Ulverstone youth speaks out for asylum seekers
Sending messages of hope
By Kellie White, The Advocate, Evolve, Education, Information and Youth Issues
17 March 2004
You can hear the emotion in Joan Cortez-Baird�s voice as she speaks of the treatment of young detainees and her plight to give them hope.
A staggering concept considering Joan is just 17 years of age.
Regularly writing to eight Iraqi and Afghani detainees in Nauru to offer support, the Ulverstone-based Filipino-Australian was also a Tasmanian ambassador for Chilout (Children Out of Detention) in Canberra last week.
ChilOut consists of people opposed to the mandatory detention of children in Australian immigration detention centres, such as Nauru.
As one of the youngest students at the University of Tasmania�s Cradle Coast campus, Joan�s long-term goal involves securing a career in international law or politics in the hope of being able to, somehow, make a difference.
In the short-term, her Canberra adventure last Thursday with eight other Australians was to highlight to the Federal Government the human aspect of being an asylum seeker and detainee.
Joan said the group presented a petition of 5000 signatures from people aged under 18 who were against young children being in detention centres.
After meeting numerous government ministers, Joan said she did not feel satisfied with the responses.
�I want to tell them that (the detainees are) human, but the government fails to see that side of them,� she said. �They�re just like you and me. �I see them as heroes, because they still care despite it all. �One of the people in our group had been detained and she was not bitter. �She�s only on a temporary protection visa and could be sent back at any time, but all she wants to do is get an education so she can help other people.�
While having spent seven months writing to detainees, it was not till the Canberra trip that Joan actually met someone who had undergone the treatment she had read about.
�It certainly opened my eyes more� she said, � There�s such an uncertainty there. �During the trip we had breakfast with Amanda Vanstone. �We had two (detainee) members there talking about what Afghanistan is like and Amanda Vanstone saying if they don�t like Nauru then they could go back to their country any time they wanted. � How could she say that after these two people said what it was like. �I am angry at the government and how they�re using this for political gain.�
Joan said she never expected to have been selected for ChilOut�s Canberra adventure. �I think I got selected because I told them what I did� she said.
What Joan does is write to eight young detainees to offer them some degree of hope.
�A lot actually started writing to me in the end,� she said. �They�re mostly Iraqi, but there are a few Afghanis as well. �It�s opened a new door for me � I never knew about it til I wrote to them. �It�s hard conditions for them to endure and they�re always worried. I always want to comfort them. �They say to me �thank you, that you�re feeling for our people�.
�It�s really depressing. They are there for three years at the detention centre and so I want to make them feel better during that time.�