Refugee Rights Action Network WA
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Deportation Watch: Join to help stop deportations
With the new and even more unfair ‘fast-track’ processing, the government is going to be attempting to deport more and more refugees back to situations where their lives and safety are at risk.With the policy of boat force-backs we know that they have no compunction about returning people to directly to countries they have fled from and indeed straight back into the arms of their persecutors. All without any semblance of assessing these people’s claims for asylum.
We know that our government does not blink in the face of the rape of women and children on Nauru, or when staff murder refugees in detention on Manus Island.
We can be sure that they will not hesitate to return people to circumstances where it’s likely that they are tortured or killed. Indeed this has happened in the past.
If you want to help resist this, sign up for our anti-deportation SMS alert list. You will occasionally receive SMS messages calling for anti-deportation action. This often takes the form of handing out flyers at the airport or conducting protests to highlight the plight of a person slated for deportation.
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Attempted Suicide at Melbourne Detention Centre – Pamela Curr Reports
Tonight at a Melbourne detention centre a man sat on a bench next to me and sobbed silently, his whole body shaking. He asked me to visit his house to see his daughter and mother. He led me to his donga door and with a shushing finger to his lips, pointed at a small red balloon on the bed saying that it was his baby daughter and that she was sleeping. Next to the red balloon lay a green balloon. He told me that this is his mother and that she is crying because his brother has been killed by the militia. He said that his brother was with Jesus and that he wanted to go to Jesus too.
Yesterday after discussions with the Human Rights team, he went to his room and took an overdose of tablets. He was found by a visitor lying on the floor with his feet hanging out the door. The visitor thought that he was dead at first and checked his pulse. He was unconscious. The day before he had begged a staff member to kill him.
Today he can hardly walk unaided as he is heavily sedated. He has not been to hospital but has been placed on PSP (Psychological Support Program formerly SASH- Suicide and Self Harm). I told the Serco officer that this did not constitute treatment, just surveillance. He agreed but could do nothing else. A staff member told me that he had just seen a psychiatrist on site. I reminded her that the man was clearly experiencing hallucinations and psychosis and under the guidelines should not remain in detention.
At Reception I checked the staff sign on book with a senior Serco officer for IHMS staff on duty that day. IHMS is the contractor providing health services. No psychiatrist or psychologist had been on site that afternoon. It was unclear who assessed this man as psychologically fit enough to remain in detention. He is certainly so sedated that he would be unable to harm himself. He is chemically restrained from physical harm but this does not alleviate the terrible mental pain which is torturing his mind. Guards stand at arm’s length to back up the drugs.
He has been quietly compliant until now but after nearly three years in detention his mind has broken.