thailand’s immigration chief said Wednesday that confiscating a runaway Saudi woman’s phone would have violated her rights in an apparent rebuke of a Saudi diplomat’s complaint.

 

After saying the Saudis were pleased with how Thailand handled the case of a young woman fleeing her family, Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn addressed a complaint caught on tape in which Saudi Arabia’s charge d’affaires in Bangkok said he wished her phone had been confiscated instead of her passport.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2019/01/09/immigration-chief-rejects-saudi-complaint-as-rahafs-dad-leaves-empty-handed/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2019-01-09

[ThreeEyedRaven]

3 minutes ago, webfact said:

Saudi Arabia’s charge d’affaires in Bangkok said he wished her phone had been confiscated instead of her passport.

I am sure he did, at which point she would have been incommunicado and unable to let the world know her situation. Had they taken her phone, she would probably be being beaten to death back home by now.

[happy chappie]

I can't see why she has to go to Australia.shes safe here and I don't know why ol big jokes laughing as it was him and his team that cocked it all up in the first place.

Edited January 9, 2019 by happy chappie

[Megasin1]

Australia steps in and does a good deed, well done Australia. All the girl has to do now is escape the clutches of BJ, her father, brother, the Saudi government and their lapdogs. Lets hope that the UNHCR deems her a refugee.

[keith101]

If they truly want to kill her going to Aus wont stop them they will just hire someone or an extended family member to do it .

[Hayduke]

One more step...hopefully this young lady’s liberation will actually happen. But she still needs to get out of Thailand as soon as humanly possible. Her intelligence, courage and determination are truly impressive and she looks to be someone who can be a real asset to any free society. Australia will be lucky to have her.

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2019 by Hayduke

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Now it's up to Australia, or some other country, to accept her for resettlement, after the UN agency has supported her case.  But right now, no news on that, so presumably she's still stuck here under the care of the U.N. until there's some further development by Australia or elsewhere.

 

As for her mobile phone, I'm sure the Saudi's DO wish someone has seized the young woman's phone and prevented her from telling her story to the world.  Another stain on the already much stained reputation of Saudi Arabia, who nonetheless still manages to find a friend in U.S. would-be dictator Trump.

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

BTW, the truly sad and unspoken reality of the situation here is that this young woman's plea for escape to freedom and refugee status is grounded in conditions that probably apply to much or most all young women in Saudi Arabia under the country's own laws -- forced marriages, legal control by male family members, no religious freedom, restrictions on travel and work, etc etc.

 

What about all the others in similar straits there?

 

 

Edited January 9, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[White Christmas13]

27 minutes ago, Uttara said:

That's great the UN have stepped up but Australia !  Probably one of the worst countries for the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Hopefully she can be fast tracked and not spend years being processed. Good luck to her

First post and already a crappy answer

 

[SheungWan]

49 minutes ago, keith101 said:

If they truly want to kill her going to Aus wont stop them they will just hire someone or an extended family member to do it .

The Don't Bother solution.

[smedly]

55 minutes ago, webfact said:

Saudi Arabia’s charge d’affaires in Bangkok said he wished her phone had been confiscated instead of her passport.

you can only control and abuse women in Saudi, your masculine inadequacies don't work elsewhere so go home away from the civilized world before I vomit

[anchadian]

Sophie McNeill reports that foreign Minister Marise Payne has just announced she will be visiting Thailand tomorrow. It's a pre-arranged visit, but the timing!! AND she says while she is here she will advocate for the safe return to Australia of Bahraini refugee & Oz resident HakeemAlAraibi.

 

[Misterwhisper]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Saudi Arabia’s charge d’affair in Bangkok said he wished her phone had been confiscated instead of her passport.

What a despicable, evil comment (from a diplomat nonetheless!) that clearly demonstrates the wicked and ill-intentioned stance of the Saudi state against its female population.

[balo]

The whole country Saudi Arabia is evil . Based on Islam. 

How can anyone even want to visit that hell hole? 

 

[snoop1130]

Saudi Arabian teen refuses to meet her father

By The Nation

 

File photo : Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun//AFP

 

The 18-year-old who fled her family in Saudi Arabia is refusing to meet her father, Immigration police chief Pol Lt-General Surachate Hakparn said on Wednesday. 

The father, who flew in on Wednesday and is set to take the evening flight back to Riyadh, was scheduled to meet UN refugee agency (UNHCR) officials to give his side of the story. 

 

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun’s problems caught worldwide attention after she fled her family during Kuwait visit and ended up being detained in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. She was apparently on her way to Australia, where she intended to seek asylum. 

 

The young woman is accusing her family of physical and psychological abuse.

 

It is still unclear why the woman was detained in Bangkok. Earlier reports claimed al-Qunun’s father had asked the Saudi Arabia Embassy in Bangkok to detain her, while another said that she had no ticket to Australia.

 

She later barricaded herself in the room she was being detained and tweeted asking for help, saying she would be killed if she were deported to Saudi Arabia. She also demanded to meet UNHCR officials. 

 

Her demands were met, when the authorities handed her over to UNHCR on Monday.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30361920

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-1-9

[chainarong]

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Excellent. the UN has obviously decided that her story is genuine and that she should definitely be considered a genuine asylum seeker. All we need now is for Australia to accept (which I am sure they will), and her case will have a happy ending.

I feel for those girls and women still in Saudi suffering from their archaic laws and hope the day will come, when they too can find freedom to be human beings.

Unless there are other factors one cannot see why not, taking into consideration some of the trash they've allowed in over the past two deacades.

[Misterwhisper]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

The father, who flew in on Wednesday

Why didn't mom tag along? Shackled to the bed post back home "safeguarded" by her brother-in-law or nephew, perhaps, while daddy embarked on his ultimately futile "ungrateful-daughter-recovery excursion"?

Edited January 9, 2019 by Misterwhisper

[sweatalot]

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

Saudi Arabian teen refuses to meet her father

I can imagine good reasons for that. 

 

Anyway - witnesses of that meeting would have come to some insights

[PJPom]

It will be very amusing to see the reactions of the supporters of Islam on Australian television who declare it to be a female friendly religion.

Also in Australia criticism of Islam is a crime, will this make her unacceptable as she has openly rejected it ?.

Has she got friends or Relatives to help her in Australia and is she financially able to support herself, does she speak English, the barriers to establishing a happy future will be great.

After all these doubts I hope she succeeds, good luck young lady.

[janclaes47]

4 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Another stain on the already much stained reputation of Saudi Arabia, who nonetheless still manages to find a friend in U.S. would-be dictator Trump.

 

Never miss a chance to slag of Trump do we, even in a topic that is not related in any way to Trump or even the US.

 

But please care to explain which countries or companies actually have turned their back on SA after the murder or Khashoggi?

[snoop1130]

Australia to consider taking in Saudi teen who fled family 'abuse'

 

FILE PHOTO - Saudi teen Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun is greeted by Thai immigration authorities at a hotel inside Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand January 7, 2019. Thailand Immigration Police via REUTERS

 

SYDNEY/BANGKOK (Reuters) - Australia said on Wednesday it would consider taking in a 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled to Thailand saying she feared her family, which she accused of abuse, would kill her.

 

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun arrived in Bangkok on Saturday appealing for asylum. Australia said on Tuesday it would consider resettling her if the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) deemed her a refugee.

 

"The UNHCR has referred Ms Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun to Australia for consideration for refugee resettlement," Australia's Department of Homeland Security said in an email on Wednesday.

 

The department said it would consider the referral "in the usual way, as it does with all UNHCR referrals". It declined to comment further.

 

The UNHCR office in Thailand also declined to comment.

 

Qunun has refused to meet her father and brother who flew to Bangkok this week, Thai immigration chief Surachate Hakparn said.

 

"He wanted to make sure that his daughter was safe... he told me that he wanted to take her home," he said, adding that her father denied Qunun's allegation that her family was abusing her physically and emotionally.

 

Surachate added that Qunan's father would remain in Thailand, under the care of the Saudi Arabian embassy, until it is clear where Qunun will receive asylum.

 

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne is due in Bangkok on Thursday for a visit arranged earlier, during which she will discuss the case of Bahrain footballer Hakeem AlAraibi, who has refugee status in Australia but is in jail in Thailand.

 

Qunun was initially denied entry to Thailand when she arrived on Saturday. She soon started posting messages on Twitter from the transit area of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport saying she had "escaped Kuwait" and her life would be in danger if forced to return to Saudi Arabia.

 

Within hours, a campaign sprang up on Twitter, spread by a loose network of activists around the world, prompting the Thai government to reverse a decision to force the young woman onto a plane that would return her to her family.

 

Qunun's case has drawn global attention to Saudi Arabia's strict social rules, including a requirement that women have the permission of a male "guardian" to travel, which rights groups say can trap women and girls as prisoners of abusive families.

 

It comes at a time when Riyadh is facing unusually intense scrutiny from its Western allies over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October and over the humanitarian consequences of its war in Yemen.

 

Thai authorities arrested and charged AlAraibi, a Bahraini footballer who has a refugee status in Australia, late last year.

 

Bahrain made a request to have him extradited and he is in jail, waiting for a hearing to decide his case.

 

"AlAraibi was granted permanent residency by the Australian government in recognition of his status as a refugee," Payne said in a statement, saying that she would seek his safe return to Australia.

 

Rights group Amnesty International said Thai authorities should "show humanity" to AlAraibi the same way they had to Qunun.

 

"We welcome the leadership shown by the Thai authorities in Rahaf’s case," the group's Middle East director of campaigns, Samah Hadid, said in a statement.

 

"No person should be deported to a country where they are at risk of serious human rights violations ... the humanity shown to Rahaf must not be a one-off."

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-1-9

[Misterwhisper]

46 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

He wanted to make sure that his daughter was safe... he told me that he wanted to take her home

Yes, no doubt in order to mete out some love to her... with a bullwhip.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, janclaes47 said:

 

Never miss a chance to slag of Trump do we, even in a topic that is not related in any way to Trump or even the US.

 

But please care to explain which countries or companies actually have turned their back on SA after the murder or Khashoggi?

 

Of course Saudia Arabia and its repression is very much related to the U.S. and Trump, because of the Saudi Arabians among the 9/11 hijackers, because of Khashoggi, because of Saudi Arabia's key role in Islamic fundamentalism.  Unlike most other countries, the U.S. has the size, economic cloud and ability to impact Saudi Arabia if it decided to.

 

In the wake of Khashoggi's murder, there were plenty of calls by Republicans and Democrats in Congress for the U.S. to impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia and its leaders similar to what the U.S. has done with Russia, including canceling some slated arms deals. But AFAIK, Trump and his administration thus far have done very little to meaningfully impact the Saudi leadership and government.

 

But the worst part is Trump publicly standing there saying he really doesn't know who ordered the murder and there wasn't enough evidence, even as most of the rest of the world, including the U.S. intelligence community, looked at the public and private evidence and concluded with pretty much certainty that the Saudi government and MBS were responsible.

 

That's why I brought Trump into the Saudi Arabia topic, because at a time when he's grousing about Mexicans and Central Americans, he's doing next to nothing about a repressive regime of murderers and one that's behind much of the Muslim fundamentalist terrorism movement that he supposedly is committed to fighting (even though he's really only focused on poor and colored foreigners -- not the oil rich ones).

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-15/u-s-sanctions-saudi-arabia-khashoggi-murder
 

Quote

 

Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, noted that many of the people the U.S. sanctioned are imprisoned and some may be executed.

 

“The United States needs to project strength when dealing with Saudi Arabia,” Paul wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “We are pretending to do something and doing NOTHING.”
 

Later on Thursday, a bipartisan group of six senators proposed stronger penalties, including a suspension of arms sales, against the Riyadh government, in a challenge to the Trump administration.

 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-11/senate-drive-to-punish-saudi-prince-over-khashoggi-death-delayed
 

Quote

 

A bipartisan drive in the U.S. Senate to approve tough sanctions on Saudi Arabia for the murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi will slip into next year, as members struggle to agree on a response to the killing they said was ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

 

 

Edited January 9, 2019 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[mok199]

Is that the cardboard Joke in the picture loitering around..

[Rhys]

Trust all this works for her...she has put up with too much BS...have to admire her courage and cleverness.

[sweatalot]

7 hours ago, keith101 said:

If they truly want to kill her going to Aus wont stop them they will just hire someone or an extended family member to do it .

I wouldn't be surprised. That's why I hope they will  give her another identity and take her to a secret destination like they do in the witness protection programs

Edited January 9, 2019 by sweatalot