Australia’s strict immigration laws may be a barrier for AIDS 2014 delegates: MSMGF

Australia’s strict immigration laws may be a barrier for AIDS 2014 delegates: MSMGF

A NIGERIAN delegate set to give a keynote address at the Global Forum on MSM and HIV (MSMGF) was one of many delegates reportedly denied visas by the Australian Government, raising questions about access to the conference.

Gay rights and HIV activist Michael Ighodaro was due to give a keynote speech this morning at the MSMGF, the pre-conference to AIDS 2014, on his experiences in Nigeria as a young gay man living with HIV.

Although on resubmission to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection a visa was granted, the delay meant the speech had to be cancelled, with Ighodaro due to arrive a day late on Sunday.

MSMGF executive director George Ayala told the Star Observer Ighodaro was told he did not provide sufficient evidence to prove he would return to his home country of Nigeria, or to the US where he now resides.

“We advised him to reapply, and then he subsequently got his visa approved, so it’s a strange thing,” he said.

The Star Observer contacted Immigration Minister Scott Morrison for further information on why Ighodaro’s first visa application had been denied, but did not receive a comment at the time of print.

Ayala said Ighodaro was not the only delegate unable to attend due to a denied visa application, and questioned the suitability of a location for AIDS 2014 where many from communities affected by HIV were not able to attend.

George Ayala
George Ayala

“Immigration policies are just really strict in Australia, and for people living in the global south, or whose countries of origin are in the global south, I think there’s a particular kind of scrutiny of those applications,” he said.

“We have heard of others who were just not able to get into Australia, and it’s a shame from my perspective.

“This is an international AIDS conference, and we should really be working and having these kinds of functions in countries where it’s not such a challenge to come in and connect with colleagues and to share information and to learn.”

Ayala said the International AIDS Conferences in the past had been effective forums for putting political pressure on local governments to change policy, citing the positive impact that the 2012 Washington DC conference had on US foreign and domestic policy around HIV and AIDS.

He argued Australia was looked to as a model nation in the response to the epidemic.

“What the Australian Government does and decides to do from a policy perspective matters, because the rest of the world is watching. This is an opportunity for Australia to model for the rest of the world,” Ayala said.

He said global HIV organisations would be watching when Prime Minister Tony Abbott speaks at the opening of AIDS 2014 on Sunday night for some indication of how Australia will respond to being in the global spotlight around HIV and AIDS.

Earlier this month, UNAIDS welcomed confirmation by the Australian Government that people living with HIV would not be treated any differently than those with other chronic health conditions for visa and immigration purposes.

UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe took the opportunity to reaffirm freedom of travel as a fundamental human right of individuals, including those living with HIV.

(Main image credit: Rod Spark)

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One response to “Australia’s strict immigration laws may be a barrier for AIDS 2014 delegates: MSMGF”

  1. What in 2014 we still ban gay marriage and ban HIV positive immigrants and migrants who just want to come and live and or work in our great land of Australia!

    People who are HIV positive regardless of what nationality – should be treated with respect and dignity. How dare Tony Abbott ban HIV positive migrants to Australia!

    Tony Abbott should get HIV/AIDS and then he would finally walk a mile in the shoes of someone who is HIV positive and see what it is really like for them – and even then he will finally wake up and smell the coffee java for once in his Catholic cult Alta boy pea sized brain of his – and wipe that smartarse smirk of his face clean!

    What a embarrassing joke Australia is – no wonder why we get rottenly labeled by others all over the whole globe as racist, xenophobic, homophobic and bigoted (towards others who are from another country, HIV positive and gay or other differences)!