UN urges Australia to take in fleeing Saudi girl as refugee

The United Nations refugee agency says it considers a Saudi woman feeling her family and seeking asylum in Australia to be a legitimate refugee, urging Canberra to give her a humanitarian visa.

The Department of Home Affairs in Australia confirmed the decision by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in a statement on Wednesday.

“The UNHCR has referred Ms Rahaf Mohammed Al-Qunun to Australia for consideration for refugee resettlement,” the department said.

Canberra has hinted that it will likely grant her asylum.

“If she is found to be a refugee, then we will give very, very, very serious consideration to a humanitarian visa,” Health Minister Greg Hunt had said earlier.

The 18-year-old arrived in Thailand Sunday on a flight from Kuwait, where she managed to run away from her family, who she says subjected her to physical and psychological abuse.

Qunun, however, was stopped by Saudi and Kuwaiti immigration officials during transit at Bangkok International Airport.

She then barricaded herself in a hotel room at the airport as Thai authorities were trying to hand her over to her family.

Thai officials took away her passport, but she used her smartphone to attract international attention to her situation, forcing Bangkok to drop the plan to deport her and place her, instead, under UNHCR protection.

Video footage posted on Twitter by a Saudi human rights activist, meanwhile, appeared to show a Saudi official complaining that Thai authorities should have confiscated her smartphone.

SS