鈥淲e will not be treated like slaves,鈥 a refugee forced to live on Nauru said during a series of public protests held by refugees on the island. Hundreds of refugees living in the community, alongside asylum seekers still held in detention camps, have been holding a campaign of non-cooperation and protest since February 25. Children have boycotted class, refugees with jobs have begun a stay-away strike and many are refusing to talk to their case mangers.
Immigration detention in Australia
There is one message refugees in the Manus Island detention centre want Australia to hear: we need help.
In a letter written on January 20, a group of asylum seekers taking part in a mass hunger strike wrote: 鈥淚n here alarms are ringing but heartless politicians are still indifferent.鈥
They said they were writing 鈥渇rom the heart of Manus鈥 as the hunger strike entered its 鈥渘inth day and it will continue鈥.
鈥淲e will continue our push until we reach our ultimate goal, which is freedom.鈥
World Refugee Day is dedicated each year to raising awareness about the more than 43.7 million refugees and internally displaced people around the world. The United Nations and non-government organisations usually share refugee stories and make pleas for compassion and empathy.
But in Australia, refugees and asylum seekers are treated like the enemy in a war: the target of a highly resourced, military-led 鈥渄eterrence鈥 strategy complete with arbitrary detainment, detention camps, guards to terrorise them, forced deportations and the violent suppression of those who protest.
A former welfare worker at the Nauru refugee detention camp says the July 19 riot that razed most of the Topside compound was an 鈥渋nevitable outcome鈥 of a 鈥渃ruel and degrading policy鈥, in a new book released last week.
The Undesirables follows several big whistleblower revelations that have come from Nauru since the camp was re-established by then-PM Julia Gillard in August 2012.
Two important things were revealed when immigration minister Scott Morrison was finally forced to admit he had been wrong about most of the facts when one man was killed and at least 70 others were injured on Manus Island on February 16.
Soft brown eyes flicked furtively towards the guard鈥檚 room, then back to the ripe luscious strawberry she had carefully placed on the table鈥檚 edge. She waited for the guard鈥檚 laconic indifference to blend into the certainty of distraction, then secreted the treasure in her loose pocket.
鈥淔or my friend,鈥 she confided, while a hint of defiance momentarily lit up eyes that for most of our visit had spilled out a lifetime of sorrow and loss. 鈥淢y pregnant friend.鈥
The two big parties have long considered refugees鈥 rights forfeit. This election year has been a time of unprecedented sacrifice of refugees, as each 鈥減olicy鈥 idea from Labor and the Liberals becomes more extreme than the last.
After signing up Papua New Guinea and Nauru to bogus resettlement deals, PM Kevin Rudd has most recently sent families to Nauru and continues to oversee legally dubious deportations.
The smuggling of cameras inside detention camps on Nauru and Manus Island by the has added to pressure on Labor to answer for the shocking conditions in which men, women and children are being held.
Footage that was aired on April 29 showed rows of muddy tents, derelict amenities and ablution facilities and image after image of people who are losing the will to live.
The newly opened Yongah Hill detention centre in remote Western Australia is 鈥減robably one of the most secure facilities in the entire network,鈥 immigration media manager Sandi Logan said on June 25.
The new detention centre is about 90 kilometres north-east of Perth, about five kilometres outside the rural town of Northam. The $125 million centre was a disused army barracks and will house up to 600 male asylum seekers.
It is now fitted with electric fences, 鈥渟cale-proof鈥 walls, cameras and bars on most windows, said an AAP reporter who visited the site.
Seven people from multiple Australian cities were arrested today while climbing a hill to make contact with refugees inside the Wickham Point detention centre outside Darwin.
About 35 refugee activists from Darwin, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne were at the centre as part of several actions that took place outside the city鈥檚 three detention centres over the Easter long weekend for the annual refugee convergence.
About 120 refugee rights activists from multiple Australian cities gathered outside the Northern Territory鈥檚 parliament house in Darwin today to protest against mandatory detention and the three detention centres located around the region.
More than 50 people rallied outside the Perth headquarters of British multinational corporation Serco on March 9 to protest against the company's ongoing push to privatise and take over public services. Serco runs Australia鈥檚 immigration detention centres and is responsible for implementing the oppressive government policy of mandatory detention.
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