Stateless In Serbia
This is no joke.
This man had his permanent residency visa rescinded on account of his criminal record and now he is not allowed back into Australia. He was flown and dumped on Serbian soil on account of his parents' heritage, but the problem is, he was born in France, and never a Serbian citizen. To add insult to injury, he's been living here in Australia for 36 years and considers himself Australian.
Mr Jovicic arrived in Australia from France with his Serbian-born parents in 1968 when he was just two.I thought time spent in jail was punishment for his crimes. Is this not a form of punishing the same crime twice?
But last year then-immigration minister Philip Ruddock deported him on character grounds after he spent time in jail for a string of burglaries to support his heroin habit.
The Serbian Government has refused to recognise Mr Jovicic as a citizen, meaning he is now stateless and has no right to to work or obtain welfare benefits in Belgrade.
Today, his brother and sister, who live in Australia, said they were stunned at the way he'd been treated.
Dragan Jovicic urged the Australian Government to reconsider its position and allow his brother to return.
"I'm stuck for words ... I had no idea where this was at,'' he said in Melbourne today.
"I'd like to see Robert given a chance to be sent back to Australia. This is his home, he grew up here, he went to all the schools and he really is a good bloke.''
Dragan Jovicic said he'd not spoken to Robert in about six months, but his brother was involved in a "paperwork" row with Serbian authorities, and he could not obtain a passport to enable him to travel.
"The last time I spoke to Robert, I was under the impression there was a solicitor or barrister looking into it, and it would be sorted out," he said.
Dragan Jovicic said he believed the Australian Government's decision to deport his brother was "definitely" punishment for his younger sibling's brushes with the law.
At the moment, he's *living* on the streets of Serbia with no access to welfare there, no language, no family, no contacts.
It gets worse as you read on.
Labor's immigration spokesman Tony Burke has criticised Mr Jovicic's deportation, saying it was too harsh a punishment for the crimes he had committed.You can just see the smug expressions on the bureaucrat faces saying, "Oh it can't be helped. The man's a criminal. There's no way we're letting him back into the country."
The director of the Edmund Rice Centre for social justice Phil Glendenning supported her call.
"First of all, this gentlemen should be able to come home to be with his family who can care for him as he recovers from the physical and mental problems that he has,'' Mr Rice said.
"Secondly, the Federal Government needs to stop deporting people out of this country on papers that are questionable.
"We can no longer have a situation where we deport people, we dump them and then we leave them.''
In an emotional interview from Belgrade, shown on ABC Lateline last night, Robert Jovicic said sleeping outside the embassy was the only form of protest left open to him.
"I've explained to the embassy if I'm considered Australian trash that I will rot on Australian soil,'' Mr Jovicic said.
"I have indicated this to them and I will. I cannot survive here.
"They've taken everything from me. I've lost everything that was worth anything to me.
"I've lost my princess, which was my wife, my home ... my hair is falling out.
"If I don't lie out front of the embassy and try and get back home I'll die. I'll die here just on medical grounds alone within a short time.''
Australia's ambassador to Serbia John Oliver has raised concerns about Mr Jovicic's situation in an email to his family in Australia.
But the Immigration Department has released a statement saying Mr Jovicic had a substantial criminal record and that Mr Ruddock, when he was immigration minister, used his discretion to cancel his visa under the Migration Act.
As a result, he is permanently banned from entering Australia.
So somehow, Australia has managed to create a stateless person that nobody wants or owns responsibility for, and our Government is pretending it is not part of the problem. This isn't the only case that's been reported. There have been other people who have been deported like this and it is totally insane to be creating a class of people who have no state, and dumping them on other nations.
If this policy of denying people citizenship is going to spread around the world, it is going to create a lot of people without any rights whatsoever. It might give some sadistic bureaucrat short term pleasure but this is going to bite our governments in the rear. Seriously, this is not a road this country should be going down. I'm amazed Howard, Vanstone and company thought of such a ridiculous idea, but upon reflection I realise I shouldn't be surprised by what minds that hate can conjure up.
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