Stop offshore asylum processing - tear down the fences

Thursday, June 14, 2007: A petition of 10,000 signatures has been presented to Federal Parliament opposing the offshore processing of asylum seekers. The petition calls for the processing centres on Christmas Island and Nauru to be shut down will be tabled in parliament next week...

Labor backbencher Carmen Lawrence says asylum seekers do not have proper access to the medical and legal help they need when they are processed away from the Australian mainland.

"I'd like to add my voice very strongly to the petitioners who have spoken on behalf of a great many more Australians, who I'm sure would have signed it had they known of its existence," she said. "I've been impressed by just how strong community attitude remains in opposition to these obscenities we call offshore processing."

The signatures, collected over the past three months by refugee advocate groups A Just Australia, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and the National Council of Churches, were handed to MPs on Thursday.

The establishment of the high security detention centre on Christmas Island, which is near completion, has so far cost taxpayers $400 million. Petition coordinator Kate Gauthier said the cost demonstrated the economic irrationalism of offshore processing.

"It's an incredible mismanagement of funds when you also allow into the fact that they've spent around $100 million on Nauru and processing ... we've had about slightly under 2,000 people go through that process (so) it equals about $400,000 per person," she said. "Human rights advocates are not asking the government to spend more money on asylum seekers - ironically in this case we are pleading with them to spend less."

Labor MP Dr Carmen Lawrence, who accepted the petition, said the cost was an obscene waste of taxpayers money. "The $400 million that has been spent on Christmas Island in fact remains an obstacle for future governments: what do you do with this facility now that it has been constructed?" she said. "Obscene amounts of taxpayers' money has been spent ... on damaging people, that's the frustrating thing."

Australian Democrats senator Andrew Bartlett compared the cost to the amount of money suggested to be the cost to reduce the life expectancy gap of indigenous Australians that currently remains 17 years below that of other Australians.

"The Australian Medical Association has been campaigning for years saying the amount that's needed for address the gap of indigenous health in Australia is around about $400 million," he said. "That's a good contrast of where this government's priorities lie, $400 million for a centre when we don't have any people to put in it to purely send a message to somebody, or reducing the 17 year life expectancy gap."

A Senate committee report - the Migration Review Tribunal and Refugee Review Tribunal on mandatory detention - will be tabled in parliament soon.

Senator Bartlett, who recently returned from a visit to the asylum seekers’ camp on Nauru warning that there must be a much quicker resolution to all claims to avoid the major harm and costs that have occurred in the past.

Senator Bartlett said the conditions the refugees are being kept in are an improvement on past years, but the key dangers remain the same – the potential for long delays and a lack of legal protections in determining claims, along with difficulties with isolation and adequate access to legal assistance.

“We know beyond doubt that prolonged uncertainty and insecurity about the future, along with the underlying fear of being sent back to unsafe situation, causes immense harm to many asylum seekers,” Senator Bartlett said.

“The group of Burmese refugees have already been on Nauru for seven months and are yet to have an initial assessment interview. This is simply unacceptable.

“Whilst there has been opportunity for asylum seekers to receive some legal assistance, the difficulties with accessibility mean that full and proper help has not been provided. This not only impairs fairness, it almost inevitably means a more drawn out process, risking greater harm for asylum seekers and greater cost to the Australian public,” Senator Bartlett concluded.

There are 90 asylum seekers currently on Nauru – 82 Tamils who have been there for about a month, and 8 Rohingya from Burma who arrived in Australian in August and were transferred to Nauru in September.

Senator Bartlett met with many of the ninety asylum seekers currently being kept on Nauru and inspected the facility where they are staying.

SOURCES:
Senator Bartlett
ABC NEWS
The Age
A Just Australia
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
National Council of Churches in Australia

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

Easter 2007 protest at Kirribilli

From the newswire: REFUGEE RIGHTS ACTION - The Refugee Action Coalition has called a protest for Easter Sunday at Kirribilli House. Easter has become synonymous with protests for refugees’ rights. Woomera, Baxter and Villawood detention centres have each been the target of Easter convergences that have shone the national and international spotlight on the Howard government’s blatant disregard of human rights.

End mandatory detention | Close the detention centres | Abolish temporary protection visas | Stop all deportations | Let the boats land | Fight racist scapegoating

PM John Howard’s attempt to excise the Australian mainland from the migration zone has been defeated. The numbers in mainland detention centres have fallen, as some people previously demonised as "failed asylum seekers" finally got visas.

Yet the construction of the $300 million, 800-bed detention centre on Christmas Island is nearing completion, with the backing of the Labor opposition. The recent attempt to turn back 83 Sri Lankan asylum seekers shows that the government’s “fortress Australia” mind-set persists.

The Refugee Action Coalition has called a protest for Easter Sunday at Kirribilli House. The Howard government is in trouble on a number of fronts: the worsening debacle in Iraq; the five-year incarceration of David Hicks; the unpopularity of Work Choices; the push for uranium mining and nuclear power; and the incessant attacks on public education.

Uniting around these issues, we can push Howard back and send a message to any alternative government that we need a fundamental break with the priorities of the Howard years. The protest has been endorsed by the Stop the War Coalition and the NSW Social Justice Network. The protest will take place from noon on April 8 in Bradfield Park, under the Harbour Bridge.

READ MORE/Comment...

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

Villawood detainees form human barricade to stop Falun Gong deportation

February 28, 2007 - In a successful attempt to stop the deportation of a Falun Gong practitioner to China, this morning some 100 detainees at Sydney's Villawood detention centre formed a human barricade...
The Refugee Action Coalition of NSW said the detainees assembled in and around a recreation room at the centre to protect the man who is inside the room. He was due to be deported on an Air China Flight departing at 12.20pm (AEDT) today.

Ian Rintoul from RAC told Perth Indymedia that detainees fear there may be further clashes with the 40 to 50 guards and detention centre officers.

"There is 100 detainees, people are coming and going but at any one time there is about 100 and they've got him inside," Mr Rintoul said. "The number of guards has increased, they have used force in the past and that is what is worrying the detainees, that there will be a clash if they try to remove this guy.

"Tensions are very high at Villawood at the moment." He told Perth Indymedia Immigration officials may try to grab him tonight - and a 24 vigl will br kept around the Chinese man who fears persecution and even death if deported to China.

Mr Rintoul said people of all different nationalities are forming the blockade, with one man telling him they were prepared to take "any action to protect this man. He said to me 'this isn't just a Chinese issue, this is a detainment issue, so we're all here'," Mr Rintoul said.

The detainee, Falun Gong practitioner Xiang Tao An, fears he will 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.

An refugee activist in contact with the detainees, Jamal Daoud, said the stand-off eased after Department of Immigration officials told the protesters Mr An's deportation notice had been cancelled.

"One of the detainees told me that the detention authorities even invited the Chinese detainees to BBQ and drinks," he said. "The detainees are very cautious that the department could try to deport the asylum seeker during the night. But for now, the department is very clearly does not want any standoff with detainees, especially if there is some media involvment."

The detainees protesting on behalf of Mr An are mostly Chinese, but other nationalities are involved due to concern over a recent series of deportations, said Ian Rintoul.

The Department of Immigration said earlier this week that Mr An, 35, was an unlawful non-citizen and would not be in danger if he was sent back. He was detained by Chinese authorities twice for practising Falun Gong before travelling to Australia in 2000.

He was taken into Villawood in 2003 while his claim for asylum was assessed, and was interviewed by a Chinese government delegation that was allowed to visit detainees in May 2005. Mr An's lawyer, Michaela Byers, said: "He fears that they will detain him on arrival, and that he may match someone on a data base who needs an organ transplant."

A report published last year, based on investigations undertaken by a former Canadian cabinet minister, accused Chinese authorities of killing Falun Gong practitioners and selling body parts to foreigners. China, which has banned the Falun Gong spiritual group since 1999, denies the claim.

As of February 2, 2007 there are 224 detainees in Villawood Immigration Detention Centre - making a total of 556 in Australia's IDCs.

---

Contact Ian Rintoul: irintoul@ozemail.com.au - Phone: 0417 275713.

Contact Villawood Immigration Detention Centre: Phone 02 8718 9220

---

Falun Gong has been the focus of international controversy since 1999, when the government of the People's Republic of China began a suppression of the movement. China claims to have banned the group for what it considers to be illegal activities. The Falun Gong claims that the ban was the result of personal jealousy of the group’s popularity on the part of Jiang Zemin, a former President of the People's Republic of China.

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 Jiang and several other senior officials with genocide, torture, and crimes against humanity for their roles in the treatment of Falun Gong in mainland China.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia: Falun_Gong
The Age
Sydney Morning Herald
Detainee fears organ farming
Blog: Villawood Refugees
RAC NSW
Wikipedia: Villawood_Immigration_Detention_Centre
PDF: DETENTION STATISTICS SUMMARY 2/2/07

Secret deals with Indonesia/Australia over Sri Lankan Asylum Seekers

From the newswire: February 24, 2007 - According to corporate media, a secret deal has been struck between the Australian and Indonesian government to return 85 'boatpeople' back to Indonesia and then to Sri Lanka - without processing their inernationally recognised human rights to claim asylum. Refugee advocacy groups call on Howard to bring the asylum seekers to mainland Australia.

The Federal government's secret plan for an even more offensive version of Howard's controversial Pacific Solution - amounts to a wholesale Refoulment program. Howard's new plan is to assist in the deportation the Sri Lankan asylum seekers home via Indonesia in an outright breach of international refugee conventions.

Greens Leader Bob Brown said: "To send asylum seekers back without assessing their refugee status is a bald-faced breach of Australia's international responsibilities..." Brown said the deal "breaches Australia's responsibilities under the Geneva Conventions and tramples on the human rights of the 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers."

The asylum seekers were intercepted by the Australian navy near Christmas Island on Wednesday. Its is suspected that the recent escalations in "extra-judicial" killing and abductions by Sri Lankan armed forces has forced the 83 people to flee the country in fear. It has been reported by local and international human rights organisations that "a person is abducted every five hours. Kidnapping, abductions, killings have now become common incidents..." Read more at Tamil News...

Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett says: "The fact that the Government could even contemplate sending asylum seekers back without proper assessment is a complete and utter disgrace." Project SafeCom, a West Australian refugee advocacy group, today said the deal would see Prime Minister John Howard ride roughshod over Australia's international obligations. "Australia's secret deal... could well make John Howard into The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Most Wanted Criminal, if breaches against the United Nations Refugee Convention had criminal charges attached to them," said Project Safecom's Jack Smit.

Sri Lanka's ambassador to Indonesia said Australian and Indonesian officials had told him the 83 men would be returned to Jakarta, then sent home. He said he expected the men to arrive in Sri Lanka within days.

The Federal Government says the 85 men have been transferred to Christmas Island...

READ MORE/Comment...

Secret deals with Indonesia/Australia over Sri Lankan Asylum Seekers

February 24, 2007 - Saturday, 24 February 2007: A secret deal is being struck between the Australian and Indonesian government to return 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers back to Indonesia and then to Sri Lanka - without processing their Inernationally recognised human rights to claim asylum. Refugee advocacy groups had called on the Government to bring the asylum seekers to mainland Australia or provide access to lawyers for advice on their rights...
Greens Leader Bob Brown said the Howard government is completely irresponsible.

"To send asylum seekers back without assessing their refugee status is a bald-faced breach of Australia's international responsibilities to the Geneva Convention," Senator Brown said. "The deal John Howard has engineered with the Indonesians breaches Australia's responsibilities under the Geneva Conventions and tramples on the human rights of the 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers."

The Federal government is in secret talks with Indonesia for an even more radical version of John Howard's Pacific Solution. Howard's new plan is to deport 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers home via Indonesia in an outright breach of international refugee conventions.

The asylum seekers were intercepted by the Australian navy near Christmas Island on Wednesday. The group are set to be taken to Indonesia and back to Sri Lanka after secret talks between the three countries in Jakarta yesterday, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The 85, all men reportedly from Sri Lanka although some may be Indonesian, were taken aboard the supply ship HMAS Success late Wednesday when their boat was deemed to be unseaworthy.

Its is suspected that the recent escalations in "extra-judicial" killing and abductions by Sri Lankan armed forces has made those 83 boat arrivals in Christmas Island to flee the country, an analyst said. "It has been reported by local and international human rights organisations that a person is abducted every five hours. Kidnapping, abductions, killings have now become common incidents. No matter who does it, as a government we are responsible for it," said Mangala Samaraweera, Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Port and Aviation Minister on 23 January 2007.

Indonesia is not a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention. Australia would be free of any responsibility towards them, and the asylum seekers would almost certainly be their human right to lodge an asylum claim under international law.

Sri Lanka's ambassador to Indonesia, Janaka Perera, confirmed last night that Australian and Indonesian officials had told him the 83 men would be returned to Jakarta, then sent home. He expected the men to arrive in Sri Lanka within days.

"Sri Lanka's position is that they have travelled illegally to another country and they should be returned to Sri Lanka." Both Australia and Indonesia had said they would assist with the repatriation, he said.

Democrats senator Andrew Bartlett urged the Government not to send the men back to Sri Lanka, where civil war rages between the military and Tamil Tiger rebels based in the country's north. Senator Bartlett said the group of men could include Tamil people whose lives could be in danger if they were returned to Sri Lanka. "Tamil people (are) at great risk of harassment, intimidation, arrest, detention, torture, abduction and killing," he said. "The fact that the Government could even contemplate sending asylum seekers back without proper assessment is a complete and utter disgrace."

It is understood that Australian and Indonesian law enforcement and immigration officials discussed the radical plan in Jakarta yesterday. The SM Herald understands the meeting "was told Australia feared it would face a flood of asylum seekers if tough action was not taken against the new arrivals..."

The boat carried the largest single load of asylum seekers to approach Australia since 2001, the year of the Tampa crisis that spawned the Pacific Solution, under which asylum seekers were refused access to the Australian mainland.

Yesterday's meeting discussed directly shipping the asylum seekers back to Java, or flying them to Jakarta. Returning them on their boat was rejected for safety reasons. Indonesia could justify returning them to Sri Lanka as they had arrived in Indonesia illegally.

Project SafeCom, a West Australian refugee advocacy group, today said the deal would see Prime Minister John Howard ride roughshod over Australia's international obligations.

"Australia's secret deal with Indonesia, reportedly sealed yesterday, under which the 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers are forcibly returned to Indonesia with the intent to send them home to Sri Lanka, could well make John Howard into The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Most Wanted Criminal, if breaches against the United Nations Refugee Convention had criminal charges attached to them," said Project Safecom's Jack Smit.

"John Howard seems to be clearly desperate to relive in his olden days, his past glory with his wanting to win another TAMPA election, and we will help him, if we must. We will make Mr Howard into Australia's Least Wanted Man by the time he announces the 2007 Federal election," said Mr Smit.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees senior officer responsible for asylum seekers in Indonesia, Shinji Kubo, said his organisation had not been informed of the moves. "We are very keen to know what will happen to them," he said.

Other international officials, speaking anonymously, said it would be legally dubious for Australia not to deal with the refugees itself or to return them to Indonesia, and could create an international test case.

The Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews, denied reports that the navy had tried to turn the vessel back to sea when HMAS Success intercepted it. But he said the Government wanted to ensure the asylum seekers did not reach the mainland. "I think it is quite irresponsible to be sending a boatload of people on a small vessel, which is proven one way or the other to be unseaworthy."

Senator Bartlett says: "the trouble with this government is their record clearly shows that anything is possible. Normally you'd think, as it used to be, if people were found at sea, asylum seekers or even people just in distress at sea, then they'd be brought to land and to safety as soon as possible and given health checks and a good meal."

"[We] have the same old pattern of just this information blackout while the Government skulks around trying to figure out what it wants to do, and perhaps figuring out what might be to its political advantage, rather than just dealing with the immediate human situation of these people," Senator Bartlett told the ABC.

SOURCES:
Deal to send boat people packing - SMH
The Age
Outcry over secret refugee deal - Sunday Times
Tamil Sydney News
tamilnation.org
ABC - AM
Govt may send asylum seekers to Indonesia - ABC

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

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.

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*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"

Pauline Hanson, serial racist returns to politics - Please Explain?

December 7, 2006 - Shes back!

Pauline Hanson, the infamous politcal racist, and One Nation party founder, has announced her desire to return to politics. Hanson, who is promoting her new book - an autobiography about her controversial career - has decided to make yet another political comeback. Hanson is apparently concerned by the ease with which Muslims and "diseased" African people are able to gain Australian citizenship. Hanson was jailed in 2003 for fraud. She split from the staunch anti-immigration, nativist One Nation party and has spent the past two years penning her autobiography.

Hanson angered Australians and Asians alike with her offensive comments on immigration and Aboriginal welfare. Hanson was elected as federal MP for the Queensland seat of Oxley in 1996.

Asked about her concerns about Muslims, Ms Hanson said she was angry that Australians were no longer able to sing Christmas carols in schools or swim in public swimming pools. She blames the Muslims...
Ten years after warning Australia was being "swamped by Asians," right-wing instigator and racist provocateur, Pauline Hanson, is concerned about Australian Muslims and said Africans should be barred from the country. Hanson says she's worried that black South Africans infected with AIDS and tuberculosis are allowed into Australia. She told a drooling media pack that she was angry Australians were unable to swim in public baths because of the sensitivities of Muslims.

"They can go back where they came from," she told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

Hanson, a 52-year-old former Fish-n-Chip shop owner, said she was committed to running as an independent in Queensland at the next election, though she had not made up her mind if she would run for the lower house or Senate.

Hanson claimed that Australia is letting in many "black South Africans" with health issues. "It was on TV," she said. Hanson said she had been told by a hospital worker of an African woman with AIDS who had given birth to a child with AIDS. "There's increasing numbers of TB and they have picked up ... it could be almost one third that actually carries TB," she claimed. "What people are getting all upset about is the fact that you can't sing Christmas carols in schools because it upsets a certain amount of people," she said.

"You can't actually swim in baths because a certain amount of people want their privacy to swim in those baths." Ms Hanson said she would make an official announcement about her comeback next year. She said she would give herself plenty of time to campaign.

"OFFENSIVE URBAN MYTHS"
Greens Leader Bob Brown says Pauline Hanson's right to stand for parliament comes at huge indirect cost to Australia. "She costs Australian's dearly every time she makes racist remarks. She is a political bloodsucker on the nation, but one we will continue to host as part of the democratic ideal".

"Pauline's role in giving Australia an uglier international profile has cost us much more than any immigrant could. She should stick to reform for women prisoners, rather than abuse of people she has never met," Senator Brown said.

And Australian Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett said Hanson's attacks on Muslims and African immigrants must be firmly rebuffed. "Once again Pauline Hanson opens her mouth and spreads offensive urban myths that bear no resemblance to reality," Senator Bartlett said.

"She brings no evidence to back up her claims. They are nothing more than hearsay. Her musings don't further debate or address community concerns, they only cause fear and division and they must be challenged." Senator Bartlett said pack-media interest in Ms Hanson's views meant her attacks must be opposed.

"While we certainly need more independent voices in the Senate, they should be balanced, constructive and effective voices," he said. "For the last nine years in the Senate, I have fought hard to promote the huge benefits cultural diversity brings to our society, and also to defend Muslims against bigotry and deliberate ignorance. If Pauline Hanson stands for parliament again, I will continue to oppose such destructive and unfair views every step of the way."

Hanson said she would campaign about the ease with which Muslims and "diseased" Africans were entering Australia. "Why shouldn't Australians know that the people we bring in to this country are there for the right reasons, and we bring them in for the right reasons? Why do we have to bring people in who are of no benefit to this country whatsoever, who are going to take away our way of life, change our laws?"

"We're bringing in people from South Africa at the moment, there's a huge amount coming into Australia, who have diseases, they've got AIDS," Hanson told AAP.
"They are of no benefit to this country whatsoever, they'll never be able to work." However, the Department of Immigration has firmly rejected Hanson's unfounded claims, saying stringent health checks were carried out on all permanent and temporary residents.

Refugee groups were also angered by Ms Hanson's comments, calling them "fanciful", damaging and hurtful to Africans who were simply trying for a life in Australia. But Hanson said politicians had "gone too far" in affording rights to minority groups. She says she is angered at the loss of Australian traditions because of Muslims.

"Look at what's happened in other countries around the world with the increase in Muslims" she said. Ms Hanson plans to release a book early next year about her political life and time in jail.

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Thr Glory Days:

In her maiden parliamentary speech the former fish and chip shop owner, who was expelled from the Liberal Party because of her strong views, warned Australia was in danger of being swamped by Asians:

On September 10, 1996, Pauline Hanson made her first speech to the House of Representatives, which instantly made headlines and television news bulletins right across Australia. She warned that Australia was "in danger of being swamped by Asians" due to high immigration and the policy of multiculturalism, asserting "they have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate." She also denounced the "privileges Aboriginals enjoy over other Australians", suggested the withdrawal of Australia from the United Nations, advocated the return of high-tariff protectionism and generally decried many other aspects of economic rationalism and what she perceived to be 'political correctness'.

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Remember this old gem: "Fellow Australians, if you are seeing me now, it means that I have been murdered. Do not let my passing distract you for even a moment..."

SOURCES:
The Age
The Australian
The Age
News Ltd
Herald sun
SBS
ABC
Wikipedia: Pauline_Hanson