Immigrants in an offshore detention centre.
The United Nations committee against torture had a recent meeting in Geneva and one of the main issues was Australia’s method of storing immigrants in limbo attempting to enter or leave the country. Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has made a complaint to the United Nations calling the conditions at the detention centers, “cruel” and “inhuman.” There has been a mysterious death in one of the detention centres. An Iranian man named Reza Berati was found dead and there have also been reports of sexual abuse within the centres. The committee is curious as to why immigrants seem to be over represented in the jail system. One of the main reasons as to the cruel behavior is the fact that Australia hires private contractors to own and manage these various detention centres.
Although it is the private contractors that are allowing these terrible conditions to continue to occur, the detention centres are on Australian lands and it is Australia’s governments responsibility to provide safety to people within their lands. The head of Australian delegation John Quinn has been very receptive to the committee’s ideas and believes it can be constructive criticism. However saying the politically correct thing and doing it are two different things. The reason for offshore centres, explains Quinn, is to prevent deaths at sea. Recently the number of men, women and children lost at sea has increased and the centres were meant to be a form of refuge and protection from people smugglers and those looking to take advantage of tourists. Daniel Webb of the Human Rights Law Centre commented on the issue: “I think it was pretty clear that the committee has got serious concerns when it comes to compliance with this important international human rights treaty.” “Australia’s form is bad and, in fact, it’s becoming worse.” The only way to ensure the safety of these immigrants seems to be intervention from the United Nations.
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-11/un-committee-flags-concerns-about-australian-policy/5882190
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The United Nations have been there and done that, but the situation of illegal immigrants doesn’t look brighter.
Compared to the deteriorating conditions in Australia, the coastal countries in the North Mediterranean are bracing the largest influx of smuggled immigrants this past two years, such as Greece, Spain and Italy. According to a U.N. report released this week, the death toll of these “lost-at-sea” immigrants in total desperation amounted more than 3,000 this year worldwide, most of whom drowned in the high seas due to the rickety and unseaworthy of the smuggling vessels , greedy practices of the smuggling ringleaders and gross overcrowding on these transport boats.
Australia, a country thousands of miles removed from the largest original countries of illegal immigrants, including Iraq, Syria and Palestinian Territories, can prove to be the next testing ground of the Eastern flow of such dangerous undertaking in contrast to the Northern flow from the Middle East to West and Central Europe. From the picture posted above, it is recognizable that many detained individuals are of South Asian descents, possibly from the Philippines, Malaysia, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia. The grim prospects behind the concertina wires and 24/7 quarantines merit additional attention from human rights groups and goodwill from the Australian government.
The United Nations have too much on its plate now, and it’s well beyond their capacity to replicate investments from the Greater Mediterranean area to Oceania. The task is still squarely laid on the shoulders of the host and organized philanthropies.