Australia in search of 50 missing athletes and officials after CWG 2018
Australia's Home Minister announced on Tuesday that the authorities are searching for 50 missing athletes and officials from the Commonwealth Games and 190 others are seeking asylum.
In Short
- 50 athletes and officials had gone missing during CWG 2018 in Gold Coast in April
- Australian authorities are still searching for the missing persons
- Australian Home Minister announced that 190 people had also sought protection visas
Australian authorities are still searching for 50 missing athletes and officials a month after the Commonwealth Games ended in Gold Coast.
Australia's Home Affairs minister said on Tuesday that while they are searching for the missing athletes and officials, another 190 are seeking asylum.
Minister Peter Dutton told reporters in Canberra an operation had been organised to find the 50 people and "take them into immigration detention and eventually to deport them."
He also said that 190 other people had sought protection visas, a type of Australian visa given to refugees. On top of that, 15 more have applied for other types of visas.
While some participants at major international sporting events overstay their visas or seek asylum in the host countries, the number of claims in Australia following this year's Commonwealth Games, held April 4-15, is high.
Participants who went missing or sought refuge at previous Commonwealth Games, such as those held in Melbourne in 2006 and Manchester in 2002 and Glasgow in 2014, typically numbered in the dozens, not hundreds, according to government statements at the time.
More than 6,600 athletes and team officials attended the 2018 event, held on Australia's sub-tropical Gold Coast.
Some athletes, including those from Cameroon, in Central Africa, did not show up for their events.
Dutton said on Tuesday under immigration law, people who apply for temporary protections visas are given bridging visas, which allow them to stay in Australia while their claims are processed.
Asylum seekers are a highly contentious political issue in Australia, which has a policy of stopping the flow of such people before they land in the country. Its policy of sending asylum seekers for processing to camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru has drawn criticism from the United Nations and international rights groups.
Australia defends its tough laws by saying it deters people from making dangerous sea journeys to try to reach its shores after thousands drowned.
(With Reuters inputs)