UN to be denied Woomera access

A REQUEST by UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson to send an envoy to the Woomera Detention Centre may be denied by the federal Government on the grounds the visit would be a disruption and a duplication of similar such inspections.

Mrs Robinson has sought permission for a special envoy to make a "first-hand appraisal" of the remote centre, 500km north of Adelaide.

She wants former Indian chief justice Rajendra Bhagwati to inspect the centre after receiving allegations of human rights violations from the ACTU and a host of non-government groups.

Hundreds of Woomera detainees staged a 16-day hunger strike last month and to date, 59 have harmed themselves.

Mrs Robinson made the demand during a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer in Geneva yesterday morning.

"There are certainly human rights concerns. Very serious human rights concerns that I would like to have fully clarified," Mrs Robinson said after the meeting.

Mr Downer will discuss the request with John Howard, Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock and other ministers upon his return to Canberra later this week before any decision was made.

Mr Ruddock said in Sydney yesterday that there were safety, privacy and operational issues to be considered before the special envoy's visit was approved or declined.

"In relation to issues about access to detention centres our view has always been that detention centres ought to be as open as possible," Mr Ruddock said. "There is also a question of how many times you are subjected to scrutiny."

A spokesman for Mr Ruddock later told The Australian one of the concerns was "that we are dealing with a multiplicity of UN bodies (visiting detention centres) and we have to look at the disruption that causes".

"The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has (regularly) visited ... all centres," he said. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission officers also visited Woomera during the hunger strike, as part of a fact-finding mission for a children in detention inquiry.

The spokesman said the special envoy was a "duplication" of previous UN visits, stretching government resources already dealing with at least one official visit per centre each week.

Justice for Asylum-seekers spokesman Marc Purcell said the Office of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights was the only body equipped to investigate the alleged violation of human rights in Australian detention centres.

"In terms of moral clout, (the Government) would be very unwise to reject Mary Robinson's personal envoy," he said.

Insiders at the Woomera centre yesterday claimed two Afghan detainees, including an unattended minor, attempted to hang themselves in the past four days.