Australia hospital refuses to return refugee baby to detention

An Australian hospital has refused to return an asylum-seeker baby to detention in Nauru, as momentum built across the country on Sunday against offshore Pacific camps for processing refugees.

Under the government’s tough immigration policy, asylum-seekers who try to reach Australia by boat are sent to detention camps in the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

They are blocked from being resettled in Australia even if found to be refugees.

The hospital’s move came as state governments, churches and activists stepped up their efforts to stop the return of some 267 refugees to Nauru following a high court ruling.

On Sunday, campaigners from ActionAid, Amnesty International, GetUp! and Greenpeace unfurled a #LetThemStay banner on Sydney’s iconic harbour calling for the asylum-seekers, who are set to be deported after being brought to Australia for medical treatment, to be allowed to stay.

The #LetThemStay campaign, which has been trending on Twitter, has also seen hundreds of people maintain a vigil — now in its third day — outside the hospital where the baby is treated.