Refugee rights: Villawood detainees on hunger strike - Kiribilli convergence

Sunday, April 8, 2007 - 100 Villawood detainees on hunger strike

The Refugee Action Coalition says more than 100 people at Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre are now on a hunger strike. Some of the hunger-strikers have entered their 10th straight day without food as authorities reinforced fences and put on extra officers in anticipation of a torrid Easter weekend at Sydney's Villawood detention centre...
Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition says the inmates are staging the protest over the recent deportation of a Chinese woman. He says they are very worried about what will happen to the Chinese detainees when they are sent back to their country.

"Most of the people who have been deported are among the group of Chinese that were interviewed by Chinese Government officials in 2005, so they are particularly vulnerable," he said.

"The Chinese Government has got all the details they have, and they have got them courtesy of the Australian Government inviting them into the detention centre."

Mr Rintoul says the inmates are desperate to be heard. "I think it's a measure of the desperation - what the people say to us is that they face a much worse fate if they are returned to China," he said.

"They even say they would rather die here, fighting against being deported, than to be sent back to face what will happen to them at the hands of the Chinese authorities."

Meanwhile, protesters rallied outside the Prime Minister's Sydney residence to speak against the Howard Government's policies on war, climate change, immigration and industrial relations. The speakers included Greens senator Kerry Nettle and refugee activists highlighting an on-going hunger strike at Sydney's Villawood Immigration Detention Centre.

The group say they will converge outside the Villawood Detention Centre to show solidarity for the hunger strikers. The hunger strikers have asked for an end to forced deportations, an end to mandatory detention, and for the immigration department to provide information about the fate of those deported.

Devotees of the Falun Gong sect and supporters are protesting against the harsh tactics of the Department of Immigration and detention centre guards during three deportations of Chinese citizens in the past fortnight.

Yuan Huimil, the sole woman among them, was taken to hospital on Wednesday night for rehydration and is now under medical supervision.

The protesters are demanding an end to forced deportations and long-term detention- demanding that the department contact lawyers and refugee groups before any deportations.

"The minister cannot pretend he doesn't know either about the mistreatment of the Chinese detainees in Villawood or the human rights abuses of the Chinese Government," said Ian Rintoul.

"We are urging him to urgently intervene before the hunger strikers suffer long-term damage to their health or worse."

An Immigration Department spokeswoman said eight people are refusing food but are still taking fluids. Extra guards, NSW police officers and an ambulance have been stationed at Villawood.

SOURCES:
ABC News
News Ltd
Fairfax

Terry Hicks 'gagged' by Government

April 3, 2007 - Terry Hicks, the father of David Hicks, says he has been gagged from revealing facts about his son's five-year incarceration in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay...

Terry Hicks, the father of David Hicks, says the Australian government is trying to gag him from talking about his son's five years at Guantanamo Bay.

Terry Hicks says the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has written to him outlining a 12-month gag order issued to his son as part of his plea bargain, during which David Hicks cannot be interviewed, write a book or make a film about his time as an enemy combatant.

But the letter also detailed the restrictions on what the Hicks family could reveal about their conversations with David, Terry Hicks told News Limited newspapers.

"This is Big Brother, and because the Americans and the Australian government coalesce on David's charges, at this point in time we're ruled by them," Mr Hicks told News Limited. "If David tells us something, we can't pass it on. But I could still talk about the signing of his charges, things like he hasn't been abused."

Mr Hicks said the letter detailed the restrictions on what the Hicks family could reveal about their conversations with David.

A DFAT spokesman denied Mr Hicks' claims. "We have not written to Terry Hicks since the verdict," the spokesman said. "We communicated via email to his sister and provided two publicly available documents."

It is understood DFAT emailed Mr Hicks's daughter Stephanie, providing a statement of facts and a copy of Hicks's pre-trial agreement. Mr Hicks said his son's legal team was examining the contents of the letter.

Mr Hicks said he would continue to speak to the media but did not want to jeopardise the Australian jail term imposed on his son. He rejected suggestions that his son could pose a threat to national security when released in late December.

"David wouldn't hurt a bloody fly at the moment," he said. "David never did any harm to anyone when he was over there anyway. He wasn't armed, he hadn't fired a shot at any coalition forces. The only danger David is to anyone is to come back to Australia and probably have to go on the dole because he might find it hard to get a job."

The 31-year-old Australian pleaded guilty in a plea bargain with US authorities last week to providing material support to terrorists. Hicks has applied to be transferred to Adelaide.

Meanwhile, Hicks's Australian legal adviser David McLeod, repeated claims that the confessed terrorist was tortured in US custody. But Hicks's military lawyer Major Michael Mori stepped up behind Mr McLeod within minutes of his press conference, tapped him on the shoulder and told him he could not talk about Hicks's movement and activities within the detention camps.

Hicks's agreement, under which he will serve just nine more months in jail, flies in the face of an affidavit sitting with a British court in which he does allege abuse. The affidavit, reported in The New York Times last month, says the abuse occurred during interrogations in Afghanistan.

SOURCES:
The Australian
The Australian

Refugee Rights - Villawood asylum-seeker taken to hospital

March 28, 2007 - Villawood detainee taken to hospital
A detainee at Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre has been taken to hospital because of concerns for his wellbeing.

The Department of Immigration says An Xiang Tao was taken to Bankstown Hospital as a precautionary measure and is under medical supervision.

The man had recently been placed in isolation. Bankstown Hospital say he is in a stable condition.

It is believed this is the same man - a Chjinese Falun Gong practitioner - who was at the centre of a failed forced deportation in February.

The detainee, Falun Gong practitioner Xiang Tao An, feared he would be forced to become part of a live organ trade.

Mr An, 35, believes that his religion means he will be incarcerated on arrival in China. He says he has been detained twice by Chinese authorities in the past and claims he was beaten.

The suppression of Falun Gong practitioners has been regarded by most western governments as a major international human rights issue.

As of December 2005, sixty-one lawsuits have been filed in about thirty countries charging senior Chinese officials with genocide, torture, and crimes against humanity for their roles in the treatment of Falun Gong in mainland China.

SOURCES:
Source - ABC news

Villawood detainees form human barricade to stop Falun Gong deportation - Perth Indymedia

Australia "deports" Sri Lankans to Nauru limbo

Thursday March 15, 2007 - Sri Lankan Nauru "deportation" does not export Howard's election problem

Eighty-two asylum seekers are currently being housed on Christmas Island and will be flown to the tiny island nation by charter plane. The Federal Government has announced it will move the Sri Lankan asylum seekers from Christmas Island for processing in Nauru. Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews says the decision will "send a message" to asylum seekers.

The group of mainly Tamils was intercepted in international waters last month and taken to Christmas Island - where the Howard Government is building a $300 million, 800-bed detention centre.

One of the men is being treated in a Perth hospital, while two Indonesian crew members have been charged with offences under the Migration Act.


WA Rights group Project SafeCom says Mr Andrews' announcement that the Sri Lankan asylum seekers will be "carted off, exported, people-smuggled to Nauru is cruel, heartless, astoundingly expensive and inhumane."

"Like a stubborn old man, basking in his past glorious victories, Howard yet again deports defenceless people to Nauru, to keep this issue out of the news, and "just because he can", but the Prime Minister is wrong," Safecom spokesman Jack H Smit said.

"Australians, through David Hicks, have woken up on the issue of human rights and decency of international conventions and John Howard's role in undermining these conventions." Mr Smit described the move as an "expulsion away from the scrutiny of Australian law and Australia's obligations to the UN Convention."

"This is another appalling disregard for the asylum seekers and their international right and some form of decency owed to them because of the situation they fled from - a rapidly deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka..." said Mr Smit.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews says the decision will send a strong message to those considering any attempt to enter Australia illegally.

"Australia has to continue to be vigilant in terms of maintaining a very strong border protection and we'll take whatever measures we can to ensure that Australia's borders are protected," said Mr Andrews. "These people smugglers presumably sold the passage, which has been reputed to have been between $,5000 and $10,000 US, per head, on the basis that they would get to Australia and our message of deterence is that we will process them in a way which doesn't involve the entry into mainland Australia"

One of the Sri Lankan asylum seekers has appealed to the Immigration Minister to grant him protection in Australia. The 31-year-old Tamil says he faces serious human rights abuses if sent back. The man, who had shrapnel embedded in his brain from a bomb and has mental health problems, is the only Sri Lankan able to get legal assistance after he was flown to Perth last week for urgent medical treatment.

Refugee centre co-ordinator David Manne said the man had a compelling case for refugee status because he was a Tamil who had experienced severe trauma, including being the victim of a bomb attack. "Past persecution is a powerful indicator to future risk," Mr Manne said.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said the Government is still negotiating with Indonesia over the asylum seekers. There are concerns that the group will not be resettled in Australia - even if they are found to be genuine refugees.

The Howard Government recently told a group of Burmese asylum seekers they would not be issued with visas even if found to be genuine refugees. "On Nauru they are fundamentally out of sight, out of mind, out of rights," David Manne said - expressing concern that the "fundamental unfairness" of processing claims on Nauru could result in the forced deportation back to Malaysia.

The eight Burmese men currently held on Nauru have spent months in limbo since their boat arrived to Ashmore Reef last August. The Australian Government have focused on enticing them back to Malaysia where the men were previously trying to survive in difficult, insecure and often frightening circumstances.

Susan Metcalfe writes: "Australia's practice of deterring asylum seekers, by pushing them back or diverting them to other countries, is about avoiding engagement with some of the most vulnerable and most powerless people in the world. It is about blurring the lines of Australia's responsibilities while avoiding the humanity of those who arrive, as well as our own."

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle says transferring and detaining the 83 Sri Lankan asylum seekers on Nauru will cost at least $60 million of taxpayer dollars and is completely unnecessary.

Departmental figures show the cost of keeping asylum seekers on Nauru was $30 million per year in 2003-04. The average length of stay on Nauru has been over two years. If the Sri Lankans are there for two years it will have cost taxpayers at least $60 million. Indeed, the aeroplane used to transfer just eight Burmese asylum seekers from Christmas Island to Nauru cost $225,000.

"It is a long way from Christmas Island to Nauru and 83 people plus new staff and resources will need multiple jet flights. The cost may approach a million dollars. Christmas Island detention centre is also irresponsibly expensive at $1830 per detainee per day. That means keeping the Sri Lankans on Christmas Island is costing over $1 million a week," said Senator Nettle.

SOURCES:

Asylum seekers to be sent to Nauru - ABC
safecom.org.au
Sri Lankans moved to Nauru - Sunday Times
Tamil appeals to minister for asylum
Off loading our problems off shore - Susan Metcalfe
Asylum seekers fear return to Malaysia - The Age
Transferring Sri Lankans to Nauru could cost $60 million - Senator NettleChristmas Island centre in limbo - The Australian
Australia's million-dollar-a-month Nauru detention centre for two refugees - Wikinews

HREOC renews call to end mandatory detention

21 January 2007: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission - HREOC has released a report on Villawood (Sydney), Baxter (Port Augusta), Perth, Maribyrnong (Melbourne) and Northern (Darwin) Immigration Detention Centres. It details observations made during visits in October and November last year by Human Rights Commissioner Graeme Innes and his staff. In a statement HREOC has renewed its call for an end to Australia's mandatory immigration detention laws...

One activity condemned in the report was the use of detainees to wash staff cars at the Northern centre in Darwin. HREOC said the staff were using detainees for their own personal benefit and the activity should be removed from the internal activities program. HREOC has renewed its call for an end to Australia's mandatory immigration detention laws.

Mr Innes is calling for the mandatory detention policy to be scrapped. He says detention has "an impact on the person's mental health," he said. Mr Innes says the biggest problem for detainees is the length of time they are kept in the centres.

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone says despite serious concerns over detainees' mental health, the Government's harsh mandatory detention policy will remain. She said the government has made some improvements in mental health assessments. "People [are] getting a mental health assessment on the way in to detention, so we pick up the problem earlier," said the Minister.

Mr Innes said detainees were still being held in detention for far too long, and he identified 41 areas for improvement. HREOC wanted mandatory detention laws to be repealed but said if this was not possible there should be greater efforts to release or transfer people out of detention centres within three months.

The HREOC report, "Summary of Observations following the Inspection of Mainland Immigration Detention Facilities - January 2007", states that the main complaint from detainees in the Perth facility is the length of indefinite detention, particularly for those detainees whose visas have been cancelled under section 501 of the Migration Act. Detainees also complained about crowded accommodation.

The report also outlines many other issues. The greatest problem in the Maribyrnong centre appears to be the indefinite periods of time for which detainees are held. There is particular frustration for those detainees whose visas have been cancelled under section 501 of the Migration Act, as many of them have strong family ties in the local community. It seems that detainees do not have legal assistance. They are apparently not entitled to legal aid or any other free immigration assistance. Further, it seems that there are no bridging visa options available to those detained under a section 501 cancellation.

In Baxter IDC, where six detainees attempted suicide in 2 days late last year, detainees complained about the quality and variety of food amongst other issues. The report noted that the notorious Red One compound (Solitary Confinement) is still used for "behaviour management purposes".

In 2004, HREOC found that Australia's immigration detention laws, as administered by the Commonwealth, and applied to unauthorised arrival children, create a detention system that is fundamentally inconsistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The Commonwealth's failure to implement the repeated recommendations by mental health professionals that certain children be removed from the detention environment with their parents amounted to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of those children in detention.

Inside the Villawood complex, there is still a real fear about asbestos after the earlier removal operations. Another concern was that most mental health nurses are on short contracts, making it difficult for detainees to gain trust in any one staff member. Further, many of the mental health problems happen at night when there are no mental health staff available.

The human rights of hundreds of people are being abused daily, hourly by the Australian Federal government.

The full report is available here

SOURCES:
HREOC renews call to end mandatory detention - ABC
Detainees used to wash cars - The Age
HREOC - Media Release
National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
Submissions to the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
HREOC: Scrap mandatory detention - GLW

Innocent until proven guilty is more than a mantra - Fair Go For David Hicks

Innocent until proven guilty is more than a mantra - Fair Go For David Hicks

JANUARY 11, 2007 - The US military progaganda machine kicked in today, when Colonel Morris Davis, chief prosecutor for the US Office of Military Commissions, dismissed any notion of Australian terror suspect David Hicks, locked in Guantanamo Bay as a "young and naive adventurer."

Hicks, who has today spent five years in detention at Guantanamo Bay, was labelled by the US military as "fully fledged al-Qaeda operative who took orders from Osama bin Laden..." This despits any evidence to support the colonel's claims of Hicks's al-Qaeda connections.

Today, January 11, 2007, 31 year-old David Hicks, from Adelaide, South Australia has begun the sixth year of a nightmare in hell...
Hicks, a Muslim convert has been detained by the US at its naval base in Cuba since January 2002, a month after he was captured with Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

"David Hicks attended basic training, the al-Qaeda basic training, (and) went back for repeated advance courses in terrorism,” Colonel Davis told the corporate media. "He knew and associated with a number of al-Qaeda senior leadership. He conducted surveillance on the US embassy and other embassies. He eventually left Afghanistan and it's my understanding was heading back to Australia when 9/11 happened." Colonel Davis says Hicks, when he heard about 9/11, "said it was a good thing (and) he went back to the battlefield, back to Afghanistan, and reported in to the senior leadership of al-Qaeda and basically said, 'I'm David Hicks and I'm reporting for duty'," said Colonel Davis.

But Hicks's US military-appointed defence lawyer, Major Michael Mori, said he was not aware of any evidence to support the colonel's claims of Hicks's al-Qaeda connections. He also scoffed at the suggestion that his client had translated training manuals for the terror group.

But the charges were dropped after a US Supreme Court ruled in June that military tribunals set up to try Hicks and other Guantanamo Bay inmates were illegal. His Australian lawyer, David McLeod, said the Australian Government must now step in and help the South Australian.

"Our expectation is that, if this Government does nothing, David Hicks will still be there in two years' time awaiting trial," Mr McLeod said on ABC radio.

"A reason for that is Supreme Court challenges to this new military commission brought by other detainees, not necessarily David Hicks... he will be sitting there biding his time, contemplating taking his life, no doubt, because of what we've heard about his mental state."

"David Hicks currently is not facing any charges -- he's not even before any regular legal system."

Mr McLeod said the Australian Government must now step in and help Hicks. Labor says John Howard could push for Hicks to be released on bail and placed under a control order in Australia, whilst the Law Council of Australia president Tim Bugg has criticised the Government's "blind defence" of the commissions.

Hicks pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, aiding the enemy and attempted murder at a military commission hearing in 2004. These charges were dropped when the US Supreme Court ruled last June the military commissions were unlawful. The US government has revamped the commission process and is expected to lay fresh charges soon.

Innocent until proven guilty is more than a mantra. A government is publicly labelling a person a dangerous terrorist. They detain him for years without charge and then claim that it respects the presumption of innocence.

In the past week, the director of prosecutions of the new Australian Military Court, Brigadier Lyn McDade, said Hicks' treatment was abominable and former prime minister Malcolm Fraser said the Government had deserted Hicks. Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has repeated his call for Mr Hicks to be tried as quickly as possible. Delaying a trial for so long meant that evidence did not remain fresh, Mr Keelty said.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the Australian Government had been in discussions with the US and he expected Mr Hicks to be charged "within a matter of weeks".

Perth Rally : 5 Years in Gitmo! David Hicks Deserves Justice
http://perth.indymedia.org/?action=newswire&parentview=41968


SOURCES:
Herald Sun
Courier Mail
The Australian
The Age
Lex Lasry
SMH

Close Baxter immediately before someone dies - Senator

December 14, 2006

"They seemed to have been left in Baxter and forgotten"

The Immigration Department (DIMA) says it is reviewing access to the roof of South Australia's Baxter detention centre after a series of self-harm incidents. Extra staff were sent to the desert detention complex and plans enacted to stop detainees jumping from roofs or making other suicide attempts.

On Monday a group of Baxter Immigration Detention centre detainees staged a hunger strike to bring attention to the severe mental health situation of four of the detainees - including two African men who jumped off Baxter's roof.

One detainee said "many detainees are still unhappy with mental health conditions" after meeting Baxter's centre manager and an Ombudsman official yesterday...
"News of attempted hangings, self inflicted slashings and detainees jumping from roofs is tragic and shocking..."

TROUBLE IN BAXTER
A young Nigerian man tried to hang himself on Tuesday morning as the Ombudsman's office was due to arrive at the centre. The man was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Thirty detainees were protesting about the Department's handling of mental health issues, after four detainees harmed themselves in the past few days.

Baxter detention centre has been in the "grip of a crisis" with six suicide attempts by long-term detainees in the past week. Marcus, a detainee at the centre said the events have been distressing. "It's been an ongoing downward slide," he said. "People are getting worse and worse.

"We want an independent psychological assessment of all detainees and the effects of immigration detention upon these people. Once this is done we would like the results to be forwarded to Canberra for assessment as to whether or not the mental health interests of detainees are served," he said.

About 30 detainees at the Baxter Detention Centre in South Australia began a hunger strike; 15 others converged on the prison's front gates in a peaceful protest to coincide with Commonwealth Ombudsman's officers.

DIMA said will review access to the roof of the maximun security detention centre after a series of self-harm incidents. The Ombudsman's office said it will assess individual complaints. The Immigration Department's Scott Kelleher said there are plans to minimise future attempts at self-harm.

"If someone is committed to climb a roof they're probably going to find a way to do so," he said. "But certainly that'll be part of the issues that we're looking at, and if there can be a way around restricting access then we'll probably look at that."

"If they are going to protest, we'd like that to be done in a peaceful and reasonable fashion," said Mr Kelleher. "And certainly we'd encourage them to discuss their issues with the centre management and with DIMA executives and hopefully resolve any issues they might have before they need to take further or more drastic action."

But the Minister has the power to prevent these tragedies and she should act now, says Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, who called for the immediate closure of Baxter in the wake of multiple attempted suicides.

"The Minister must bring on the inevitable and close Baxter now," Senator Nettle said. "Only 38 detainees remain in Baxter which has a capacity of over 500. These men could be rehoused in alternative detention in a matter of days."

"The mental health record of the Baxter Immigration Detention Facility is appalling. "These desert prisons are especially cruel because they isolate detainees from friends and family. The Government's mandatory detention policy breeds despair and in turn leads to these tragic attempted suicides," said Senator Nettle.

She said the Greens continue to insist for an end to mandatory detention of asylum seekers and the closure of desert prisons such as Baxter.

Two detainees remain in hospital after the spate of suicide attempts in the past week, the Immigration Department says, while another three have been placed in temporary alternative accommodation - motels or flats under guard - "for safety or good order reasons". Another 33 detainees remain in the centre. DIMA said the centre's executive met detainees to hear their grievances on Tuesday night.

Carmel Kavanagh, a member of the Ballarat Refugee Support Network and a visitor to Baxter, said a Tanzanian detainee, 37, who had spent 27 months in detention, climbed on the roof and tried to hang himself from an antenna. A 28-year-old Kenyan man, detained for two years, jumped from the roof on Friday with his fall broken by a guard. A 31-year-old Kenyan man, detained for two years, refused to climb down from a tree on Saturday and suffered sun stroke, she said.

On Monday night a 33-year-old Indian man who has been in detention for three years tried to hang himself. Last week a Pakistani man attempted to hang himself and was taken to hospital, where he tried to hang himself again when a guard fell asleep.

"They seemed to have been left in Baxter and forgotten," Ms Kavanagh said.

SOURCES:
The Advertiser - Baxter hunger strike over
The Age - Spate of suicide attempts at Baxter
ABC - Baxter self-harm attempts prompt security review
ABC - Immigration official to visit hunger striking Baxter detainees
Perth Indymedia - Baxter Detention Centre shame - Multiple suicide attempts in a culture of neglect
The Australian - Detainee suicide attempts 'shocking'
Perth Indymedia - Six Hangings at Baxter

Baxter Detention Centre shame - Multiple suicide attempts in a culture of neglect

DECEMBER 12, 2006: Australia's litany of human rights abuses continue. Multiple suicide attempts at the Baxter Immigration Detention Centre in South Australia.

Six people have attempted to take their own lives inside the Baxter Detention centre near Port Augusta over the past week. Western Australian group Project SafeCom said detainees had tried to hang themselves, while others had slashed themselves with broken glass and mirrors. The immigration department said a number of incidents had taken place over the past few days but none had resulted in serious injury to any inmates. The latest incident occurred on Tuesday morning...

Last week, more than 30 detainees staged a protest at the Baxter maximum security complex. A Baxter detainee says a group of detainees blocked the front gate of the detention centre, and others are on a hunger strike. He says the protest follows reports of several detainees harming themselves to draw attention to their frustrations.

"It's just a process of long-term immigration detention, it's unnecessary, it's unreasonable," he said. "Any other country in the world - and Australia is a wonderful country - but any other country in the world, they detain you for 30 days, they identify you, then they release you. There is no purpose for us being here. We have been vilified by the Government in order to justify our detention. This is unfair."

The Immigration Department says there have been six incidents in the past four days. It says two detainees jumped from the roof on Friday, a detainee climbed a tree on Saturday and was treated for heat exhaustion when he came down, and on Sunday another man climbed onto a roof before coming down again.

Refugee advocates say six people have tried to take their own lives at the Baxter Detention centre in South Australia over the past week. Western Australian group Project SafeCom said the inmates had tried to hang themselves while some had also slashed themselves with broken glass and mirrors.

"These incidents are no surprise," said project SafeCom spokesman Jack Smit. "The fact remains that Australia locks up people in detention centre jails such as Baxter which represent maximum security jails, wherever they are built around Australia. Mandatory detention is a bankrupt policy and these incidents form yet another layer in the hundreds of stories that affirm this."

Despite detainees and guards being hospitalised, an immigration department spokesman said none of the recent incidents have resulted in serious injury to any inmates. The latest incident occurred on Tuesday morning and the inmate involved was currently being assessed, he said.

The Immigration Department says one detainee jumped from the roof of a transportable building while being spoken to by staff. He was taken to Baxter's medical centre and was later taken to hospital. Rob Tolsen from the ambulance service says none of the injuries are life threatening. "They treated and stabilised two patients and transported them through to the Port Augusta Hospital," he said. "About half an hour later, we received a call for a third person who had sustained some injuries and we attended the Baxter detention centre again and transported that person through to the Port Augusta Hospital also."

"Staff were speaking to the man when he jumped to the ground," a DIMA spokesman said. "A GSL officer caught the man before he reached the ground." 'GSL' are the UK-based Global Solutions Limited, who profit to the tune of $20 million a year from detaining refugees. Globally, GSL has more than 8000 employees, of whom 1064 are in Australia. Head Office for Australian operations is in Melbourne and the contract office for the Detention Services contract is located in Canberra.

A Commonwealth Ombudsman report on 20 cases of wrongful immigration detention was released last week, further exposing the ill-treatment of people inside these gulags. Some chilling accounts include: "a child is locked up by government officials because of a computer glitch. Wrong data is on the files. No charge or court order is required to put him away, and no parent need be notified..."

In reality, criminals are treated better, with more respect for their rights and due process. Adele Horin, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald says: "an out-of-control Department of Immigration is the legacy of John Howard's and Philip Ruddock's ruthlessness and Amanda Vanstone's casualness. Their combined efforts over a decade have created a culture in which at least 247 people, many of them Australian citizens or permanent residents, have been wrongly locked up in Villawood, Curtin or Baxter detention centres, or deported."

The Ombudsman examined the cases of 10 children wrongly detained - eight of whom were citizens - as well as nine adults, either citizens or residents with valid visas who were wrongly locked up by Immigration. He details the case of Mr G, who arrived here from East Timor in 1975, became schizophrenic and was detained for 43 days in 2002 even though he had a valid visa.

Nevertheless, a monstrous $300 million detention facility is almost complete on Christmas Island. Despite last year's amendment to the Migration Act to ensure children would be detained only as a matter of last resort, the centre has a children's compound and classrooms.

--

*There were 170 persons who had their visas cancelled under Section 501, of which 52 left Australia in 2004-05.

SOURCES:
ABC - Detainees in Baxter protest
The West - Six SA detainees suicidal, say advocates
News Ltd - Baxter inmates in suicide bids - claim
ABC - Mental health assessment for Baxter detainee
ABC - Three hospitalised after Baxter incidents
The Age - Two detainees jump off roof at Baxter
SMH - Brutal mix: ruthlessness and carelessness
Global Solutions Limited
Perth Indymedia - Six hangings at Baxter detention centre
*Migration Act: "501s"