HUMAN RIGHTS 
Immigrant nation questions itself
> BY MARK SCHULMAN
Copyright © 2002 by The Earth Times. All rights reserved

Some 200 detainees, mostly from Afghanistan, Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries, started a hunger strike in the Woomera Detention Center in outback South Australia, while others, including several minors, sewed their lips together and performed other acts of self-mutilation as a means of highlighting their plight. Several suicide attempts were also reported.

"They are simply desperate," Australian Democrat Leader Natasha Stott Despoja said after being the first politician to visit the Woomera facility. "Their greatest concern is that they are not being heard and feel that their attempts through the written word have been ignored."

Desperate or not, the government sees the current situation in a very different light.

"People are engaging in self-harm and it's being done to morally intimidate the Australian people and the Australian government into changing policy," Australia's Prime Minister John Howard said about the situation. "We don't like having to detain people, but there is no alternative if we are to keep control of the flow of people into this country. We don't intend to abandon the detention policy."

There are currently six immigration detention facilities throughout Australia‹Woomera in South Australia; Villawood in Sydney; Maribyrnong in Melbourne; and Curtin, Port Hedland and Perth in Western Australia.

According to the Australian Department of Immigration, 7,993 unlawful non-citizens, mainly from Afghanistan and Iraq, were admitted to these immigration detention facilities in 2000-01. This is more than double the number of 3,574 in 1998-99. The increase in numbers reflects a huge growth in unauthorized boats arriving in Australian territory.

The subject of illegal boat people has been at the forefront of a national debate ever since the Tampa crisis last August, when the Australian military was called in to prevent a Norwegian freighter carrying hundreds of Middle Eastern asylum seekers from entering Australian territorial waters. The crisis was "solved" through the Australian government's "Pacific Solution", whereby the asylum seekers and other illegal boat people have been sent to several Pacific islands, including Papua New Guinea and Nauru, to have their claims processed.

Many in Australia, as well as in the international community, have criticized this exercise because it is costing the government hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and is seen more as a "Pacific Postponement" than a "Pacific Solution" since many of the asylum seekers could very well end up in Australia if their claims prove successful.

"Australia needs to develop a new policy based on humane and sustainable alternatives," said Andrew Hewett, Executive Director of Oxfam Community Aid Abroad. "Such a policy should see Australia increase our aid programs in the Pacific, asylum seekers detained only for short periods to allow for health, security and identity checks, and the release of refugees into the community with a range of support services."

Oxfam Community Aid Abroad, a member of Oxfam International, is part of a broad coalition of nongovernmental, church and community organizations campaigning against the mandatory detention of refugees in Australia.

Other international organizations have also criticized the Australian government's handling of the current refugee crisis. "Prolonged and arbitrary detention of asylum seekers continues to lead to human rights violations, including contraventions of the International Rights of the Child," Amnesty International Australia's Refugee Team Convenor Stuart Webb said about the situation. "In fact, the Australian government has continued a detention policy after it has been demonstrably punitive and damaging to individual asylum seekers, Afghani or otherwise." The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, has also entered the fray, urging the government in Canberra to review its policy of detaining those who seek asylum. "Recent events in Australian immigration detention centers are a stark reminder of the concerns of the international community regarding the detention of asylum seekers," the High Commissioner said in a statement. "Among the asylum seekers are refugees who have fled persecution, and many have suffered torture and trauma in their countries of origin. They should not be put through an additional ordeal."

Despite the public outcry, much of the criticism has fallen upon deaf ears, particularly deaf government ears. "Nobody should think that we are going to abandon the policy because we are getting a few bad headlines," prime minister Howard said about his government's immigration policy. "In the end, headlines are the personal views of journalists and they don't necessary represent public opinion."

And if it's public opinion that the Prime Minister is considering, he has it on his side. In a recent newspoll conducted by The Australian newspaper, Howard's Liberal-Coalition government enjoys a 46 percent approval rating, compared with 35 percent for the opposition Labor Party.

This is a strong indication that the Australian public has shown support for the government's handling of the asylum seeker situation, and many believe it is what won Howard a third term in office. There are, however, many voices starting to express concern for the fate of those being held in detention centers, especially in light of the events that have transpired in Woomera and some of the other facilities throughout the country.

"It's these indefinite periods of waiting in detention in places like Woomera, in the middle of the desert, which just have to be dealt with," said one human rights lawyer representing the detainees. The Labor Party, which largely supported the government's hardline stance on asylum seekers in the lead up to the federal election last November, has changed its policy on the detainees and now says that women and children should be released. "Australians are becoming increasingly distressed with the plight of the children held in detention," opposition Labor leader Simon Crean said at a swearing-in ceremony for new Australian citizens this past Australia Day. "We should be able to agree on one thing, that it's just plain wrong that innocent children should be kept behind razor wires."

Despite the detainee crisis, over 8,000 legal immigrants have received full Australian citizenship this year after going through the proper processing channels. Unlike the asylum seekers, these individuals have been warmly welcomed into the community, with many high-level government officials doing the welcoming. "Australians are, irrespective of their country of origin, cultural background or religion, all united by our unique identity and the values of commitment and responsibility that threads through, and indelibly stamps, our national culture," Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said about the country's newest citizens.

These are words that many in the detention camps can only dream about as their chances of being accepted into Australia seem to grow slimmer by the day. In fact, the Australian government has indicated that they were willing to pay unsuccessful Afghan asylum seekers‹at the taxpayer's expense of course‹to return back home.

"Most of the detainees would prefer a visa to a ticket home," Hassan Varasi, a Woomera Afghan detainee told the Australian press. "We cannot trust this type of government [Afghanistan's interim government]Š which has no capacity to control the warlords in Afghanistan."

As part of the agreement for the Woomera detainees to end their hunger strike, the government has in good faith started processing their claims. This has led to the release of some 25 people on temporary protection visas, while several unaccompanied children have gone to foster homes.

However, many more may not be as lucky‹they continue to face rejection of their visa applications and, consequently, deportation. If nothing is done to remedy the current situation the cases of unrest and protests within the detention centers will only continue to rise. It's only a matter of time that innocent people will get hurt or even killed as the conditions deteriorate. This is a tragic irony considering many asylum seekers left their respective countries in the first place to avoid precisely that.