The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> Iraqi bishop protests WYD visa denials

Iraqi bishop protests WYD visa denials

Posted by Tiglath (Guest) - Monday, July 14 2008, 13:45:16 (CEST)
from 220.238.140.16 - d220-238-140-16.dsl.vic.optusnet.com.au

Australia -

Windows Codename Longhorn -

Internet Explorer
Website:
Website title:

Iraqi bishop protests WYD visa denials

Published: July 14, 2008

Chaldean Iraqi Bishop Philip Najim has accused the Australian government officials of "mistrust and bureaucracy" in approving only 30 out of over 170 visa applications for World Youth Day.

Catholic News Agency reports the Australian government has denied visas to dozens of World Youth Day pilgrims from Iraq, citing concerns that participants will not return home and instead will seek asylum in Australia.

One Chaldean Catholic priest called the decision "a slap at young people who wanted to go to witness to the faith and the joy of the Church’s living in Iraq despite sufferings."

Initially the Australian government denied visas for nearly 170 pilgrims, allowing only ten visas to aspiring World Youth Day participants, the SIR News Agency says. According to the website Baghdadhope, there are now only about 30 total visas available that will be granted "in extremis".

Father Rayan P. Atto, parish priest of Mar Qardagh Church in Erbil, told SIR News Agency that the concerns about asylum seekers were unfounded, arguing that, "for young Christian Iraqis, taking part in the WYD in Sydney was not a way to leave their country."

"Most of the group members come from northern Iraq, a quiet area," he continued. "They have no reason to escape and they would certainly not do it on an occasion related to faith."

Before it was reported that 30 visas would be available for pilgrims, Father Atto said the Australian Embassy in Amman, Jordan had approved only ten visas. "How can one reduce a group of almost 170 people down to just ten?" he asked.

The news of the 30 total visas did not satisfy Bishop Philip Najim, Chaldean Procurator to the Holy See.

"This is a real scandal, a slap at young people who wanted to go to witness to the faith and the joy of the Church's living in Iraq despite sufferings," Bishop Najim said, speaking to MISNA news agency.

"The dream of young Iraqis to participate in World Youth Day in Sydney shatters against the wall of mistrust and of bureaucracy, after the Australian embassy in Amman completely denied the visas in the beginning and then, today, granted 30 entry visas to the country… just 30, of which 12 are for religious and only 18 for young boys and girls, on a list of 170 people delivered since last year."

"The refusal of the entry visas to the young Iraqis who wished to attend the World Youth Day makes us very sad," said Chaldean Bishop Jibrail Kassab of the Eparchy of Oceania and New Zealand.

The Australian Embassy said that political, not economic reasons motivated their decision. The embassy said that in most cases the documents concerning the employment and financial situation of the pilgrims are missing.

However, CNA says that the embassy is reported to have been informed that the Church would guarantee the visa applicants’ expenses.

SOURCE

Australia denies visas to Iraqi WYD pilgrims (Catholic News Agency, 11/7/08)

---------------------

- BACK TO INDEX - REPLY - QUOTE - EDIT - DELETE -

The full topic:
No replies.

Content-length: 3475
Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Accept: image/gif, image/x-xbitmap, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, application/x-ms-application, application/vnd.ms-xpsdocument, appli...
Accept-encoding: gzip, deflate
Accept-language: en-au
Cache-control: no-cache
Connection: Keep-Alive
Cookie: *hidded*
Host: www.insideassyria.com
Referer: http://www.insideassyria.com/rkvsf5/rkvsf_core.php?.2dhw.
Ua-cpu: x86
User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; .NET CLR 3.0.04506)