Refugees in Australia have fewer rights than criminals

Asylum seekers at detention camps in Australia have fewer rights than convicted criminals, an independent government investigator said today in his annual report to parliament.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman Ron McLeod blasted the conditions at detention camps across the country, saying facilities were inadequate and there were deficiencies in the management of detainees.

The Ombudsman is an independent statutory office which investigates complaints from people against government departments and agencies.

’’I was particularly concerned to find that at 30 June 2000, nearly 800 women and children were in detention and that there was little distinction between their treatment and that of the predominantly single male population of IDCs (immigration detention centres),’’ he said.

’’I also expressed the view that immigration detainees have lesser rights than convicted criminals held in jails and that they were being held in an environment that appeared to have a weaker accountability framework.’’

The conservative government of prime minister John Howard has come under sustained attack from human rights groups at home and abroad for its policy of imprisoning all asylum seekers who arrive in Australia until their application for refugee status can be processed.

Often held in spartan camps surrounded by razor wire in remote parts of the continent, some asylum seekers, including children, have been held for two or three years. About 3,000 people are currently held in the camps.

In recent months the government has attracted wide international condemnation for its new policy of using the navy to turn away asylum seekers coming to Australia by boat.

Mostly from the Middle East and Afghanistan, the refugees come via Indonesia with the help of people smuggling gangs.

Those which are not deterred by the navy are picked up and shipped to detention camps built by Australia on the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru. The two impoverished nations are major recipients of Australian aid.

The ombudsman’s criticisms follow a similar report by a parliamentary committee of government and opposition legislators in June which recommended an overhaul of the detention system saying it had led to human rights abuses.

Immigration minister Philip Ruddock immediately rejected the recommendations, calling them naive and saying the committee lacked expertise.

McLeod’s report said there was evidence of self-harm by detainees at every centre and little distinction between the treatment of women, children and single men.

The Ombudsman initiated two investigations into the centres and made a number of recommendations to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.

’’My investigation found evidence at every IDC of self-harm by detainees, damage to property and fights and assaults, which suggested that there were systematic deficiencies in the management of detainees,’’ the report said.

Over the past year asylum seekers have rioted in many of the camps to protest their plight and the conditions of the camps. The centres are run by Australian Correctional Management, an Australian subsidiary of a US private prison company.