RRAN UWA

To be held on Tuesday 27th March at 1pm in Arts Lecture Room 9.

In its 20 year history, the policy of mandatory detention has incarcerated thousands of refugees, cost billions of dollars and resulted in a series of deaths and untold trauma. The most recent figures of the current detention population are 4,409 including 441 children and underage minors.[1]

Despite the horrors and indignities there is also a record of resistance to this from within and beyond the fences and it is this that is essential to the ongoing campaign that will end this rotten and inhumane system.

The call to action at Baxter in April 2003 reads;

“The invisibility of those inside is made possible by locating the ‘detention facility’ in the desert. Information barriers are strictly policed by the state and the private corporation that profits from incarceration. Letting the imprisonment of those inside go unchallenged will only strengthen the forces that control the lives of people on both sides of the fence.”

This statement remains true nearly a decade later. The ability of the Australian Government, DIAC and SERCO to conceal the reality of their regime is an essential part of their strategy to continue its project of demonisation of the most vulnerable in our society.

DIAC dresses it up as ‘Values’

The Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship cites 7 Key “immigration detention values”. [2] Sections 4, 5 and 7 are of particular note;

“Detention that is indefinite or otherwise arbitrary is not acceptable and the length and conditions of detention, including the appropriateness of both the accommodation and the services provided, would be subject to regular review.”

There is no set limit on the length of detention and so it remains indefinite until such time as the department processes claims, currently over 2,000 of those detained have been for more than a year[3], and a number of cases have come to light of those with refugees status remaining in detention.[4] Refugee status is not assessed until well after a person is detained and so the process of mandatory detention is inherently arbitrary. Over the last 10 years the Human Rights commission has regularly investigated various detention facilities and concluded that the system breaches fundamental human rights.[5] A review may be one thing but acting on it is another and the federal government seems comfortable not to take heed of this advice.

“Detention in immigration detention centres is only to be used as a last resort and for the shortest practicable time”.

The system of mandatory detention is as it sounds: mandatory. There are no other processes in place to avoid this situation and if you’ve had the misfortune of hearing Julia Gillard or Chris Bowen lately you’ll be sure this is the case.

“Conditions of detention will ensure the inherent dignity of the human person.”

This is a gross contradiction in terms, on the one hand to treat a person with human dignity and on the other to incarcerate them in a prison for an indefinite period of time. I recently witnessed a young man being referred to as “176” by a SERCO guard at Leonora. If this is considered treating a person with human dignity then I am on another planet!

The government has ignored such respectable critics as the Australian Medical Association, The Human Rights Commission and Australian of the Year Doctor Pat McGorry for as long as they have voiced their concerns. In the last few weeks as part of Amnesty International’s tour of Australian Detention centres it concluded that Curtin detention centre should be closed immediately.[6] However it is the pressure of the grass roots campaigns in the past that have really put a thorn in the side of the government’s detention regime.

Solidarity and Resistance

The resistance of refugees and their supporters on both sides of the fences has been a regular occurrence that has dotted this system’s sordid history. On the Easter long weekend of 2002, around 1,000 Refugee rights activists from around the country travelled to Woomera Detention centre to protest the rotten conditions experienced by those detained there. “We are human beings not animals!” said one man through the fence poles. The truth could no longer be ignored.

Public opinion changed dramatically in the early 2000’s response to images in the media of refugees sewing their lips together and masses of protestors supporting those inside in their treatment in breaking through the fences such as at Woomera in 2002. In 2005, following a protest at Baxter, polls showed 64 per cent of people supported refugees compared to 32 per cent in 2001.[9] This is a clear indication that public opinion can change when the real suffering and humanity of those detained is revealed. This can only be done by unequivocally denying the legitimacy of the fences, the wires, and of mandatory detention. This is the kind of pressure that is needed to end this system in its entirety.

While the horrors of Australia’s treatment of refugees and asylum seekers reach new lows they are not without opposition and students at UWA should be among those loudly opposing them. It is up to us to be a voice for those whose voices are continually silenced and discredited, to reveal the reality of mandatory detention. Presently Gillard and Abbott race to the bottom confining the discussion in public fora to the most vile and the most brutal of policies. In 2011, there were a series of suicides and protests from within the detention centres, which unfortunately have become an everyday reality. In the six months to June 2011 already there had been 213 injuries from self harm and 723 hospital admissions from voluntary starvation. What is needed is to challenge the physical barriers that bolster the racist ideology peddled by this and governments previous. If you are on the side of human rights then it is time to stand and fight. Will you be on the side of justice, or look back on history in shame? This is a call to action.

Teri Gibson
14th Feb 2012
1.DIAC Website Statistics: http://www.immi.gov.au/managing-australias-borders/detention/facilities/statistics/
2.DIAC website. http://www.immi.gov.au/managing http://www.immi.gov.au/managing-australias-borders/detention/facilities/statistics/-australias-borders/detention/about/key-values.htm
3.DIAC Website Statistics:http://www.immi.gov.au/managing-australias-borders/detention/facilities/statistics/
4.Suicide death at Villawood. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sri-lankan-dies-at-sydney-immigration-centre-after-receiving-festival-rejection-letter-20111026-1miox.html
5.Human rights commission Leonora Report: access at http://rran.org/uwa/resources-and-publications
6.ABC News: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-13/amnesty-critical-of-christmas-island-detention-centre/3827372
7.Monash Weekly: http://www.monashweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/monash-university-rooftop-ruckus-over-refugees/2244080.aspx
8.http://www.sa.org.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=4586:a-history-of-resistance-on-both-sides-of-the-razor-wire&Itemid=453
9.http://www.sa.org.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=5672:refugees-new-visa-a-cruel-hoax-baxter-protest

We have just gotten word that the Federal Magistrates Court has found that it has no jurisdiction to hear these appeals.  The case of the first Tamil asylum seeker has now been taken to the High Court but we have not received any indication of when a decision will be made or if the Australian Government will honour these legal proceedings.

This means that there is a real danger of a deportation going ahead today.

If you are able to make it to the Perth Immigration Detention Centre (at the corners of McComb and Baker Roads, next to the Perth Domestic Airport), please do so ASAP.

Updates will be posted as they become available.

Justice had one small win today as just a few hours before a Tamil father was due to be returned to Sri Lanka, his deportation order was stopped by the Hight Court.

Refugee Rights Action Network has been working feverishly all week to assist in blocking this crime.

Friday the Federal Magistrates court dismissed an application for an injunction on the deportation. However on Friday Mr F’s case was added to a High Court Challenge to elements of off-shore processing that violate procedural fairness. The lawyers felt that the acceptance of these documents would be enough. They contacted the governments solicitors Friday afternoon to “request” the deportation order be stopped. RRAN members visited the two men facing deportation and it became clear the government and Serco were intending to continue with the deportation irrespective of an active case in process!

RRAN was on site when Mr F was moved from Perth IDC to another immigration facility and spent many hours Sunday blockading the centre and communicating with asylum seekers.

On Monday, the day Mr F was due to be put on flight SQ 226 Singapore Airlines at 3:55 PM, RRAN staged a protest again at Perth IDC and successfully prevented Serco from removing another man due to be deported tomorrow. Networking with activists across the country, we supplied information as well as received updates from the courts. First the frightening news the Magistrates Court declined again to hear a case for an injunction as they declared they had no jurisdiction. Then the agonising wait for the High Court to decide…

Mere hours before the flight was scheduled to leave, and after Mr F had been removed to the airport, the news we were all waiting for came through.

INJUNCTION GRANTED! We made sure all the men inside heard the news!

Amid the usual chants of “Freedom” and “Refugees are welcome here” we included “This time we won: we got an injunction” and “No deportation today”

The man due to be deported tomorrow got word to us: “You all rock!”

We were relieved when the news came that Mr F was removed from the international airport but of course this was tempered by the news he was returned to detention.

We now wait to find out the fate of the second man who is due to be deported tomorrow unless another injunction is granted.

Following on from yesterday’s High Court injunction, we have had another small victory today with confirmation of the second injunction coming through earlier this morning.

In the short term, this means that these two Tamil men will not face deportation until after their cases are heard in the new year; in the longer term, though, we will need to continue to keep a watch on the Government and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s attempts to deport asylum seekers back to danger.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen, and a special thank you from V who was very happy that he was not removed from the Detention Centre yesterday as it also meant that he was able to be there when E was brought back.

Thanks again, and stay tuned for future actions.

This was a message that RRAN received from a man staying in Perth Detention Centre during the anti-deportation actions. Two Tamil men were due to be deported back to Sri Lanka so members of RRAN  surrounded the detention centre. Whilst we were doing so some of the guys inside kicked a volleyball over the fence, we retrieved it and wrote the words ‘freedom‘ on it and kicked it back over. They then wrote their details on it and threw it back over enabling us to get into contact with them and receive this message:

“hello, i want just tell you my and my friends especial tanx yap! you action was perfect and effactive it was supposed to deport two serilankaiyan guys today to their home but because of you apprishiable strugling to supporting us, DIAC canceld that decision, and they are still here whit us, tank you very much just keep going on , we hope some day we could return all of your goodness “ 

People who have been in contact with the two men who were set to be deported have said

“V very happy and was not removed from centre yesterday so was there when E was brought in and was such an emotional reunion. V was there when activists were calling for freedom on the outside and could hear the chants. Cannot find words to say how happy.”

The two men themselves, stopped only hours before being deported and who were convinced that they would be removed forcibly removed from Australia have said:

“We cannot thank you enough for what you all have done for us. We and our family will always be grateful to you all for saving our lives.  Thank you very very much for all the hard work you and your team did for us. Please continue supporting refugees in however way you can..we need you.

Bala uncle, please let all the lawyers and barristers know that we are grateful to them as they saved us from the killing fields with their tireless efforts.

Victoria please pass our best regards and thanks to all the other activists.

Thanks again. You are all very kind and amazing people. We both hope to see you all in a free world soon.

V & E

“As you know it is not just we came to Australia that we became the victim of other fault. Even we are victimized entire of our life. When we were in our mother land we were so dpressed and hopeless too

I know there are many people in Australia who are fighting just for asylum seekers rights.
I appreciate all the thing you compassonate people are doing for us.
sorry some of my sentences are not understandable . Hope you read and know what I mean .

Hope you are happy and healthy.
Thanks for sending a nice gift. I like that kind of animals/sign becuase that is success sign.

When I read that gave me fresh so I understood that there are many people who are supporting and showing their sympathy to us.
Thankyou so much for being so kind and honest to hopeless and despondent asylum seekers.

I wish one day I can repay to those who are lower than me. Please keep me in your prayers that I can be freed or hear good news before the Christmas.
I wish evey success for you and your dear family.”