Refugee detention centres condemned by UN report

Australia was condemned yet again last week, when the United Nations 
Commissioner for Human Rights released a report containing a litany of 
"serious concerns" the office has with the situation in Australian refugee 
detention centres. Not surprisingly, Prime Minister John Howard and 
Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock rejected the report as "fundamentally 
flawed", "emotive", and for placing "undue emphasis" on a number of the 
human rights violations being committed. Below is an edited transcript of 
the report; the paragraph numbers being the same as in the original Report 
of Justice P N Bhagwati, Regional Advisor for Asia and the Pacific of the 
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

1. From 24 May to 2 June 2002, Justice P N Bhagwati, Former Chief Justice 
of India, undertook a mission to Australia ... The purpose of the mission 
was to look at and report on human rights issues with regard to the 
treatment of asylum seekers currently in detention in Australia, with a 
specific focus on Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre 
(IRPC) in Southern Australia.

2. On 4 February 2002, during a meeting in Geneva with the Minister for 
Foreign Affairs of Australia, Mr. Alexander Downer, the High Commissioner 
expressed concern about the human rights situation of persons detained in 
Woomera IRPC in Southern Australia...

3. In a letter received on 11 February 2002, Mr. Downer informed the High 
Commissioner that following discussions "with my Cabinet colleagues, I am 
pleased to advise that we would be ready to accept a visit by a special 
envoy as part of the planned visit by the Working Group on Arbitrary 
Detention".

General Impression

20. Justice Bhagwati was considerably distressed by what he saw and heard 
in Woomera IRPC. He met men, women and children who had been in detention 
for several months, some of them even for one or two years.

They were prisoners without having committed any offence. Their only fault 
was that they had left their native home and sought to find refuge or a 
better life on the Australian soil.

In virtual prison-like conditions in the detention centre, they lived 
initially in the hope that soon their incarceration will come to an end but 
with the passage of time, the hope gave way to despair.

When Justice Bhagwati met the detainees, some of them broke down. He could 
see despair on their faces. He felt that he was in front of a great human 
tragedy.

He saw young boys and girls, who instead of breathing the fresh air of 
freedom, were confined behind spiked iron bars with gates barred and locked 
preventing them from going out and playing and running in the open fields.

He saw gloom on their faces instead of the joy of youth. These children 
were growing up in an environment, which affected their physical and mental 
growth and many of them were traumatized and led to harm themselves in 
utter despair.

Concluding Observations

60. In conclusion, Justice Bhagwati finds that the human rights situation 
of persons in immigration detention in Australia is a matter of serious 
concern.

Despite the many positive efforts undertaken by the Government to improve 
the conditions in the detention centres, from a human rights perspective it 
might be useful to ask whether the current approach to illegal immigration 
is the correct one.

In any case, a more humane approach would certainly be desirable.

61. The unduly long period of detention which, to the detainees, seemed to 
be endless with no assurance as to when it will come to an end and they 
will attain freedom is a matter of serious concern.

So far as the detention of children, including unaccompanied minors, is 
concerned, it is clearly in itself a violation of their rights under the 
Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Furthermore, children are deprived of adequate educational services 
appropriate to their age and are kept in conditions not conducive to their 
healthy growth...

62. As noted above, the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
Rights (Article 7) and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, 
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, explicitly prohibit torture 
and all cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment.

The human rights situation which Justice Bhagwati found in Woomera IRPC 
could, in many ways, be considered inhuman and degrading.

64. Justice Bhagwati recommends that the High Commissioner urge the 
Government of Australia to review the human rights issues of concern 
expressed in this report, and to seek appropriate ways to address them, 
with a view to meeting its obligations under international human rights 
law.

65. The High Commissioner might also wish to urge the Government of 
Australia to engage in a positive and constructive dialogue with ... civil 
society for the purpose of identifying ways and means for improving the 
conditions of detention.

66. The High Commissioner might also wish to urge the Government to clarify 
and seek to expedite the determination of refugee status, and to provide 
people in detention with complete and adequate information about their 
rights at all times, ensure adequate access by lawyers and psychologists, 
and ensure the institutionalisation of independent monitoring and 
accountability mechanisms.

67. The High Commissioner might also consider suggesting to the Government 
to restore the power of judicial review by way of appeal against the 
decisions of the authorities both on facts and on law by making the 
necessary amendments to the Act.

68. The High Commissioner might wish to suggest to the Government that a 
follow-up mission be undertaken in 2003 by a representative of the High 
Commissioner.

A full transcript of the report can be found at: 
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/newsroom,
press release issued on 31 July.