Hell on Christmas Island
Remotely located 2,600 kilometres northwest of Perth, the Christmas Island Immigration Reception and Processing Centre is more aptly described as a detention facility in which 2,631 people are held, including 1994 in buildings, 464 in makeshift tents and another 172 in an overflow compound. Many asylum seekers are being housed in the midst of a construction zone.
A report released this month by the Commonwealth Ombudsman, Allen Asher, details this and states that the centre on Christmas Island has surpassed maximum capacity, adversely affecting detainees. It also indicates how the federal government’s failure to transfer the operation of detention facilities to the public sector, as promised in the 2007 election, has further “complicated” the processing of non-statutory refugees. In 2009, Serco took control of the facilities on Christmas Island, even after a report in the UK found that prisons operated by the company performed worse than those run by the state.
The Ombudsman determined that claims for asylum had been delayed because of security checks conducted by ASIO, especially for Sri Lankan Tamils. In early January last year, ASIO deemed five asylum seekers from the Oceanic Viking a threat to national security, although it would not stipulate why. This followed claims by Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey in 2009 that terrorists could be masquerading as asylum seekers in order to enter Australia.
Asylum seekers have been effectively gagged as the report exposed the lack of interpreter services available and instances in which individuals were assigned interpreters who did not speak their language. In one case Serco resorted to taking complaints off site for translation.
Most concerning was the admission that survivors of torture and trauma had been left in confined detention.
Dr Graham Thom, Refugee Campaign Coordinator for Amnesty International Australia, described the low mood of detainees on Christmas Island when visiting there late last year.
“Morale within Australia’s detention facilities is quickly getting worse, leading to rising incidents of self harm and attempted suicide,” said Dr Thom.
Medical services and mental health facilities are quickly become inadequate for the burgeoning detainee population.
Despite the negative review of mandatory detention facilities on Christmas Island, the federal government is still determined to establish a regional processing centre in East Timor, although the country’s President Ramos-Horta remains unconvinced.
East Timor is ranked 125th by the Human Development Index and has struggled as a developing country after 25 years of Indonesian occupation.
By Milly Caffrey
