KIDS IN LONG TERM DETENTION

MEDIA RELEASE




REFUGEE PROTESTERS FIND LONG TERM DETENTION KIDS AT REMOTE LEONORA

DETENTION CENTRE



Around 40 refugee supporters of the Refugee Rights Action Network

(RRAN) travelling to Leonora this weekend have been shocked to

discover children who have been in detention for over a year when they

visited the remote Western Australian detention centre.



Around 140 unaccompanied minors have been moved in recent weeks from

Christmas Island and Darwin to the detention centre. The RRAN

activists have called for the immediate release of the children from

detention.



“We were told that children and families were going to be out of

detention by the end of June last year, but Leonora is proof positive

that even six months later, the government has not lived up to the

promise of getting children out of detention. It’s a scandal, “ said

RRAN spokesperson Victoria Martin-Iverson.



“These kids are not recent arrivals. A majority of the 40 kids we

managed to see have been in detention over a year. Yet, they are

either still waiting for their second interview or have just had their

appeal hearing. One seventeen year-old Hazara asylum seeker has been

in detention for two years and only had his second interview this

week! How is that possible?



“We were shocked to find that Serco guards referred to them by number.

How dehumanising is that? One guard came is asking ‘Is 176 in here?”

Another introduced a young Mohammed as, “Here is 428; he speaks good

English.” Perhaps more shocking - some of these kids have signs of

self harm on their bodies.



“We have serious concerns. They are not going to school; teachers are

meant to be coming into the detention centre – but even that hasn’t

happened yet, six weeks after they have arrived here.”



“We eat, we sleep; we eat, we sleep. We are very tired,” one Hazara

told the Perth visitors.



“We were told in town that the no asylum kid has been to the library

since the families were moved out of Leonora,” said Victoria.



“We are also concerned that there seems to be a large number of

untrained MSS guards at Leonora, and that we saw them with direct

client contact responsibilities with the children in detention. We

thought that having untrained guards in such contact is in direct

conflict with guidelines for children in detention. There is a serious

question whether Serco or the Immigration Department is breaching its

duty of care by using untrained guards.”



The RRAN cavalcade will be leaving Leonora around Sunday lunchtime (29

Jan) to make the return journey to Perth.



For more information/ interview contact Victoria Martin-Iverson 0417 904 329