BY ALISON DELLIT
The federal government is seeking to use a two-day protest by over 160 asylum seekers held in the Port Hedland Immigration Detention Centre to justify an escalation of attacks on the human rights of refugees.
According to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA), the protest began on the evening of January 20 when more than 50 refugees took unspecified protest action. The following day, officials attempted to place the "ringleaders" of that action into isolation, provoking a massive, angry response from other detainees.
Refugees forced the staff out of the compound and took control. Arriving riot police used batons and capsicum spray to attack and disperse the refugees. The protesters resisted the baton charge by throwing rocks and chairs at the police.
Since the protest, DIMA has cut all telephone access to the refugees, forcing the media and human rights organisations to rely only on "official" accounts of the protest.
However, Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly was able to speak to a lawyer responsible for some of the refugees' court cases who was able to shed some light on the events of the two weeks preceding the demonstration.
Although not prepared to speak openly for fear of government reprisal, the lawyer said that, two weeks previous to this demonstration, the majority of the camp's refugees went on hunger strike for four days.
Hunger strikers called for an independent assessment of the cases of all refugees. One particular cause of tension was the case of 121 families who have arrived here two years ago from refugee camps in Syria. The government is now arguing that these refugees did not try hard enough to get asylum in Syria and is attempting to send them back.
Another source of tension in the camp is the rumour that boats have sunk off the coast. Some detainees believe that these boats may contain their relatives. Detainees asking for these rumours to be investigated by the staff have been refused.
Shortly after the hunger strike ended, a Palestinian man at the centre broke windows all around the compound in an attempt to draw attention to his plight. He had been detained for 9 months, awaiting the results of a "security check" on his background.
In another incident an Iranian man climbed the fence of the detention centre and attempted to communicate with local residents, asking for his case to be considered. He had been in detention since November.
Over the 10 days leading up to the protest, more than 120 refugees were transferred from the detention centre in Woomera, in the South Australian desert, to Port Hedland. Although the government claims this was to create space at Woomera, no explanation was given to the refugees. Many feared that this dislocation was a new form of harassment that "troublemakers" would be subject to.
While the Port Hedland centre is designed for 700 occupants, it housed at least 800 refugees prior to the arrival of the 120. The maximum temperature on January 22 reached 43 degrees celsius.
The government, while tightly controlling all information about the events, immediately described the protest as a "riot". Immigration minister Philip Ruddock has asserted that the protest was "caused" by an unnamed number of "troublemakers" who were also responsible for protests at the Woomera detention centre in June and August. His department has declined to release any details of these "troublemakers" or proof of their role in the protest.
Instead, branding them as "criminals", Ruddock has announced plans for new legislation which will severely restrict the human rights of refugees.
While exact details have not yet been revealed, Ruddock has said the new law will contain three key proposals: it will enable the government to immediately deport protesting refugees without trial and without establishing whether or not they will face persecution in their home country; it will increase the powers of detention centre guards to restrain refugees, including allowing them to use sedatives to incapacitate protesters; and it will enable regular searches for "concealed" weapons, likely allowing random strip searches at the discretion of guards.
These proposals will accompany a bill already tabled in the House of Representatives to reduce the number of appeals open to asylum seekers.
The proposal to immediately deport protesting asylum seekers was initially proposed by Labor's shadow minister for immigration, Con Sciacca.
In an interview on ABC AM program on January 22, Sciacca branded the protesters criminals and blamed Ruddock for allowing them to remain in Australia. Although Kim Beazley backtracked from this position on the Today Show on January 23, he also condemned the protesters, and reaffirmed Labor's support for a "decent detention system".
The new proposals have been condemned by refugee rights groups, including the Refugee Council of Australia and Amnesty International. Amnesty spokesperson Graham Thom explained, "We are concerned about the human rights implications. Sedation should only be used for medical purposes, not crowd control."
Thom, however, has been frustrated by his inability to independently verify the information coming out of DIMA offices about Port Hedland. This lack of information has hindered many refugee services from openly supporting the protesters.
Meanwhile, the situation for the refugees still in Port Hedland remains under a blanket of secrecy. Five days after the protests, lawyers were still having difficulty getting access to their clients in the centre.
One support worker reported hearing screaming over the telephone on the afternoon of January 22. When she inquired what was going on, the centre staff member told her "probably another demonstration" and hung up.