Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
10 May 2013
10 May 2013
Razor wire and detention no place for children or adults
Bishop Christopher Saunders, Chairman of the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council has expressed deep concern over the Government's proposed detention of children and families in remote immigration facilities.
"There is something particularly uncaring about locking away children and families in a starkly isolated facility such as Curtin in the Kimberley," he says.
As Bishop of Broome as well as Chair of the ACSJC, Bishop Saunders has been a frequent visitor to the notorious and remote Detention Centre, scene of riots during the Howard era and re-opened by the Rudd Government in April 2010 to house 400-500 single men.
""I have seen first-hand the conditions of this place and the physical and mental trauma experienced by older detainees who had already suffered greatly," says Bishop Saunders.
""I have seen first-hand the conditions of this place and the physical and mental trauma experienced by older detainees who had already suffered greatly," says Bishop Saunders.
Bishop Saunders, Chair Australian Catholic Social Justice Council
Earlier this week when Federal Immigration Minister, Brendan O'Connor announced the Government's intention to send asylum seeker families and children to the Curtin Detention Centre, he insisted they would be detained for migration checks and held there for the shortest possible time.
But Bishop Saunders predicts the stay will be far longer.
"The Government gave similar undertakings in 2008 with recent figures revealing the average time adults and children spend in detention is almost five months," he points out and says the decision to send women and children, who are particularly vulnerable and to detain them in places like Curtin calls into question Australia's commitments under international law - particularly under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
"Isolated facilities are the wrong place to keep traumatised children and parents who have already undergone persecution and been forced to flee their homelands," he says.
shared from ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY
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