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Bad Australian example |
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Europe's refugee
crisis Regarding the article "Refugees detained in the shadows" (1 Jan): Actions such as children sewing their lips together or cutting the word "freedom" into their arms have come to symbolize Australia's mandatory detention policy, which has resulted in the imprisonment of thousands of asylum seekers in remote desert camps or on Pacific island states. Now the European Union is increasingly turning to a detain-first policy for more than 30,000 foreigners - both asylum seekers and irregular immigrants - in what appears to be a mirroring of the disgraced Australian model. There are some profound differences between the two regions; not least the protections afforded under the European Convention on Human Rights which allow, in theory, non-citizens to challenge aspects of their detention. Still, there are reasons for concern. First, irregular immigrants are being located in remote centres. And there is the involvement of private corrections companies. The isolation of irregular immigrants operates on many levels. Not only are they hidden away in police cells, prisons and airports, but they are often held far from major cities. This means that support services, like access to expert legal advice, are provided in an ad hoc fashion, if at all. In Australia, makeshift camps were established at disused military facilities in the desert, or on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, more than 2,000 kilometers northwest of Perth. Eventually, boat people en route to Australia were transported to Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Over the past decade EU politicians have flirted with similar schemes. Australian detention centers were extremely violent, and the violence was encouraged by perverse financial incentives for the private companies charged with running the facilities. To learn from the Australian experience, Europeans need to see that detention itself is a problem. Remember that migrants, whether they are being held in the rat-infested railway depot in northern Greece or on Nauru, have one thing in common: they have committed no crime. Madeleine Byrne |