We refugees, asylum seekers and ex-detainees at RISE highly condemn the Turnbull government’s plan to introduce legislation to ban asylum seekers who arrive by boat from ever being allowed into Australia.

People who have fled war, trauma and torture need long term security in order to restore their lives. The proposed legislation does more harm than good to refugees and asylum seekers. It adds major uncertainty to the lives of asylum seekers who have fled persecution and in turn exacerbates the trauma they have endured and continue to live through. This is an extreme form of xenophobia or racial discrimination. Seeking asylum is not a crime and it is a right that is upheld by the law as well as the UN Refugee Convention, of which Australia is a signatory.

Ex-detainee and founder of RISE, Ramesh Fernandez said “The politicians of the Australian government are being very cunning here. They are planning to introduce this hateful legislation because the government is at the losing end at the PNG courts. Turnbull is trying to save his leadership by flexing his muscles on those most vulnerable. Like always, the government has used asylum seekers and refugees as political currency”.

Barring refugees and asylum seekers who have arrived -and continue to arrive by boat- from settling in Australia is clearly discriminatory and goes against International law. Further, there is no evidence to suggest that this will save lives. In fact, this measure will adversely result in increased numbers of people fleeing from dangerous circumstances will either be sent back to the situations they have fled from, or that they will be settled in countries which do not offer protection to asylum seekers.

The rhetoric that Australian politicians espouse on asylum seeker issues is callous: hard-line solutions, temporary protection visas, Pacific and other offshore solutions, indefinite detention, forceful deportation, deaths at sea and now, a possible continuous banning refugees and asylum seeker entering to Australia.

Rather than using coercive power to silence detainee dissent, the Turnbull government should address the legitimate concerns raised by detainees, refugees and asylum seekers in Manus and Nauru.

We should not forget that Labor party has reintroduced offshore detention centres under ‘No Advantage Policy’, they should be as equally accountable as the Coalition party. The Australian government has shamefully taken cues from One nation party leader Pauline Hanson by introducing these policies and gained her approval

“If the majority of the Senate go ahead with the decision to support Prime Minister Turnbull proposal banning refugees and asylum seekers, it will be further evidence of Australia’s shocking discrimination against people fleeing from war, torture, rape and persecution” – Ramesh Fernandez, RISE CEO

Letter to the Australian Public by refugees, asylum seekers and ex-detainees at RISE – Re : Proposed legislation to ban refugees and asylum seekers who come on boats from entering Australia http://riserefugee.org/letter-to-the-australian-public-reproposed-legislation-to-ban-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-who-come-on-boats-from-entering-australia/

Media contact :
Abdul Baig (Onshore Ex-detainee, refugee and RISE member)
(03) 9639 8623 or admin@riserefugee.org

On behalf of our members and governing staff from over 30 of the refugee and ex-detainee communities in Australia, RISE urges the Australian public to say NO to the Turnbull government’s plan to introduce legislation to ban asylum seekers who arrive by boat from ever being allowed into Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s proposal to impose a “life ban” on refugees and asylum seekers who have arrived since 2013, as well as future refugees who will be arriving to seek protection, will be tied up with the “No Advantage Policy”, which was crafted and designed under the Labor party.

Therefore, we urgently request the public to resist the Australian Prime Minister’s proposed legislation to ban refugees and asylum seekers who come on boats from entering Australia. You can contact your member in the House of Representatives and ask them to not to support it. Find your member, http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Members. Australia as a nation should treat refugees, who come to seek protection, with respect. Instead Australian politicians past and present have used it to become the utterly politicised issue it is now in Australia.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s proposal only serves political parties like One Nation, Pauline Hanson, and her followers will be proud of their White Australia policies. These fear-mongering leaders will only boost the attitudes of racists and xenophobes, but will not bring justice to our refugee community.

Men, women and children are trapped in Nauru and Manus, held hostage by the Australian government and are used as political pawns. This is deliberately designed discrimination and well managed by Australian politicians. There is enough evidence that Australia’s treatment of refugees is barbaric, and that treating survivors of persecution in this way should not continue.

There are over 65 million displaced refugees around the world. Many are languishing without proper protection in interim camps. Australia’s discriminatory, human rights-violating “offshore” processing system for asylum seekers who arrive by boat adds tally to the interim camps and keeps refugees in isolation. Deterrence measures may lower the number of asylum seekers in Australia, but it is not a just and humanitarian solution for people trying to cross borders by boat, or any other form of transport, desperately seeking a place where they can be safe.

To lobby for international action, click on the following links and raise your concern:
UNHCR Geneva http://www.unhcr.org/pages/4a324fcc6.html
UN New York http://www.un.org/en/contactus/
World Human Rights Watch hrwpress@hrw.org , http://www.hrw.org/contact/new-york
High Commissioner for Human Rights nationalinstitutions@ohchr.org , infoDesk@ohchr.org

Treating refugees as the problem or as political pawns is the REAL problem.

RISE TEAM.
‘Nothing About Us Without Us’

“Australia’s boat turn-back policy and indefinite detention of refugees is both inhumane and illegal.” – by Fadak Alfayadh, RISE Director

In the span of two days, Tony Abbott has urged European leaders to “stand guard” against the recent and ongoing movement of refugees seeking protection in Europe. Malcolm Turnbull alleges that Australia’s border protection policies are the ‘best in the world’, and our Immigration Minister claims that our offshore detention camps are “at least better” than refugee camps outside Syria.

As absurd as Turnbull and Abbott’s comments are, a number of things shock me to the core. Firstly, these men had been given platform to make such ludicrous comments, without a reality check. Secondly, they had an audience who listened to their bigotry, did not oppose or question it and possibly would adopt it as their own beliefs. It is one thing to be mistaken and heartless, but it is another to spread these sentiments with impunity.

Abbott’s recommendation of Australia’s turn-back policy is highly problematic. At a time when one of the most vulnerable groups in the world needs assistance, he is urging the world to turn their backs against those in need of protection. It is also ironic and unfortunate that nations such as Europe, who benefit from the stability that wealth and privilege bring, are urged to be “brave” against men, women and children who have left behind everything they know purely to survive.

The hysteria and fear created by politicians, such as Abbott, on first glance seem to be mere petty politics and statements that we are used to hearing from theatrical politicians. It is, however, statements such as this that in time turn hysteria into public opinion, and public opinion into legislation. Unfortunately, this is the situation Australia has come to regarding the refugee issue. It is an inhumane state reached through a historic chain of events resulting in unspeakable acts of state-sanctioned violence against refugees and asylum seekers. This is not a situation to be idolised or copied, much less recommended to other nations.

Australia’s boat turn-back policy and indefinite detention of refugees is both inhumane and illegal. Turning back asylum seeker boats that have reached Australian territory goes against the International legal obligation of non-refoulement, which Australia has been breaking for decades. Australia is sending people back to horrific situations where they are likely to face persecution, serious harm and in many cases, death. Not only does Australia have an obligation to all those who seek protection on its shores, but also an obligation (both legally and ethically) to those the government has decided to place in offshore detention centres. Thus, it is irresponsible of Malcolm Turnbull to speak lightly of the policies put in place by Australia against asylum seekers and refugees, claiming they are the “best in the world”. Off-shore detention and boat turn-backs are financially more costly to Australian taxpayers than settling people in the community, while the cost to asylum seekers pushed back into sea are immeasurable. Abbott’s drive to recommend Australia’s illegal and failed policies to other nations is, to say the least, unwise.

Abbott also referred to refugees and asylum seekers as “would-be economic migrants” who are “soldiers of the Islamic caliphate”. Inaccurate and ill-informed comments as this feed into the racist rhetoric and fuel the fear of the “other”, where Muslim refugees and people of brown and black skin are painted as evil and dangerous. They’re portrayed to have come to dirty the European dream with their brown and black bodies. He seems to be contending that they should not be offered humane treatment because they are less human and should have their bodies contained and returned, instead of offered assistance. The dangers of politicians making such unsubstantiated claims would have a trickle-down effect, instilling fear in the general public and eventually manipulating our refugee policies. Australia should be ashamed for re-settling less refugees than promised and indefinitely detaining refugee and asylum seekers, here and offshore. The policy of indefinite detainment and turn-back of refugees and asylum seekers is a failed policy. It is a smarter and a more moral solution to provide refugees with safe passages into the country and to allow them into the community.

What we should take from these incidents is that we need to stop electing into government, bigots who freely engage in racist and xenophobic conversations and practices. It is a political model supporting politicians to win elections by abusing the most vulnerable. Australia’s boat turn-back policy is not a “successful model” for refugee resettlement nor does it provide safe passage to refugees or asylum seekers. Evidently, it should not be recommended to other nations and must be abolished altogether. It is negligent to state that Australia provides “better conditions” than refugee camps in war-torn countries that are less affluent and less stable. Particularly since considerably less refugees seek asylum in Australia than in those countries. Australia has fallen far short of its capacity to ensure humane treatment of asylum seekers.

The plight of refugees and asylum seekers can only be understood by those who have lived experiences of these traumas. If European nations want to know how to protect and support asylum seekers, they should be consulting those who have experienced displacement, as opposed to seeking advice from men in suits vying for the support of those who favour harmful and xenophobic asylum seeker/refugee policies. We should also not be electing representatives that take pride in claiming that their human rights abuses are the best in the world.

Australia is a country built on human rights abuses and genocide of First Nations peoples-the least we could do is ensure our present and our future does not create more deaths.

Ex-Detainees declare 3rd of September as Ex-Detainees’ Day for Asylum seekers and Refugees

“As ex-detainees in Australia, we acknowledge that the land we seek protection on is the land of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples”

We Ex-detainees from RISE in Australia, mark the 3rd of September as #ExDetaineesDay for all Asylum seekers and Refugees who have been forcefully detained whilst seeking protection. Ex-detainees’ day will be entirely managed and controlled by ex-detainees, who are asylum seekers and refugees, as an assertion of our self determination. This day will highlight and oppose the abusive culture of refugee and asylum seeker detention, rather than merely serving to transmit our voices through platforms controlled by non-ex-detainees.

Ex-detainees from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds at RISE, have been meeting for nearly two years to share their experiences of hardships faced during their time in detention centres to help one another cope with the resulting trauma. The initiative to mark this day as Ex-detainees’ day for refugees and asylum seekers is one of the outcomes of these gatherings.

Ex-detainees’ Day spokesperson Abdul Baig said – “After discussion and consultation with members of our group, we have outlined 10 demands. Our demands are universal and can be adopted by all those who do not want to be part of the asylum seeker and refugee detention, torture and abuse supply chain. We ex-detainees say NO to the detention of asylum seekers and refugees in Australia and the rest of the world, and YES to safety and protection”.

The cumulative trauma of leaving behind families and homelands, of being forcefully detained, of enduring punishment and torture in detention centres have resulted in feelings amongst Refugees and Asylum seekers of being subhuman. This is a violation of our human rights and our freedom. Asylum seekers and refugees will give effect to Ex-Detainees Day through the use of their voices to collectively speak out against harmful immigration detention centres, which continue to cruelly discriminate through the unnecessary imprisonment of refugees and asylum seekers who pursue protection.

As the world wakes up to the heinous crimes committed by the Australian government and their proxies against our community members exiled, detained and held hostage on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus, we ex-detainees in Australia are living testament of these abuses that have been committed by successive Australian governments, onshore and offshore, over 20 years.

Ex-detainees’ Day spokesperson Abdul Baig also said – “While we are starting this unique initiative in Australia, we have been in touch with other ex-detainee community members outside Australia too. As members of the ex-detainee community, we will continue to consult and work with each other to shape further objectives and actions to end asylum seeker and refugee detention, both locally and globally”.

Finally, we ex-detainees who have sought protection and freedom in Australia, acknowledge that we live on colonised land where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ sovereignty has never been ceded.

Ex-detainees’ day Links :
1. What is Ex-detainees’ Day?
2. Ex-Detainees’ 10 Demands

Media contacts :
Phone : 03 9639 8623
Email : admin@riserefugee.org
Ex­-detainees in Australia , RISE: Refugees Survivors and Ex­-detainees

RE: Six Questions from Refugees and Asylum seekers about Save the Children-Australia’s role in Australia’s Nauru/Manus Asylum seeker Detention and Abuse supply chain.

RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees is the first and only refugee organisation in Australia that is governed, staffed and controlled entirely by refugees, asylum seekers and ex-detainees. RISE represents over 30 refugee community groups in Australia and is a strong advocate for refugees and asylum seekers. At present, there are over 2800 members who are primarily ex-detainee asylum seekers and refugees.

As a backbone to our work, RISE strongly disapproves of any refugee movement, organisation, policy or individual that creates and/or supports a refugee scheme to imprison refugees and asylum seekers in detention centres and violates our peoples’ civil rights. For that matter, we do not endorse any movement, organisation or individual that violates any group of people’s civil rights. As we have stated, RISE is governed by and represents the interests of refugees, asylum seekers and ex-detainees, many of whom have first- hand experience of the harmful effects of the detention system. RISE has written and spoken out extensively about the consequences of Australia’s inhumane immigration detention policies.

The purpose of this letter is to address the continued lack of accountability in Save the Children-Australia’s role in the Australian government’s abusive, human rights violating asylum seeker trafficking and detention supply chain in Manus and Nauru, with a number of news reports that indicate asylum seeker and refugee children under Save the Children’s care were assaulted and sexually abused. Only a few days ago there has been another news report with allegations that your organisation withheld key evidence from the Australian human rights commission on sexual abuse of children in the Australian government’s internment camp in Nauru.

Save the Children-Australia’s 2014 Annual report (page 72) acknowledges that there was a 41% increase in income due to funding from the Australian Department of Immigration and border protection (DIBP) to run “services” in the Manus and Nauru asylum seeker internment camps. These funds total to more than a 100 million dollars of Australian tax payers’ money. We are appalled by the apparent hypocrisy in the actions of your organisation publicly condemning the detention of children, while accepting lucrative sums of money from DIBP, the very same abusers of both adults and children from our community, with the children under your care being caged and abused, rather than being saved.

We are sure you would agree that the first rule of thumb in community service is to be accountable to those who we claim to serve over our funders or other vested interests. Therefore as members of the refugee community, we ask the following questions about your organisation’s role in caging our people…adults and children…in Nauru and Manus:

1. Knowing that the arbitrary detention of asylum seekers and the refoulement of asylum seekers to Manus and Nauru is illegal, anti-refugee and unhumanitarian, why did Save the Children sign a contract to work for and accept money from, the very government that was violating basic human rights laws, including the rights of children?

2. Paul Ronalds, the CEO of Save the Children-Australia, publicly urged refugee advocates to accept asylum seeker boat turnbacks are here to stay. Considering the fact that the operation of boat turnbacks endangers the lives of asylum seekers does your organisation endorse this compromise of human lives, including the lives of children?

3. Did Save the Children fail to disclose the physical and sexual assault of children and the lack of safety of children in Nauru to the Australian Human rights commission? If yes, for what reason did Save the Children withhold this information?

4.How does Save the Children justify taking money from the very same entity that incarcerates asylum seeker children and ignoring refugee boat turn backs align with Save the Children’s vision of “a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation”?

5. Nine of your workers are reported to have been given $1 million in compensation from the Australian government and extensive legal advice. Keeping in mind that your organisation and your employees made a choice to work in Nauru, were paid salaries while they were working on the island and had freedom of movement including freedom to cross borders; what estimate would you put on the amount of compensation owed to hundreds of our community members trafficked, caged and held hostage in Manus and Nauru or those who were coerced into self-deporting to danger from Manus and Nauru?

6. Will Save the Children ensure that compensation is provided for those who were abused under their care and their families?

Our members have been, and continue to be outspoken for more than a decade at great personal cost, about the abusive nature of Australia’s mandatory detention system, hence we continue to regard with disbelief that people callously continue to apply for jobs in this abusive system. To witness this apparent ignorance, disregard and erasure of voices of refugee and asylum seeker detainees and ex-detainees in the struggle for justice and freedom is an ongoing trauma our community faces to this day. We demand that Save the Children and all other organisations and individuals to please, in the name of humanity, desist from working in, being complicit in and endorsing asylum seeker/refugee concentration camps and other anti-refugee policies.

Yours Sincerely,
Ramesh Fernandez
On behalf of RISE Team

Refugees, asylum seekers and ex-detainees were called for a meeting with a government subcontracted community settlement service provider yesterday and told there will be a “national census” and you all need to provide information. When refugees asked for help due to lack of computer knowledge and communication barriers they were simply told they are “really busy” and can’t help. The meeting was conducted without proper interpreters and inadequate information was provided regarding the census.

A RISE member said that they did not understand what was being said and people were really confused as to whether this matter was related to the department of immigration and border protection (DIBP) or not. The RISE member asked “If the government is pouring our community money to these agencies, what are they doing with it? Are they meant to be helping us or helping themselves?”

When the RISE member called the census information line to access more information, they were directed to “unknown” areas and the line cut off twice. Further, the RISE member added – “we don’t even know how to dial the correct number because of the lack of information given to us, so how are we going to report to the Census? Is the Census only for people from English-speaking background only? What about people like us who speak more than four or five languages, not English? This discriminates against all of us refugees and asylum seekers in the community – we are not getting enough support from government subcontracted community settlement agencies paid to help us or even from the department organising the census.”

Lastly, RISE is alarmed that according to privacy experts the new system used to gather and store census data places the privacy of those who give their personal information at serious risk. Most of our members are seeking protection from some of the most oppressive regimes in the world that have resources to access the most sophisticated data surveillance techniques in the world. The Australian Bureau of Statistics claims that there is no risk to privacy. However, this does little to allay our fears as thousands of our community members in Australia have already been severely impacted by a data breach by the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

As refugees, asylum seekers and ex detainees in Australia, we acknowledge that the land we seek protection on is the land of Indigenous peoples where sovereignty was never ceded.

The recent report by Four Corners on institutionalised torture in Don Dale Youth detention centre is just one example of a catalogue of crimes that continue to be committed by state institutions against the Indigenous peoples of Australia since their lands were colonised and occupied. Sadly, we are not surprised that until the crimes committed against these young people in Don Dale Youth detention were televised by mainstream media, any action taken by government departments has been hopelessly inadequate. First Nation community groups have been speaking out against deaths in custody and institutionalised abuse since colonisation but their voices have been sidelined and ignored continuously. The crisis of disproportionate numbers of Indigenous youth being placed in institutionalised care, incarcerated and separated from their families and communities is not a recent one. We believe this systemic abuse of First Nations people is a result of over 200 years of discrimination as part of the colonial genocide strategy.

While we call for a Royal Commission inquiry on torture, abuse and deaths in custody in Australian government run immigration detention centres both onshore and offshore, we ex-detainees at RISE are against a Royal Commission inquiry into kids in immigration detention centre being tied to the Don Dale youth detention centre. We believe that loosely tying this enquiry to abuse in immigration detention centres, waters down the structures of institutionalised abuse built on the genocide of Indigenous peoples over 200 years. Furthermore, before narrowing the scope of the Royal commission to imprisonment and abuse of Indigenous children there has already been a report on Aboriginal deaths in custody. However, in the context of immigration detention centres there has already been multiple enquiries into children incarcerated in these centres, by for example the Australian Human rights commission (AHRC) but no call out for a general enquiry by even the AHRC, let alone a call out for a Royal Commission into the arbitrary and indefinite detention of thousands of adults and kids by the immigration department outside the law. Further it is up to us ex-detainees to call for inquiries not non-ex-detainees who have never been detained in immigration centres or “refugee advocates”, “speaking on behalf” of our community groups.

Racist, genocidal acts against First nations people in Australia have been carried out for over 200 years and the Australian government shamelessly continues to add more oppression by choosing to close down Indigenous communities one by one against their will and disproportionately criminalise their communities. We fully support First Nations sovereignty, self-determination and stand in solidarity with the Indigenous peoples of Australia. We ex-detainees at RISE stand in full support of First Nations community groups call for a national wide action this weekend on ‘Justice for the children tortured in Don Dale and all prisons’.

For more information about national wide actions please follow Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance – WAR on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WARcollective/

Melbourne https://www.facebook.com/events/1642691622711240/
Brisbane https://www.facebook.com/events/1756147071328364/
Adelaide https://www.facebook.com/events/923888397717506/
Canberra https://www.facebook.com/events/228565874209262/
Sydney https://www.facebook.com/events/1789176414661147/
NSW Central Cost https://www.facebook.com/events/272687083109365/

RISE Ex-detainee Members

First Nations Liberation (FLN), Refugees, Survivors and Ex-detainees (RISE) and Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) present Sovereignty + Sanctuary: A First Nations/ Refugee Solidarity Event.

In order to recognise the plight of refugee arrivals to Australia, as well as the ongoing struggle for Indigenous self-determination, First Nations Liberation, RISE and WAR will hold a solidarity event in Melbourne this Saturday 16th of July at 1pm, in front of Parliament House, Spring Street, Melbourne.

“As refugees, asylum seekers and ex-detainees in Australia, we acknowledge that the land we seek protection on is the land of Indigenous peoples,” said Ramesh Fernandez, CEO of RISE.

Meriki Onus from Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) said “Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance welcome this historical event with RISE and First Nations Liberation. RISE’s commitment to accepting Aboriginal passports, Aboriginal law and customary law is refreshing and paves the way for all newcomers to this country.”

“Australian colonial borders continue to oppress communities of colour and Black peoples living inside and outside these borders. WAR condemns the treatment of Aboriginal people, asylum seekers and refugees in detention centres and prisons in this country. It is an international crisis.”

Ex-detainee and founder of RISE, Ramesh Fernandez said, “This will be not only be an historical event, it will be a meaningful event. It will also send a strong message to the Australian government and the wider public that under Indigenous law we are welcome here.”

“On this day RISE, on behalf of the refugee community, will acknowledge Aboriginal Sovereignty over this nation and stand in solidarity with the dispossessed First Nations of this country. We commit to fighting for justice on the terms set by Aboriginal people and nothing else.”

Further he added, “On behalf of refugee community groups and current and ex-detainees, I would like to thank the First Nations people for their recognition and ongoing solidarity with us. It is Indigenous law that we recognise and the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples. This has been long overdue but I thank all those at RISE who have worked these past four years to get to this point.”

On behalf of Sovereign House, elder Robbie Thorpe will present passports to RISE members. Issuing Indigenous passports to refugees sends a strong message: Under Indigenous law, refugees are WELCOME to this land.

Further, ex-detainees from RISE will outline demands which consist of how Australia (government & non-profit sector) should treat refugees arriving to Australia on boats.

Media briefing will be held at 11.30am at RISE, level 1 – 247 Flinders Lane Melbourne by WAR, RISE and First Nations Liberation. Contact RISE Administration 03 9639 8623, email admin@riserefugee.org

Event details – Today (Tuesday, 12th July 2016) 6.15pm-7.15pm – here

I am writing to complain about your forthcoming event featuring Phillip Ruddock. My name is Abdul Baig. I am a former refugee, now Australian citizen, and I was detained in immigration detention for three years during Philip Ruddock’s time as immigration minister.

The decision by the Wheeler Centre to invite Phillip Ruddock lends undue credibility to him as a human rights spokesperson. By inviting him to speak on human rights, you downplay his reprehensible human rights record, and add to the continued trauma and suffering of refugees like myself.

In the biography of Phillip Ruddock on your website, you distort by omission and through the use of euphemism, his human rights legacy. The words you use to describe his time as immigration minister are ‘turbulent’, ‘controversial’ and even ‘transformative’. I would like these words to be placed in their true context.

Woomera detention centre

I would like to remind the Wheeler Centre of the chaotic scenes that occurred at Woomera detention centre between 2001 and 2002 when the department was under Ruddock’s control.

Events at that centre included:

Mass suicide attempts involving the swallowing of detergent
Mass hunger strikes (the worst lasting 16 days)
People sewing up their lips
People digging their own graves
The centre being set on fire (this also occurred at Port Hedland and Baxter in November 2002).

Ruddock argued that the ‘behaviour’ of detained people in these centres was due to ‘alien cultural practices’ and that their acts were done with the intention of blackmailing the government into making positive visa decisions.

Up to 50 people were involved in a shocking 16-day hunger strike at Woomera in mid-2002. It was only when Ruddock feared that these people might die, that an emergency special advisory group was established to negotiate. The refugees at this centre asked for improved living conditions, better treatment and an open, transparent processing system.

Detained children
Between July 1999 and June 2003, 3,125 children were imprisoned in immigration detention. Shayan Baidrie was one such child, detained at Woomera. Having witnessed some of the sights I’ve mentioned above, he became unresponsive, paralytic and would not feed.

Over a three month period Shayan was hospitalised seven times in order to be rehydrated. Ruddock’s response to Shayan was to blame the child’s parents for ‘coaching’ the boy. He also said that the child had not witnessed a suicide, as had been claimed, because the trees at Woomera were too short to hang from.

Ruddock’s position on the necessity of detaining children remained fixed throughout his tenure.

Deaths in immigration detention
In a three year period from 2000 to 2003, 17 people died in immigration detention; these deaths were from suicide and medical neglect.

A further 730 people died in this period at sea, 353 in one day alone in the SIEV X disaster. A Senate Committee report into this incident held that it was “extraordinary that a major human disaster could occur in the vicinity of a theatre of intensive Australian operations and remain undetected until three days after the event without any concern being raised within intelligence and decision-making circles.”

Deportation of refugees
A report by the Edmund Rice Centre, a catholic organisation, tracked the fate of refugees deported during Phillip Ruddock’s tenure, in contravention of Australia’s non-refoulement obligations. In 2004 they released a report on 40 deported asylum seekers.

They found that 35 were living in conditions of acute danger. The report also argued that the payment of money and falsification of documentation by the Commonwealth government in the deportation process ‘invited accusations of corruption’.

The report noted that deportation practices under the period in which Ruddock was minister showed disrespect ‘for the standards of civilised behaviour and disregard for the human rights obligations imposed on Australia by various international treaties and declarations’.

The imprisonment of Australian residents and citizens
Under Ruddock’s leadership up to 200 cases emerged of Australian residents and citizens being falsely imprisoned in immigration detention, the most famous cases being the detention of mentally ill woman Cornelia Rau who was imprisoned for 10 months, and the detention and deportation of Australian citizen Vivien Alvarez Solon, who had been seriously injured in a car accident before she was picked up by immigration.

Architect of the Pacific Solution
Ruddock is the architect of the Pacific Solution. For three days, 438 shipwrecked asylum seekers were left aboard the Tampa, without adequate food, water or medical care as the government refused to allow the vessel into Australian waters. Up to 1,615 people were detained on Manus Island and Nauru between 2001 and 2008.

The Children Overboard affair
Ruddock was at the centre of the children overboard affair; he stated that parents had thrown their own children overboard when this had never occurred. Reports suggest that Ruddock was aware that this was not the truth.

Legislating to deny people asylum
Under Ruddock’s watch legislation was introduced to prevent people from seeking asylum. This was done though excising Australian territory from the Migration Act, interdicting boats on route to Australia and pushing them back into Indonesian waters, freezing refugee application claims and introducing temporary protection visas. Making conditions unbearable in detention centres through the systematic abuse of detained people was another well-known strategy.

Human rights organisations criticise Phillip Ruddock’s record
Australia’s detention centre policy has been resoundingly criticised throughout Ruddock’s tenure by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The United Nations Advisory Group on Immigration Detention, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Working Group on Immigration Detention, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and the Australian Ombudsman.

I struggle to understand how a person with this legacy could be invited by your esteemed organisation to speak on the topic of human rights.

The Wheeler Centre suggests its programs are politically neutral; it argues on its website that views which are presumably abhorrent to one section of the community can be ‘balanced’ at a later time, by events featuring people with different views. Yet this fails to recognise the profound harm and injustice caused to the victims of human rights abuses, when perpetrators are invited to speak on human rights topics.

Abdul Baig – RISE member and ex-detainee