Woomera's 'culture of despair'
From AAP
06feb02
AUSTRALIA'S human rights watchdog has said the Woomera detention centre breached international conventions as Prime Minister John Howard pours cold water on a UN visit to the facility.
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) said there was a culture of despair at Woomera with children exposed to high levels of violence and denied even cursory levels of education.
Human Rights commissioner Sev Ozdowski added even further to the issue, saying the authors of the government's popular detention and refugee policy would be rejected by generations in the future.
Dr Ozdowski said HREOC found that on the evidence in their report there were clear breaches of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Australia is a signatory.
But government ministers continued to defend the policy and questioned the need for another United Nations visit to Woomera.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson has asked to send an envoy to inspect Woomera first-hand because of growing concerns about its operation and its impact on detainees.
Two HREOC officials spent five days at Woomera last month after Dr Ozdowski raised concerns about the situation facing children.
The officials found 24 children involved in self harm activities, including one who slashed the word freedom onto his forearm and another who tried to hang himself.
They also found children under the age of 12 were getting two hours of schooling a day, four times a week, while those over 12 were not receiving any education.
Dr Ozdowski said children in the centre were suffering enormous psychological damage, and called for a change in their treatment.
"You had riots, you had buildings burnt, you had hunger strike, you had all the things which are happening over there, and kids are living in that environment," he told the National Press Club.
"The culture of despair rasps on them."
Dr Ozdowski said he had no problems with a visit by Mrs Robinson's envoy to Woomera, but opposition inside the government to the idea seems to be growing.
Prime Minister John Howard said Australia had fully complied with its UN obligations.
"UN committees have frequently asked questions and from time to time people have come to Australia. I am not particularly bowled over by a request from Mary Robinson," he told ABC radio.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said there seemed little to be gained from another inspection of Woomera.
He said Australia would be encouraging people smugglers if it abandoned mandatory detention of asylum seekers, adding there was no need to change the policy.
But Dr Ozdowski said even though the detention and refugee policies of today were popular, they would lose their support in the years to come.
"I have that feeling that in 30 years we'll be really looking for the person who invented the current policy. I am really doubtful that people, in some time, would like to put their name to it," he said.
The HREOC report found the single biggest concern of asylum seekers was the length of time to process their applications.
Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said the appeals system was the main reason for processing delays.