Commission Website: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
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Submission to the National
Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention from
the Muslim Women's National
Network of Australia
The provisions made by Australia to implement its international human
rights obligations regarding child asylum seekers, including unaccompanied
minors.
The mandatory detention of child asylum seekers and other children arriving
in Australia without visas, and alternatives to their detention.
The adequacy and effectiveness of the policies, agreements, laws, rules
and practices governing children in immigration detention or child asylum
seekers and refugees residing in the community after a period of detention
The impact of detention on the well-being and healthy development of children,
including their long term development
The additional measures and safeguards which may be required in detention
facilities to protect the human rights and best interests of all detained
children
The additional measures and safeguards which may be required to protect
the human rights and best interests of child asylum seekers and refugees
residing in the community
of MWNNA submissions
The Muslim Women's
National Network of Australia (MWNNA) is a multicultural group of Muslim
women who work for the empowerment of Muslim women in Australia and for
the bringing about of understanding and mutual respect between Muslim
communities and mainstream Australians.
Since December 2001
a number of MWNNA members have been visiting detainees at Villawood Immigration
Detention Centre (VIDC) on a regular basis. The majority of our observations
below are drawn from our members' experiences at VIDC, but we have also
corresponded with and have received information from interested people
working with asylum seekers and refugees in Queensland and Victoria.
Addressing the
terms of reference:
The provisions made by Australia to implement its international human
rights obligations regarding child asylum seekers, including unaccompanied
minors.
In December 1990
Australia agreed to be bound by the UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child. [1] Under the terms of the Convention,
children are entitled to:
- Family life with
their parents unless separation is in their best interests
- The highest attainable
standard of health
- Protection from
all forms of mental and physical violence, sexual abuse and exploitation,
and the right to recover and be rehabilitated from neglect, exploitation,
abuse torture, ill treatment and armed conflict.
- To practise their
culture, language and religion
- To rest and play
- To primary education
and different forms of secondary education which should be available
and accessible to every child
- Appropriate protection
and humanitarian assistance as an asylum seeker or refugee
- Not to be deprived
of their liberty arbitrarily or unlawfully, and if in detention only
in conformity with the law, as a measure of last resort and for the
shortest appropriate period of time.
Life with their
parents unless separation is in their best interests
In the opinion of
the Muslim Women's National Network of Australia (MWNNA) this provision
of the convention has been breached with respect to large numbers of child
detainees.
A normal family
life is impossible within a detention centre
MWNNA has considerable
doubts concerning whether 'family life' as it is normally understood in
Australia can be meaningfully lived within the confines of a detention
centre at all, since all the members of the family are subjected to the
conditions of imprisonment. This makes it impossible for parents to perform
normal family roles, such as taking up employment and making provision
for the family, choice of dwelling, choice of foods, recreation and educational
facilities.
Parents' normal relationship
with their children is disrupted by detention. The detention authority
(ACM) administering government policy makes decisions concerning children
which in a normal family situation would be made by their parents. Parental
authority is superseded by the authority of guards to direct children
where to go, what to do and how to behave. Some decisions of the guards
may be contrary to the views of parents as to what is in the interests
of their children, but parents are powerless to counteract such decisions.
Mothers in detention
are unable to decide sleeping arrangements for children, timing and content
of meals and other everyday aspects of family living. They cannot guarantee
security for their children or prevent them witnessing traumatic events
involving other detainees. [2] Under such circumstances,
normal family life is impossible.
Furthermore parents
who are themselves anxious and depressed due to conditions of detention
and the uncertainty of life in detention may be impaired in their ability
to carry out parenting functions properly. Some parents in this situation
may fail to meet the needs of their children.
Separation
of children from one or both parents in detention
Some child detainees
have been separated from one or both parents during the period of detention.
In one case known to MWNNA the father of the family has been held in Port
Headland while the mother and four children, including two teenage boys,
have been moved to VIDC. Contact with the father is only by telephone
and infrequent. The father is not able to play a very necessary role in
the lives of the teenage boys. These boys in addition to experiencing
the normal turmoil of adolescence have been exhibiting signs of depression
and suicidal thoughts and clearly are in need of their father's guidance.
In another case reported
in the media, [3] a father had been released from detention
on a Temporary Protection visa, but his wife and five children, who arrived
at a later date, had been detained in Woomera for 13 months. According
to the media report, the husband had been able to speak to his family
in brief telephone conversations only 8 times in 8 months. This family
has no 'family life' to speak of and it appears that there are other families
separated in the same way. [4]
There have been instances
where children have been separated from their parents for mental health
reasons. A [child ] was several times hospitalised for symptoms
of post-traumatic stress which his parents blamed on his experiences in
detention. He was placed in foster care but later [some of his family]
were released from detention and he is now able to live with them, although
his father remains in detention. In this case there is provision for the
father to visit as it is not possible to take the child to the detention
centre to visit his father as he becomes extremely upset at the sight
of the detention centre. [5] Although the condition of
this family has improved, they are still separated and their family life
is far from normal.
In other cases, Immigration
officials have intimated a willingness to allow teenage children to be
released to foster-carers, thus separating them from both their mother
and their father who remain in detention. Teenage children in detention
pose particular problems (see below) and it is not always possible to
find appropriate foster carers for them. In any event their parents know
them best and it is MWNNA's opinion that the interests of such children
are best served by releasing their parents (or at least the mother) to
supervise their daily care. Foster parents may not have the same religious
or cultural background or necessarily any experience in dealing with children
of that age or with children who have experienced trauma, and have been
in detention for long periods of time. [6] MWNNA submits
that in cases of this nature, foster care is unnecessary since the interests
of the children would be best served by being in their mother's care outside
the detention centre so that they may attend school and have some semblance
of a normal life.
Unaccompanied
minors
Numbers of unaccompanied
children, mostly teenage boys, have been released from detention centres.
These children have no possibility of family life since their parents
are not in Australia, and they must rely on a small amount of government
funding, community assistance and their own resources to live. MWNNA submits
that much more in the way of ancillary services should be provided to
allow these children to manage life in Australia successfully.
The highest
attainable standard of health
There have been several
published studies of detainees' health.[7] Physical health
care is the responsibility of Australasian Correctional Management the
private contractor employed by the Australian government to manage the
centres. This company, in turn, employs nurses and other health personnel
as necessary. Detainees are assessed for health problems when first placed
in detention and physical health problems are identified and treated (King
& Vodicka).
At later stages of
detention, detainees have complained that aspirin is handed out by ACM
staff as a cure-all for every complaint, and that some detainee's medical
needs have not been seen to promptly or at all. [8]
Smith [9]
states that detention centres are a difficult environment for medical
practitioners to work in and that they may not have training and experience
in working with the survivors of trauma and torture. Additionally no procedures
are in place for identifying people who may need specialist care and such
people are not offered any special consideration with regard to early
release. [10] The children of such people and children
who come into contact with such people must be adversely affected.
MWNNA's major concerns
lie in the field of the mental health of detained children. We have referred
above to the detrimental effects of disruption of normal family life and
separation from one or both parents in detention. Dr Aamer Sultan a medical
doctor from Iraq who has himself been in detention since May 1999, has
co-authored a paper published in the Medical Journal of Australia concerning
the detrimental effects of prolonged detention of the mental health of
detainees. [11] In his report Dr Sultan listed separation
anxiety, disruptive conduct, sleep disturbances, nightmares among the
psychological effects of children in detention. He also mentioned that
some children experience very serious psychological disturbances including
mutism, stereotypic behaviours and refusal to eat or drink. Dr Sultan
has provided a further updated report on the mental health of children
in VIDC, a copy of which is annexed and marked 'A'.
MWNNA unreservedly
accepts Dr Sultan's findings as set out in his above reports. MWNNA is
most concerned that the mental health of detained children is suffering
from the deleterious effects of :indefinite imprisonment, namely.
- Institutionalisation,
especially in regard to the fact that some children have been kept continuously
in detention for up to two years
- Breakdown of
normal family roles and interactions as referred to above
- Mentally damaging
environment of witnessing riots, self-harm including suicide attempts
by other inmates and drastic measures adopted by management to control
same, such as use of water cannon.
- Lack of education,
recreation and meaningful activities in detention centres
- Lack of appropriate
peer group support, for example a 12 year old boy in VIDC has no other
child in his age group to play with and plays only with a 6 year old.
Effective socialization requires that children be able to meet and play
with other children of a similar age to their own.
- Anxiety and uncertainty
as to future and success/failure of visa applications
- Physical and
emotional conflict with guards
- Lack of appropriate
trained counsellors - no paediatric psychologist available
There is the additional
serious problem of asylum seekers who have arrived in Australia on a visa
and have failed to apply for asylum under the '45 day rule' They are denied
access to medical services also with potentially serious consequences
for themselves and their children. MWNNA submits that all asylum seekers
and refugees should have access to adequate medical services.
MWNNA submits that
there can be no justification for the damaging of children's mental health
in the above manner by prolonged periods of detention and that such detention
breaches Australia's human rights obligations and the Convention on the
Rights of the Child.
The mandatory detention of child asylum seekers and other children arriving
in Australia without visas, and alternatives to their detention.
MWNNA accepts that
a short period of detention may be necessary to enable health and security
checks to be carried out, but submits that current periods of detention
are excessive and far beyond what is reasonable or necessary in the circumstances.
Children's lives are being put 'on-hold' indefinitely and in they are
being subjected to deprivation and abuse in detention.
MWNNA submits that
no child should be held in detention for a period of longer than one or
two weeks and should then be released to live in the community in the
company of at least one parent. Such schemes are in place overseas, notably
in New Zealand where all except one of the refugee families taken from
the Tampa have been processed and released into the community. MWNNA understands
that under Swedish law, no person under 18 may be held in detention for
more than three days, or in extreme circumstances, six days.
The adequacy and effectiveness of the policies, agreements, laws, rules
and practices governing children in immigration detention or child asylum
seekers and refugees residing in the community after a period of detention,
with particular reference to:
- The conditions
under which children are detained
As referred to
elsewhere in this submission, MWNNA believes that the conditions under
which children are held in detention in Australia are totally unsatisfactory
and totally unjustifiable. This applies equally to detention in the
'better' detention centres such as VIDC and to detention in remote desert
areas such as Woomera, the conditions at which have been condemned by
Human rights commissioners who have been able to inspect that centre.
- Health, including
mental health, development and disability
MWNNA submits that
current policies, laws rules and practices governing children in detention
are unsatisfactory with regard to the health, especially mental health
of such children, as outlined above.
- Education
Children
in detention
Education of children
is clearly not up to the standard of education offered to children in
the wider community, or even of children in criminal correctional facilities.
Evidence is that the amount and quality of education varies between
the various detention centres and from time to time at the same centre.
[13] Provision of education is within the responsibilities
of ACM and is not subject to supervision or quality control by the relevant
state education departments. We note that ACM is a commercial enterprise
which makes a profit out of its detention management activities and
thus has an interest in providing services at minimum cost to itself.
At Villawood IDC,
the situation seems to be that children under the age of 12 are given
some education of up to, but not always as much as, 4 or 5 hours per
day. We have been informed that a trained teacher is employed to provide
this education during normal school terms. No provision is made in the
holidays when children are left to occupy themselves as much as is possible
within the confines of the detention centre. In accordance with departmental
guidelines, this education emphasises English language skills. All primary
aged children are taught in a composite class usually in a room dedicated
for the purpose. Children of this age are given one excursion outside
the centre each month.
No education or
training is provided for children over 12, except that, according to
some observers, [14] junior secondary aged children
(approximately 12-14) may be allowed by the teacher to sit in on the
primary classes and do whatever work can be found for them when the
teacher is not otherwise busy with the younger children.
According to Dr
Aamer Sultan [15] textbooks are very old, second hand
and not necessarily appropriate. There are 3 computers which are also
used by adults but no access to the Internet.
Any parent can
testify to the problems which arise from leaving adolescent children,
especially boys, unoccupied. In the normal world, adolescents are occupied
with schoolwork and burn off their excess energy with competitive sport,
part time jobs and household chores such as mowing the lawn or helping
Mum and Dad. Adolescents in detention have none of these openings. Every
day for them must be totally boring, unproductive and depressing. They
have nothing to look forward to except a vague and very uncertain hope
of release in the future.
Some attempts have
been made by volunteers to teach children in detention. Dr Aamer Sultan
notes that of a reported 30 groups who applied provide voluntary educational
help and entertainment for the children, only one was approved by management
after 10 months of processing. [16] Some volunteers
persist by offering tuition at normal visiting times but this must be
given in the open visitors' area with no special facilities. In general
from the observations of MWNNA members, ACM's policies seem to be aimed
at deterring visitors by subjecting them to long waits (up to 2 1/2
hours) excessive and inconsistent bureaucracy and security checks.
MWNNA submits that
it is counterproductive in the extreme to keep adolescents in detention
for long periods of time. It is a violation of the human rights of these
children to deprive them of education and it means that if they are
eventually released to live in Australian society, they will be very
much disadvantaged in comparison with their peers who have had normal
schooling and social interaction.
Children
released from detention in the wider community
The majority of
children released from detention will be released on Temporary Protection
Visas. Under current government policies, these visas preclude the holders
from accessing free English language lessons or from attending TAFE
or university without payment of fees at the overseas student rate.
There are very few, if any TPV holders who would have the financial
means to pay these fees, so in practice, they are precluded from attending
TAFE vocational training courses or other tertiary education.
The majority of
children released from detention are found places in state or private
schools whose parent bodies absorb the cost as a charity. Our information
is that state governments would be entitled to charge up to $8000 per
year in overseas student fees, but state governments and understanding
school principals normally absorb the costs. [17]
Contrary to an
opinion expressed by the Minister, Mr Ruddock, in response to a question
from one of our members at a 'Community Consultation' in Sydney in February
2002 to the effect: "They don't get educated in their own countries
so why should we pay for their education?" the reality appears
to be that child asylum seekers have received a varying amount of education
before arriving in Australia, are eager to learn, and many do learn
at very quickly when given the opportunity. In relation to the boys
in her 'Tiger 11 Refugee Soccer Club' in Queensland, Camilla Cowley
reports: "Many boys have done amazingly well and some are in Year
12 this year. They want so much to go on to university " [18]
MWNNA submits that
there is a real risk of the creation of a sub-class within Australian
society of TPV holders who are deprived of the educational facilities
available to the rest of the community. This is unfair, discriminatory
and will create further divisions in the community.
- Culture
MWNNA's comments
under this heading are limited to religion as an aspect of culture.
As a Muslim women's group this is a matter of concern to us, especially
as the majority of current asylum seekers and refugees are Muslims from
Iraq and Afghanistan, most of whom follow the Shia school of Islam.
In the past at
VIDC, Muslim detainees were allowed the use of a building as a mosque.
This permission was withdrawn when a number of detainees escaped by
tunnelling under the floor of the building. Since then there have been
no organised religious arrangements for Muslim inmates. Only the Catholics
have been given permission to conduct religious services there. Muslim
children are therefore receiving no religious instruction or education
except what their parents might be able to manage.
MWNNA members met
with members of the Immigration Detention Advisory Group on 4 March
to request that a Shia Imam be permitted to visit VIDC regularly and
conduct Friday congregational prayers.
MWNNA submits that
detainees should be given access to appropriate religious advisers and
facilities should be made available for children to receive appropriate
religious education if their parents consent.
- Guardianship
issues
Children
in detention with parent(s)
Parents are the
natural guardians of their children, but as mentioned above, in detention
conditions, parents' functions are largely abrogated, and decisions
made in respect of children by detention centre management and the Department
of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. Such decisions are not always
in the best interests of the children concerned.
Unaccompanied
children
MWNNA understands
that the Minister for Immigration is the legal guardian of unaccompanied
child asylum seekers and refugees. MWNNA submits that the Minister is
an inappropriate guardian for these children since his function as Immigration
Minister creates a conflict of interest with the duties of a guardian
to look after the well being of wards in his care. The present Minister
has made public statements denigrating asylum seekers as 'queue jumpers'
and 'illegals' and has put in place practices, namely mandatory detention
in prison conditions, which are detrimental to the interests of children
in his care.
The Minister is
in charge of a publicly announced government policy of deterring future
asylum seekers by harsh treatment of those who have managed to reach
Australia. He is therefore not an appropriate person to be the guardian
of children in this situation.
MWNNA submits that
the guardianship of the Minister should be replaced by guardianship
by a person independent of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural
Affairs, for example the Head of the relevant Child Protection agency
in each state. Alternatively the Canadian practice of appointing a designated
representative for each child refugee claimant should be adopted. This
should apply whether the children are still in detention or have been
released into the community.
- Security practices
in detention
MWNNA submits that
the physical appearance and management of detention centres is more
appropriate to the imprisonment of high security prisoners rather than
asylum seekers who have arrived without the appropriate documentation.
VIDC for example
is situated in an unattractive industrial area. It is surrounded by
high double chainwire fences, the internal fence topped by rolls of
razor wire. Rolls of razor wire are also placed on the ground adjacent
to the inside of the external fence. There are approximately 5 locked
gates and doors to be negotiated before reaching the area where detainees
are kept. Little attention has apparently been given to the grounds
which are unkempt, bare and depressing. The overall appearance is depressing
to well adjusted visitors who have not experienced any of the trauma
experienced by many detainees, and must be much more depressing to detainees.
The centre is administered
by ACM staff, who, we are informed, may be alternated between working
in detention centres and in ordinary prisons. From our observations
as visitors, some of these staff appear to be decent people just doing
a job, others seem to regard it as their personal duty to discourage
visitors, by subjecting them to unnecessarily long periods of queueing
outside the fence, arbitrarily changing regulation as to what can or
cannot be brought in, and arbitrary and unnecessary questioning. For
example, spellings of detainees' names must be exactly as they appear
on ACM's records (names transliterated from Arabic or Farsi may legitimately
have a number of different spellings) It has been denied that certain
detainees are in the centre and later discovered that they are there.
Detainees report
that a few ACM staff go out of their way to make life as unpleasant
as possible for detainees, by humiliating them, denying reasonable requests
and even by physical abuse. One of our visitors personally witnessed
a staff member pushing one of the teenage detainees. According to Dr
Aamer Sultan many ACM staff treat teenage detainees as juvenile delinquents.
According to detainees,
incidents involving physical harm are hushed up or attributed to 'accidents.'
MWNNA submits that
a company which is principally involved in the management of adult prisons
should not be employed to manage detention centres because of the carry
over of the prison management culture to the centres. Care should be
taken not to employ individual staff members who have inappropriate
attitudes towards detainees.
The impact of detention on the well-being and healthy development of children,
including their long term development
MWNNA believes that
prolonged detention has serious detrimental effects on the development
of children. These detrimental effects range from deprivation of the normal
sensory experiences important to early childhood to deprivation of education,
recreation and normal social interaction experiences in older children.
Although child asylum
seekers in detention have their basic needs for shelter, food and clothing
met, MWNNA believes that these could be provided for much more satisfactorily
(and at lesser cost) in the community where children could experience
normal schooling, recreational activities and social interaction with
an appropriate peer group from among mainstream children.
It is also necessary
to consider the effects of the stigmatisation of asylum seekers and refugees
as a class which has occurred because of the policies of the present government.
Ministers have publicly designated these people as 'queue jumpers', 'illegals',
'potential terrorists' and people of a kind who are not wanted in Australia.
MWNNA submits that this kind of labelling is extremely irresponsible,
and is patently untrue. Unfortunately it has been accepted by a large
section of the Australian population as has been taken by them as permission
to express racist attitudes against not only asylum seekers and refugees
but the whole Muslim population of Australia. This may have long term
detrimental effects not only on children who are or have been in immigration
detention but on the children of the Muslim population generally. A former
adviser to the Minister, Mr Neville Roach has written that: "the
asylum seeker controversy has unquestionably done serious damage to Australia's
multicultural fabric." [20]
The additional measures and safeguards which may be required in detention
facilities to protect the human rights and best interests of all detained
children
Detainees have stressed
that measures currently in place to provide independent review of detention
conditions and practices are inadequate. They have stated that a pre-arranged
'walk-through' by a member of a committee appointed by the Minister in
the company of the Centre Manager does not safeguard detainees' rights.
Detainees need to have access to a truly independent person or body at
times of their choice to report current incidents and concerns. Such a
person or body should be ensured free access to the detention centre at
all times and should not be subject to any bans or restrictions on their
access to any detainees.
Detainees state that
it is difficult to report abuses to outside independent authorities because
detainees are not allowed to have mobile phones and the telephone may
be monitored by ACM staff.
The additional measures and safeguards which may be required to protect
the human rights and best interests of child asylum seekers and refugees
residing in the community
Detainees released
on Temporary Protection Visas are disadvantaged in the community. We have
referred above to the restrictions on access to vocational and further
education. The inability of TPV holders to access free English language
classes sets them up for failure in any attempt to support themselves.
Reasonable fluency in English is a prerequisite for obtaining employment
in virtually any area in Australia. It is also a necessary for ordinary
living skills such as the ability to negotiate with real estate agents
for accommodation, understand the terms of a lease, obtain a driver's
licence and for a multiplicity of everyday tasks. Without these skills
a person is doomed to stay on welfare or obtain only the most menial of
jobs.
The temporary nature
of the Temporary Protection Visa is also an area of major concern. The
TPV is issued for three years and an application must then be made for
its renewal for a further period of three years and so on. This gives
no security for holders who are subject to the possibility that at the
end of any visa period they will be found no longer to qualify for refugee
status, due to the government's current interpretation of world events.
For example the Immigration Minister has recently stated that it is now
safe to return asylum seekers to Afghanistan, despite advice from welfare
agencies to the contrary.
MWNNA submits that
holders of TPVs should become entitled to permanent visa status if it
appears at the first review that it is unsafe for them to be returned
to their former country.
MWNNA submits also
that holders of TPVs should be allowed to access free English classes
and other benefits available to permanent visa holders.
of MWNNA submissions:
1. The Australian
government should carefully observe all the provisions of the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child
2. Children should
not be kept in detention for more than the minimum period necessary
to conduct health and identity checks, and in any event, for not more
than one or two weeks.
3. Children should
not be separated from their parents or primary caregiver either in or
out of detention.
4. An appropriate
guardian - not the Minister for Immigration or his appointee - should
be appointed for unaccompanied minors.
5. While MWNNA
submits that children should not be held in detention at all except
as mentioned above, if children continue to be detained as happens at
present, the following submissions are made:
a) Much more
care should be taken to prevent damage to the mental health of child
detainees. A psychologist specializing in paediatrics should be available
to assess child detainees and they should immediately be removed from
detention if it appears that they are suffering damage to their mental
health.
b) All children
in detention must be given a proper education to the same standard
as is enjoyed by children in the wider community.
c) All children
in detention should be give appropriate recreation facilities and
training.
d) Children in
detention should be able to receive appropriate religious instruction
if it is their parents' wish that they receive same.
e) More care
should be taken to ensure that staff at detention centres treat detainees
with courtesy and respect their human rights to the extent that staff
should not assault, shout at or verbally abuse detained children or
adults.
f) A fully independent
complaints mechanism should be established to allow detainees to register
complaints.
6. Children and
their parents released from detention on Temporary Protection visas
should have full access to normal migrant settlement services, especially
free English classes and employment services. They should also have
access to TAFE classes and further tertiary education on the same basis
as other members of the community.
7. The Temporary
Protection Visa system should be replaced by a system which gives holders
some certainty about their ability to remain in Australia eg replacement
by a permanent visa at the first review if it is still unsafe for the
holder to return to their home country.
HREOC National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention, www.humanrights.gov.au
November 2001
2. Carmen Lawrence, "A plea for a little compassion
from a bleeding heart," Sydney Morning Herald, 25.1.02
3. The Sun-Herald, 10.2.2002, pp 1, 10-11
5. Personal communication from the child's step-mother,
4 .3.02
6. Approximately 2 years in the cases of two families
known to MWNNA members.
7. Eg King & Vodicka (www.mja.com.au/175_12_171201/king/king.html),
M.M.Smith (www.mja.com.au/public/issues/175_12_171201/smith/smith.html),
Harris & Telfer (www.mja.com.au/public/issues/175_12_171201/harris/harris/html),
Sultan & O'Sullivan, "Psychological disturbances in asylum seekers
held in long term detention: a participant/observer account" (www.mja.com.au/public/issues/175_12_171201/sultan/sultan.html
Steele & Silove, (www.mja.com.au/public/issues/175_12_171201//html
8. MWNNA is aware of one young woman who gave birth in
detention and who stated that she had still not had a post-natal check
up nine months later.
12. Professor Alice Tay AM & Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM
media release on conditions at Woomera IDC 5.2.2002
13. See Dr Aamer Sultan's report on education at VIDC
annexure 'A'
14. Sr Helen Barnes, RC Church, visitor to detention
centre
17. Personal communication from Gaby Heuff, Co-ordinator
at the Refugee Claimants Support Centre in Brisbane, 17.2.2002
18. Personal communication from Camilla Cowley 18.2.2002
20. "Leadership minus compassion is tearing us apart,"
Sydney Morning Herald, 25.1.02
Last
Updated 9 January 2003.