We received the following message from ChilOut supporter Oxana Kriss Maricheva, who decided to go and have a look at families detained for herself. This is what she found. Thank you Oxana for taking time out of your life to touch the lives of others: 

This Sunday I got a chance to visit Villawood detention center in Sydney. It was my first visit. I just wanted to see everything by my own eyes and to understand this problem of the "boat-people" who are so unloved in Australia by the majority of Australians. I wanted to meet those people, who live in detention for years without any hope, due to the fact, that there is no official prove that they are not criminal and for whom presumption of innocence, which my daughter learnt about at her legal studies at school that it does exist in Australia for all Australians, for whom this presumption of innocence does not exist. So, today I met those people. 

I personally visited the Leonora detention facility in the first week of May this year.

I do not doubt the genuine care and concern of the staff member featured in this video. Whilst at Leonora I did meet some committed and passionate staff. I do completely reject the image painted by this video.

The facility is small, the boys have very limited privacy (think; paper thin walls of what is designed as temporary accommodation for miners at the end of a long shift). The soccer pitch you see is less than half the size of a normal oval and has no shade (it is over 38 degrees in Leonora for 5months of the year).

The video claims that the facility is providing 'teaching in line with the Australian curriculum, introduced in May 2012'. This was most definitely NOT the case in the May 2012 I visited, a fact directly stated to me by the DIAC Centre Manager at the time James. The only 'lessons' available were something akin to an 'Australia 101' class and activities such as art and cooking. Attendance = accruing points which can then be spent in the canteen.

As for the 'welcomed support of Leonora locals'... a complete change to my agreed schedule by DIAC and Serco meant that I was left with plenty of time to chat with locals in Leonora. Over and over people expressed frustration at changes in centre management, uncertainty about what was happening at the facility (everyone thought it would be closed in 2011 and then it suddenly re-opened as a centre for unaccompanied children) and that they had very little contact with any of the detainees since the facility had housed families in around October 2011. A Serco staff member at the facility told me that not one local had been to visit in the whole time she had worked there (around 10 weeks). So unless there has been a real turnaround between May 3 and the making of this video, I find this claim hard to understand. 

The fact remains that whatever the Government and DIAC wish to call this facility (APOD) and however many glossy videos they make - children are being denied their basic right to liberty. In addition,  Australian taxpayers are spending an exorbatant amount of money to lock these kids up in the middle of the desert. It's great if there are some terrific staff, but not if the system is completely flawed. 

Sophie Peer. Campaign Director, ChilOut. 

Where is Leonora? 830km east of Perth, 235km north of Kalgoorlie

Some images from our visit to Leonora.

As one astute fb commentator pointed out; why is this video entitled 'Leonora School' when that is the very place (less than 10minute walk from the facility) that these kids cannot attend?

*figure from WA Premier, Colin Barnett 6 July 2012 to ABC radio. DIAC statistics do not provide a breakdown of where children are detained on the mainland, ChilOut continually asks for this information to be made public but it is usually only provided when there is a question in Senate Estimates. 

One aspect of the so-called asylum "queue" has been created right here in Australia. We are the only signatory to the Refugee Convention with a policy of reducing our offshore intake every time a successful refugee claim is made by someone who came by boat. What this means is that we have a set quota, now standing at 14,750 per year and every humanitarian visa granted to someone who came by boat means one less place to those we may have taken under our Special Humanitarian Program (think, family reunion, unique humanitrian needs etc). 

Other nations certainly have quotas and I understand the need for this. Although ChilOut (and many others) argues that it be raised to at least 20,000 per year here in Australia. No other nation takes places away from those overseas (offshore) based on onshore (irregular) arrivals and for some, how could they? Most countries are not island nations; stealthly crossing borders to seek asylum by foot, car, tunnel, any means possible is a daily occurence across most of the world. Taking only these people for resettlement would leave others languishing forever in makeshift camps (decades of wait times exist already for some). 

This is why ChilOut along with every other leading refugee and human rights agency in Australia (Amnesty International, RCOA to name a few) has long been calling for a de-linking of the two systems. They are completely separate. What we see is the majority of boat arrivals coming from countries where there is no UNHCR presence, where there is no authority they can register with, gain any sense of safety from. There simply is no orderly movement of refugees and asylum seekers and every other nations' polciies seem to understand this to varying degrees, all except Australia's. 

The policy position creates a very dangerous public misunderstanding. I find it easy to see how Rae in last season's Go Back To Where You Came From was so distraught that the African families she met faced decades of wait time to reach safety, even though some had family members living in Australia. The next leap of logic Rae took was that people arriving by boat asking for Australia's protection were the evil in this situation, they were the reason her new friends had to wait. What didn't get through to Rae at the time was that it didn't have to be this way, that those people coming by boat had no other viable option and that the problem was our policy not the vulnerable person's situation. I get why Rae took this view and it is time our leaders explained it and changed it.

 

(Sophie Peer, ChilOut Campaign Director. Views my own not necessarily those of ChilOut)

The issues are immense and complex. The numbers are hard to comprehend but there are still things we can all do. Here's a few ideas for this week... 

• Have fun!! Refugee Week is about celebrating the contribution of over 775,000 refugees to this country, spreading hope, goodwill and understanding. Have a picnic, see a related film, go to your local Migrant Resource Centre, share a meal with new friends... Here's a national calendar of events.

• Rethink Refugees - get the facts and then share them, post to your fb, share just one fact with a friend who may not share your opinion on the issues. 

• See what a group of High School students in Sydney have done, follow just one of their leads; an action in the schoolyard, meeting formerly detained children, personal messages to their local MP, making a video... changing minds: 'They're not just boat people, they're real people''. 

• Join a Welcome Walk in your capital city (and there's some regional ones planned too) this Saturday. 

• Write to Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen. Australia has a lot to celebrate during Refugee Week, but there's some serious policy and legislation change needed, cc your local MP. it doesn't need to be complex, here's some ideas.

• Speak up from Behind Bars - sadly, immigration detention of children is not just an Australian issue. This global campaign asks under18's to make their own 20second clip on the issue. See what's been submitted from here and around the world. 

• Share this info-graphic on facebook

• Teachers, have you seen this educational resource... There are new ones on the way, but these are still completely relevant (sadly)

• Latest global stats, a link to Angelina Jolie's video and much, much more.

• Are you receiving ChilOut's newsletters, they're free, monthly and have latest news and stats. Sign up.

A pre-Refugee Week arrival to my inbox... courtesy of Lesley Walker, a sentiment to carry in the Adelaide march on June 16, the Welcome Walks around the country and any celebrations you take part in for Refugee Week 2012.

FRIENDSHIP & FLOWERS.

15June2012

Lesley Walker. 

To My Gracious Friends

Every Hindu friend in detention.

Every Christian friend in detention.

Every Muslim friend in detention.

Every man, woman & child.

Is Grieving .

 

Privately remembering & commemorating precious lives.

Lives lost to each family.

Murdered, or bombed, or press-ganged, or kidnapped, or disappeared.

Or Drowned.

Grieving also the mothers & fathers who chose to leave children behind.

In that violent homeland, those children are with grandparents & relatives.

‘Unaccompanied’ children live in detention. Some for a year, two years.

It is not for me to know why they come. They are HERE NOW.

In violent homelands are their mothers & fathers & brothers & sisters.

In Iran. In Indonesia. In Sri Lanka. In India. In Afghanistan. In Pakistan. In Vietnam. In Africa.

In China. In every continent.

Hearts are aching across the globe.

How can I comfort you?

What might soothe the painful longing, the regrets, the never-ending thinking through long nights.

What can I offer that makes a difference, what might soothe your heartache a little?

Flowers.

There are no flowers in detention.

No flowers to put before the memorial altars.

No flowers to gaze upon with wonder.

No flowers to recall the gardens & parks & wild bush places or jungly forests in another cherished land.

 

And Friendship.

This I can offer. I can walk beside you in this hard time.

I can offer friendship in this hard time.

Federal Court decision in the case of SBEG v DIAC was handed down on 4 June 2012. The following information is from the decision;

 

• The applicant arrived to Australia by boat in December 2010, just before his 17th birthday. He had no family members with him. 
• On 18 April 2011 the applicant was told that Australia had found him to be a refugee. 
• The boy's first known case of self-harm in detention occurred on 24 April 2011.
• On 16 May despite being known to be a refugee, the boy was transferred from Christmas Island to immigration detetnion at the MITA in Melbourne. 
• Several visits to mental health nurse, prescibed sleeping tablets, Valerian and engaged in self-harm on a number of occassions whilst at the MITA
• 4 July 2011 DIAC official tells the boy he cannot be moved to community detetnion as he has not passed his security clearance. One month earlier, the same DIAC official had told the boy that self-harm could affect his chances of being released into community detetnion. 
• The first time the boy was seen by a psychatrist was 15 August 2011. 
• 21 August 2011 the boy was transferred to detention at the Darwin Airport Lodge.
• 24 November 2011 the boy attempted suicide, there had been several more self-harm incidents prior to this and a report to DIAC from Life Without Barriers that he had been drawing pictures of people hanging. 
• 29 November 2011 the boy was moved back to the MITA in Melbourne. 
• 15 December 2011 the boy is advised he has received an adverse ASIO security fidning, which he cannot challenge. This makes him ineligible for a protection visa.* 

*This is the first known case of a minor receiving an adverse finding. The court accepted that the boy turned 18 at the very end of 2011.

In the Court case the applicant was attempting to prove that DIAC had neglected the boy's mental health needs with regard to the places and circumstances of his detetnion. 

Justice Besanko found that 'it is the form of detention which has and is causing the applicant's mental health problems'. Besanko J noted that medical evidence provided to the court also proved this. The decision details many self-harm attempts, attempted suicide, lip sewing and includes quotes from the applicant such as "A month would not pass before they take me out there as a corpse" (98) in reference to the possibility of being sent back to detention at the MITA, which the Court has been recently told is a consideration (103). 

Besanko J however also found that the 'applicant has not established that the alternative form of detention... would improve his mental health in a material way' (118) Besanko J did not rule in favour of the boy.

The result is that this mentally unwell young man, harmed immeasurably by Australia's immigration detention system now faces a lifetime in one or more of our detetnion facilities. 

Aside from this overall incredibly disturbing outcome, there are many other factors in this decision that cause concern. The Court seemed to accept wholly the evidence of DIAC (evidence provided by Acting Deputy Secretary, Immigration Detention Services Group, Gregory Kelly) pertaining to 'alternative places of detention' and the complete inflexibility of creating a 'detention-like' environment in the community so that the boy's mental health, emotional, social and developmental needs could be better met. Besanko J did note that he does 'not need to decide if Mr Kelly's opinions should be accepted' (36), because of the conclusion noted at para 118 (explained above). Great detail was included in the decision of detention conditions as described by Mr Kelly but not as described by witness, Pamela Curr (long-time refugee advocate well known to the applicant). 

There was no question whatsoever by medical professionals that the applicant would again engage in self-harm if placed in similar detention environments to those he had been held in for the past 19 months. 

This decision is deeply upsetting, most of all for the near certain devastation it will cause to one man's life. The decision is also upsetting for what it says about Australia's justice system. Australia locked up a boy for his final teenage years, he is now locked up possibly forever because of a finding that is not known to him and cannot be challenged in court,  the Federal Court and medical professionals are in agreement that the detention is harming him - nothing is done to remedy the situation. 

We understand there may be an appeal of this Court decision. 

(This piece is written by Sophie Peer and expresses her own opinions)

More on adverse ASIO findings

(L to R) Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Mujtaba Amadhi, Giselle Newton, Liberal MP Judith Moylan, Tim Neal, Ali Mohammadi, Hussain Aklaqi, ALP Senator Lisa Singh.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie and ALP MP Janelle Saffin also attended this event but were with journalists at the time if this photo.

Showing that the issue of children in indefinite and remote immigration detention is an issue beyond politics, all of these parliamentarians atteneded a press event in support of the ChilOut 2012 Ambassadors.

Greens Senator Hanson-Young; 'This is a human rights issue, a child rights issue, this is above politics. The Immigration Minister must relinquish his role as guardian of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum.'

Liberal MP Judy Moylan; 'The mechanism for change is there, what we need is the political will. The ongoing indefinite detention of children seeking asylum is a shame on this country.'

ALP MP Janelle Saffin; 'proud to have passionate young people like Giselle in her electorate who are committed to upholding human rights. Will work through all possible channels to see changes that ensure children are only detained for the shortest possible amount of time.'

ALP Senator Lisa Singh; 'There is tri-partisan support for getting children out of immigration detention', thanked ChilOut for bringing this group together.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie; 'I categorically oppose the indefinite detention of children seeking asylum, it is unnecessary, unethical and harmful. The present situation whereby refugees cannot challenge ASIO findings is not in line with natural justice.'

More images from the day

Just some of the media coverage: Herald Sun, ABC, SBS, Northen Star, Northern Rivers Echo

Our media release

The latest victims of Australia's security system are two boys aged 6 and 8, their mother Ranjini and new step-father Ganesh. Ranjini and her sons arrived to Christmas Island by boat in 2010 and spent almost two years shuffled from one detention facility to another. Christmas Island, Leonora, Inverbrackie and then on to community detention in Brisbane. Ranjini, from Sri Lanka was widowed in 2006 and has been found by Australia to be a refugee in need of protection.

This is National Families Week in Australia. Families Australia describes the role of a family as "vital". 

Last month, known to DIAC, Ranjini married Melbourne man, Ganesh and moved there with her sons.  Not long into their first term at their new school the boys have been taken out of their home, away from their step-father and detained with their mum at Sydney's Villawood Immigration Detention Centre. The boys and Ranjini join at least 2 other families, and 4 other children in the Residential Housing Project there (still most definitely detention no matter what name the facility is given) - all of whom face a lifetime of immigration detention. 

ASIO made an adverse security finding against Ranjini which leaves her and her boys with no visa status and no way out of their predicament. Like 46 other refugees in Australia's immigration detention facilities, Ranjini cannot challenge the findings made against her, neither she nor her lawyers can even know what the claims against her relate to. Like other children at VIDC, this means indefinite detention for Ranjini's young sons. 

The 'solution' according to our Government is to lock up these people, including children, for the rest of their lives. They are refugees, they cannot be returned to their country of origin, they have an adverse security finding -  Australia has effectively blacklisted them, what other country will take them? Other nations have methods of oversight for their peak security agencies. There are random audits of decisions affecting refugees, there are independent monitors who can view decisions. In Australia there is nothing. Ranjini, Ganesh and her sons are left not knowing what they are being punished for and realising that their punishment is for life. Perhaps literally for life. 

As a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as a nation that celebrates something called National Families Week -  how can Australians stand for the indefinite of a child as being a 'solution' to anything? 

Perhaps there are issues of national security, but perhaps there are not. Agencies have been known to get things wrong, including ASIO; remember the case of Dr Haneef? Shouldn't the basic principle of innocent until proven guilty stand? Courts can manage sensitive information, lawyers can adhere to court guidance, there has to be a reasonable way for Ranjini and the 46 others in her position to have access to a fair trial and to natural justice. Surely there are degrees of 'adverse' findings? Not every adverse finding indicates someone is a terrorist. Surely arrangements around living in the community and reporting to authorities can be reached in some cases? 

Sophie Peer, Campaign Director, ChilOut

SMH piece from 16 May 2012 'the person may have had a cousin involved in some minor thing. An adverse assesment from ASIO doesn't make someone a terrorist'. 

Piece on Ranjini, The Age 14 May 2012

Here's the NSW Council for Civil Liberties and Liberty Victoria open letter to Federal Attorney General, Nicola Roxon from 18 Jan 2012 on this topic. 

Sandi H Logan is the Department of Immigration's National Communications Manager and quite often, spokesperson. He is continually telling the public things like 'children are in facilities not detention centres'. If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck...

The fact is that tonight 428 children will sleep inside a 'facility' that is locked and under guard. Tomorrow morning these children cannot choose to ride their bike to school, they cannot choose to get a part-time job, they cannot choose to visit their Aunty or friend in a metroplitan suburb of Australia. These children are locked up indefinitely. Australia's policies and practices are harming them and it makes no difference what the 'facility' is called. 

The first thing about going to Leonora is the sheer remoteness of the location. I flew in from Perth via Laverton and it really left me completely baffled as to why the Government would choose this location to detain 140 boys, or anyone for that matter. I really am in the middle of nowhere.

Despite having arranged this trip over 2 months ago, many obstacles have been in put in place to my speaking with the boys. I arrived at 11:30am yesterday and it wasn't until 1pm that I was able to meet with any of the boys. The new rules I am forced to adhere to are that the meetings are to be group ones and with a Serco guard present. This is not at all what was agreed prior to my making the 32 hour journey to get here.

First impressions of a site vist were mixed. The soccer pitch is impressive, small but nice. There is a rec room with some ping pong tables, other activities and the demountable dedicated to art class was full. On the other hand, the floor of the prayer room was covered in doonas where you would expect to see carpet, the library was locked and the shelves were far from well stocked, most of the telephones were in public areas and there was no shade over the soccer pitch or the volleyball court. Today is about 25 degrees and sunny, I can't imagine January!

Meeting the boys was great but the environment certainly challenging. Building any kind of repore is very difficult in a hot room with a guard and 7 other boys all seated around a table. I did find out a few day to day details:

• To see a nurse a form must be completed or a referral made. If you are in pain, you cannot simply knock on the medical office door. I met a 16yr old boy who had been taken to Kalgoorlie for an operation one month ago, was in pain now and hadn't been seen by any medical professionals since the operation.
• 6 of the 10 computers work and each child is only permitted 30minutes of internet per day. It can take 15 minutes to log on.
• Skype used to be available but is no longer permitted. This means the only possibility for those who can have contact with their families to do so, is for boys to use their points to 'buy' phone cards at the canteen 
• Dinner is at 6pm if the boys are hungry after this the only option is to use their points at the canteen. The canteen is stocked with non-halal items containing gelatine. One child described being very upset when he found this out and had trusted that what was 'sold' would be appropriate.

More boys had just arrived at the centre and those who had been there a while told me this was welcome as it was more fun than if the centre was half full. Most described their time on Christmas Island as better than in Leonora.  

I am going back in tomorrow to meet more boys. The trip is certainly not as planned but I think it has pleased the boys to know there are Australians who do care about them and if nothing else, it is great to see first hand the physical conditions that the boys are in.