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Aus refugee camp faces closure
29/01/2002 12:53 - (SA)
Sydney - Australia's much-maligned Woomera detention centre is likely to
shut down in response to an international outcry over its run of
riots, arson attacks, breakouts, hunger strikes and
self-mutilations by the asylum seekers holed up there.
A government advisory group on Monday recommended closing the
former missile base where hundreds of mostly Afghan refugees are on
a hunger strike.
The government is hoping that flagging the closure will be the
circuit-breaker that stops violence at Woomera, 490km north of Adelaide.
Nine teenagers, four Iraqis and five Afghans, have threatened to
take poison or throw themselves at the razor-wire perimeter fence
if they are not immediately released.
Lawyers for the detainees said there are 246 Woomera residents
on a hunger strike now in its 14th day.
Paris Aristotle, a member of the advisory panel appointed by
Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock, recommended Woomera be closed
because it was "an extremely harsh environment in which to detain
anybody".
'Phased out'
In response, Ruddock said Woomera could be phased out as
accommodations at newly built detention centres become available.
Woomera is one of six camps where a total of about 2 000 mostly
Middle Eastern asylum seekers are being held pending the
determination of their claims.
Alone among developed nations, Australia locks up all
unauthorised arrivals that claim asylum until their cases have been
determined.
The government said a flood of asylum seekers would set out for
Australia if the policy of mandatory detention was dropped.
Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock announced that processing
of asylum-seeker claims would resume - but only for those detainees
not on hunger strikes.
"I don't think that hunger strikers are going to be in a fit
state to be able to participate, can I say it as clearly as that,"
he said.
He also announced that deportation was now unavoidable for 67
asylum seekers whose legal appeals had been heard and dismissed.
"I can confirm there are a group of people in the Woomera
situation, as there are in each of our detention centres, who are
not asylum seekers but are now unlawful arrivals, who have no
lawful basis to be in Australia, who we'd expect to go home,"
Ruddock said.
Opinion polls show Australians are solidly behind their
government in taking a harsh line with detainees demanding changes
to the refugee policy.
West Australian Premier Geoff Gallop, a luminary in the
Opposition Labour Party, has also come out in support of the
government.
He has rejected calls for the closure of Woomera, urging that
the government not give in to violence.
"There's a form of blackmail on the Australian government to
attempt to make it do something which it shouldn't do, which is to
treat people differently from others who apply to come to
Australia," Gallop said. - Sapa-DPA
- SAPA
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