Beyond borders

• Autores: David Berger
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3063, 2016, págs. 26-27
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Berger remarks on Australia's hard-line stance on asylum seekers. Designed to "stop the boats," it includes mandatory indefinite detention in appalling conditions in offshore camps and snail-like processing of asylum claims. Also worrying is the attempt to suppress information about the policy's impact. Medics conducted widespread protests against these gagging provisions and, in the first acts of civil disobedience, doctors have disclosed information about detainees' conditions. The rare acts of civil disobedience by medics that are taking place in a contemporary Western democracy is a chilling sign of the times and underlines the degree to which the independence of doctors has been imperiled. The profession, however, is subject not only to the law of the land, but to its own ethical code, breaches of which can lead to severe sanctions.