OUR LAWS, POLICIES AND PRACTICE ARE IN A MESS FOR THESE IMPORTANT REASONS
1. VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
First and foremost, they produce gross violations of the most fundamental human rights. They violate the commitments Australia has made under important international treaties:
article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibit arbitrary detention
article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which require that detained persons be treated with humanity and respect for human dignity
article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that prohibits detention of children except as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time
article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognise a right to take legal proceedings to challenge detention
article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which prohibit all discrimination on the basis of status in the enjoyment of human rights
article 23 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 10 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and article 18 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which protect the right of parents to found a family, the right of families to state care and support and the right of children to the care of their parents
article 22 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires the state to provide appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance to refugee and asylum seeker children, especially in relation to family reunion
articles 13 and 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognise children's right to education.
article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which prohibit torture and all cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment and
article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which prohibit all discrimination on the basis of religion and race in the enjoyment of human rights and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
2. SITUATION IN THE CAMPS
Second, the situation in the camps in Australia, euphemistically called Immigration Reception and Processing Centres, is appalling. Between 1995 and 2000 1 visited each camp at least once a year. In some cases conditions were worse than 1 had found in any Australian prison. And 1 understand that they have deteriorated badly since then. The disturbances and the riots are expected and entirely predictable. There is a long and continuing history of self harm in the camps and hunger strikes have become common place. The detainees are frustrated, alienated and fearful. They are exposed to routine violence and severe mental health episodes. The camps are particularly awful for children. The disturbances in the camps over the last year have been provoked, consciously or unconsciously 1 don't know, by deliberate policy and administrative decisions, like the suspension of processing of protection applications from Afghani detainees last November. The pattern of the past decade indicates that disturbances will continue and worsen and that lives, both of detainees and of the centre officers, will be at risk. Current policies ensure that the government and its contractors are powerless to prevent it.
3. THE PACIFIC SOLUTION
Third, what the Government call the Pacific Solution is no solution at all. On the contrary it involves Australia in what the government is loudest in condemning, people trafficking. It involves the apprehension and forcible transfer of people across national boundaries for profit. Desperate people are being dumped in desperately poor island states. These states are paid large bribes to accept people Australia does not want. The people dumped in this way have no guarantee of protection. Indeed one of the states involved, Nauru, is not even a party to the Refugee Convention and so has no obligation under that Convention not to return them to their country of persecution.
The so-called Pacific Solution is also troubling because it runs the risk of distorting the Australian Official Development Assistance program away from its developmental priorities. It encourages the use of aid as an incentive to poor States to take Australia's problem off our hands and as a penalty against those who don’t.
4. COSTS TO TAXPAYERS
Fourth the policies and practices are costing Australian taxpayers a fortune. The total cost of the so-called Pacific Solution has been estimated to be greater than $500 million. On-shore detention adds hundreds of millions of dollars more to the bill. The government has spent six years slashing public expenditure and as a result essential public services. But no price is too high to pursue these policies against refugees and asylum seekers.
The cost of the sentencing alternatives available in NSW, as calculated by the NSW Parliament's Select Committee on the Increase in Prison Population:
Maximum Security Prison $177.43/day, $64,762/year per person
Medium Security Prison $161.35/day, $58,893/year per person
Minimum Security Prison $121.09/day, $47,118/year per person
Community Based Programs, average $8.63/day
Parole $5.39/day, $1,967/year per person
Probation $3.94/day, $1,438/year per person
Home Detention $58.83/day $21,473/year per person
Guthrie House $95.89/day, $35,000/year per person (most don't stay so long)
The committee believes that a secure transitional facility, although more expensive than Guthrie House, would still be a "workable financial option".
The cost of detention centres, since many of them are far from urban centres and require almost all resources and staff to be flown in, approximates the cost of many Australian Prisons. Mr Con Sciacca, opposition spokesman for immigration, recently put the figure at $104 per person per day, for basic detention. As the current government increases security (Port Headland and Woomera are now surrounded by three rings of barbed wire with attendant security), these costs will increase.
By contrast, the alternatives are considerably cheaper and would allow better access to services at the same time.
All community-based alternatives would allow some members of the refugee community the opportunity to work while awaiting their finding. This could help to lower the cost of maintaining new arrivals.
5. ROLE OF THE DEFENCE FORCE
Fifth, the role of the Australian Defence Forces, especially the Royal Australian Navy, has been politicised and corrupted. The ADF has been diverted from its proper role of the defence of the nation, protecting Australia from armed attack. Instead Navy ships are sent out to intercept decrepit vessels carrying unarmed civilians seeking to exercise their rights under international and domestic law to apply for asylum. In the course of this unpleasant and unwanted duty, Navy vessels have been involved in terrible incidents and defence personnel dragged into public political controversy, as we have seen this week. 1 cannot recall a time when the ADF has been used so shamelessly for naked political advantage.
6. OUR INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION
Finally, our international reputation is mud. Over the past six months I have seen article after article in international media, in North America, Asia, and Europe, justly criticising Australia, portraying us as racist, hardhearted violators of international law and morality. Our friends are confused, wondering what has happened to a country that once was at the forefront of every international effort to promote human rights. Our opponents gloat that we are now in no position to criticise their human rights performance when ours is so bad, that our past criticisms have been shown to be motivated by self interest rather than genuine commitment to human rights and that their suspicions that we had not altered our racist attitudes and ways have been confirmed. We have done ourselves and the international human rights cause a grave disservice.
7. DEEP DIVISIONS IN THE AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY
These are but six of the elements of the mess we are in. Certainly they are six serious ones but there are others too, such as the deep divisions carved into the Australian community and the ill-feeling generated towards Australian citizens and permanent residents of Muslim or West Asian background. The simple fact is that we have a lot of work to do to retrieve the situation. Is it too late? Where do we start?
Chris Sidoti, National Spokesperson, Human Rights Council of Australia
Racial Respect Seminar, Canberra, 21 February 2002