This is an excerpt from a recent post on Subtopia about an Australian immigration detention center being built on Christmas Island. I was particularly attracted to the technology involved in detaining immigrants. This is not exactly pleasant reading…
Since 2005 Australiaâ??s Department of Immigration has been constructing an “Immigration Reception and Processing Centre.” 2,400 km from Perth, 360 km from Jakarta and nearly 2000 km from Darwin, this deteniton complex is at the far end of the island which, according to this dispatch, is a narrow strip 24 km long and 7 km wide.
Keep in mind, as Angela tells us, â??under Australian law it is possible to intern people extra-judicially (without trial or charge) and, since 2004, to do so indefinitely. Migration detention is, therefore, a wholly administrative matter.â??
So just what exactly are they building out there in them pristine jungles?
Well, it turns out itâ??s not just some rinky dink detention outfit with some barbed-wire fencing and ramshackle barracks cliff-side. No, this is a $396 million tropical prison paradise. Thatâ??s right. For what the government refers to as a â??deterrent to illegal immigrationâ??, it is a state of the art 800-bed prison complex, with electric fences, movement detectors, hundreds of surveillance cameras, hidden microphones in the trees, the works.
[Image: "Camp Howard" - Australia's very own Guantanamo Bay on Christmas Island, Feb. 2007.]â??The camp on Christmas Island has CCTV linked to a RCR [Remote Control Room] so guards in Canberra can watch detainees around the clock.â?? And planners arenâ??t leaving any thing out for this rugged remote little island prison either. â??Detainees will wear electronic ID tags or cards, identifying them wherever they are.â?? While the place crawls with guards wandering in between a perimeter of checkpoint cubicles, there is a hospital, operating theatre and visiting rooms, solitary cells, and even family units and a nursery. â??Everything can be controlled remotely â?? doors, TV, radio.â??
{Image: Floor plan for the Detention Facility at Christmas Island.]In addition to developing this offshore island-chain barrier against migration, the Australian government has launched its border patrol ship, the Triton, dubbed the â??prison shipâ?? by critics. This â??98-metre trimaranâ?? is said to be capable of detaining â??30 people for up to a month” on board and is “armed with twin machine guns.â??
[Image: The ACV Triton Australian Border Patrol Ship.]While officially deployed to patrol and intercept illegal fisherman, others are more concerned what the Triton could mean for migrants stranded at sea already facing one of the most conservative immigration-tolerant nations in the world.
Update: The last line should probably read immigration-intolerant…
You’re quite sure it shouldn’t be immigration-intolerant?
It probably should be but I didnt want to edit it since it was/is a quote. But it doesn’t make sense not to update it…
The policies implemented by the current federal government, lead by John Howard, are a complete and total disgrace for any right-thinking person. The whole thing is an absolute debacle on any assessment of human rights or, god forbid, compassion.
Ostensibly, the policy of off-shore (that is, not on the mainland) detention is designed to stop the ‘people smugglers’ from plying their evil trade in smuggling asslyum seekers from country to country. Ostensibly, the government wants these ‘queue jumping illegals’ to line up like every other legitimate asslyum seeker and apply through the ‘proper channels’ by making application at an Austalian embassy overseas.
In reality however, the policies are very thinly veiled zenophobia and are actually designed to stop assylum seekers from making claims for assylum which is every refugees right under the UN convention on the rights of the refugee.
Quite apart from the most important aspect of this issue, which is human rights, it doesn’t even make sense from an economic perspective, which is how most right-wing western government seek to justify their power. The policy of off-shore detention is extremely expensive and illogical, when the vast majority (around 80%) of asslyum seekers turn out to be assessed as legitimate refugees.
And the government isn’t immigration intolerent per se. The rules differ if you arrive by plane rather than by boat…
Hmm, for “zenophobia” substitute “xenophobia”.
Zenophobia must be fear of Eastern philosophy or something similar…
Mark, thanks for the input. It is shocking to see the way in which immigration policies are being enacted. This does not only apply to Australia since many countries are going the same way.
“the rules differ if you arrive by plane rather than by boat” – this is a frightening statement. but I understand what you mean.