5-Year-Old Stranded In India, Separated From Parents Due To Australia's Restrictions

A 5-year-old girl stranded and separated from her family due to Australia's restrictions during COVID-19.

Johannah is one of the 173 unaccompanied children in India who cannot return to Australia, according to a BBC report. Johannah’s parents have not seen her since November 2019. She was staying with her grandparents when the COVID-19 pandemic began and the borders closed.

The girl’s parents Drisya and Dilin attempted to get her on government-organized flights to Sydney, but children under the age of 14 are not allowed to travel alone on repatriation trips. Her parents reportedly arranged a seat for her on a plane from Bangalore to Sydney. The flight was set to arrive in Sydney on May 6, but the flight was cancelled when the Australian government banned all arrivals from India.

Drisya and Dilin spoke to an Australian Senate committee that investigates the government’s efforts to help Australians return home from India. Dilin told the committee that “I can certainly see the sorrow in her heart… she truly misses us”. Drisya mentioned that seven other unaccompanied children were on the cancelled flight.

Senior Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) official Lynette Wood stated that a flight specifically for children had not been considered. The government was working with families to bring the unaccompanied children home.

Johannah and her parents had been living in Malaysia and were visiting family in India when her parents left her with her grandparents in Kerala. Drisya and Dilin went back to Malaysia and made preparations to move to Sydney. The COVID-19 pandemic hit India and Johannah’s flight home got cancelled.

All of Johannah’s flights were either cancelled or the number of people allowed to enter Australia that day had been reached. Dilin told the committee that they missed parts of her childhood and said that “It's been almost one and a half years that we have not seen her grow.”