UN Report on Protection Needs | Perth IMC Feature]]> http://melbourne.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=10128&category_id=3 Baxter Asylum Seekers Protest Indefinite Detention 2006-12-14T23:55:36 migration Melbourne Indymedia Thirty people staged a protest after six people attempted to take their own lives inside the Baxter Detention centre near Port Augusta over the past week. A Detainee said "It's just a process of long-term immigration detention, it's unnecessary, it's unreasonable," he said. "Any other country in the world - and Australia is a wonderful country - but any other country in the world, they detain you for 30 days, they identify you, then they release you. There is no purpose for us being here. We have been vilified by the Government in order to justify our detention. This is unfair." [Read more...]

"The mental health record of the Baxter Immigration Detention Facility is appalling. These desert prisons are especially cruel because they isolate detainees from friends and family. The Government's mandatory detention policy breeds despair and in turn leads to these tragic attempted suicides," said Kerry Nettle, a Greens Party Senator.

Perth IMC: Six hangings at Baxter detention centre]]> http://melbourne.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=10043&category_id=3 Long Term Detainees Walk Free from Immigration Detention 2006-10-13T16:49:14 migration Melbourne Indymedia Three detainees recently walked free from immigration detention. All came out of psychiatric hospitals after years in detention. The longest was 6 years. "Six long hard years of soul destroying, spirit breaking detention for no moral reason. One permanent protection visa and two temporary visas in the Vanstone lottery." said Pamela Curr of the Melbourne Asylum Seekers Resource Centre.

A new report by the Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) accuses the Government of deporting asylum seekers to danger. According to the report, 39 of the 41 asylum seekers interviewed in 2006 by the Centre were deported to danger. "Fundamental reform is needed if we are to honour human rights obligations and the values they enshrine. Those who are in danger have compelling cases for their claims to be reassessed.” said Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) director Phil Glendenning. [Read more...]

Deported to Danger Project | DIMA: Detention Statistics | Refugee Action Collective]]> http://melbourne.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=9977&category_id=3 Tampa Asylum Seekers Remembered 2006-08-28T16:35:05 migration Melbourne Indymedia On the 5th anniversary of the Tampa incident, people in Melbourne gathered to enact a symbolic journey crossing the Yarra on the footbridge, led by drummers, dancers, a choir and giant banners with faces and stories of refugees. On the footbridge the procession paused for 5 minutes to reflect upon the awful toll inflicted on asylum seekers over this period, before proceeding to hear speeches. [Full Story] | [Photos and Report]

SIEV X | Truth Overboard | Refugee Action Collective]]> http://melbourne.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=9833&category_id=3 Visa Doubts for Guest Speakers at Penal Abolition Conference 2006-01-26T22:24:23 migration Melbourne Indymedia Prison abolition Conference organisers Justice Action, an Australian prisoners' support group, has accused the Government of dragging its heels on visa applications for two Irish republican activists and a Canadian professor who are guest speakers at the International Conference on Penal Abolition to be held in Hobart, Tasmania. 7-11th of February 2006. [Full Story]

Justice Action | Radical Alternatives to Prison (UK) | Prisonjustice.ca | Notebook of a Prison Abolitionist (ZNET)]]> http://melbourne.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=9831&category_id=3 Protests support West Papuan Asylum Seekers 2006-01-24T23:36:05 migration Melbourne Indymedia Rallies in Sydney (audio), Melbourne, Darwin and Canberra have been held to support the West Papuan Asylum Seekers and protest their movement to Christmas Island for processing, and the Howard Governments impending signing of a security treaty with Indonesia. Under the treaty Australia would recognise the territorial integrity for Indonesia over West Papua which protects the Indonesian military's ability to continue their long-standing history of human rights abuses, without criticism.

The Immigration Department (DIMIA) are being strongly criticised by asylum seeker advocates, as well as the Greens, Democrats and Socialist Alliance, for detaining the West Papuans on Christmas Island. The International Commission of Jurists as well as many other groups and organizations around Australia stated that they are genuine asylum seekers and should be released into the community on bridging visas.

Raise the Flag and Cry Merdeka
Australia West Papua Association
New Internationalist on West Papua (2002)]]>