Business as Usual at Immigration Detention Facilities
Media Release - DPS 31/2002
Claims that facilities and services at immigration detention facilities are being beautified or improved in preparation for visits from the United Nations (UN) working group are wrong, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) said today.
"There is an ongoing program of improvement and maintenance at immigration detention facilities - this includes repairing substantial damage caused by detainees on a number of occasions at Woomera and other centres.
"Any work being undertaken at immigration detention facilities is simply part of this process, and not a reaction to the UN visit.
"In fact given the number of visits to detention facilities by external bodies - at least one a week - it is inevitable that maintenance work would be in progress before, during and after any and all such visits," the spokesman said.
The spokesman added that excursions for detainees at the Woomera IRPC had been conducted since May 2000 and were offered on a regular basis to both children and adults.
However, a number of male detainees advised the services provider last week that they would be boycotting excursions until after the UN visit because they did not want to be photographed enjoying themselves. For example, an excursion organised for 20 men to a sheep station last Thursday was cancelled because the detainees refused to go.
The spokesman also said there had not been any changes to the menu at the Woomera IRPC. The detention services provider offered high quality, culturally appropriate food to detainees, as required by the Immigration Detention Standards.
The spokesman confirmed that over the past couple of weeks razor wire had been removed from some internal fences at the Woomera facility. It had initially been installed as a temporary measure in response to a risk assessment. Subsequent assessments indicated that the wire was no longer required, however it remained in place in other areas of the centre.
The UN working group is visiting Australia at the invitation of the Australian Government and DIMIA is facilitating its visit to a number of detention facilities this week.
"As many would be aware the detention program is one of the
most heavily scrutinised of government programs and this is not
the first visit by a body from the United Nations."
28 May 2002
For more information contact DIMIA Public Affairs,
02 6264 2244
(AH) 0419 442 000