mandatory detention

Oppose the Malaysian 'solution' - End mandatory detention. Rally and march - 13 May 2011

A few days after the Malaysian Bar Association issued a statement opposing the recently-announced refugee swap between the Malaysian and Australian governments (“Asylum seekers and refugees are not commodities to be traded” – full text given below), the Refugee Action Collective in Melbourne called a protest at the GPO in Bourke Street, followed by a march down to the steps of Flinders Street Station.

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HRA media release: The frontiers are ugly, violence and deaths on the horizon

The Human Rights Alliance
Media Release:

Urgent Action Required to Stop Detention Centre Deaths in Custody and the rise of mental illnesses. DETENTION CENTRES AT CRISIS POINT. Violence on the horizon.

Its time to demand the Greens take real action against mandatory detention

It is time the refugee movement in Australia demands the Greens use their power in Parliament to force the ALP to end the cruel policy of mandatory detention. It is unacceptable for the Green’s to keep a racist Government in power. The Greens make regular public statements criticizing the length of time people are kept in detention and their representatives even give speeches from the platform at rallies against mandatory detention calling for a more humane policy. However as the detention system lurches from one crisis to crisis and the ALP moves further to the right in embracing ever more punitive policies towards asylum seekers the Greens continue to keep the Government in power.

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S.A. press release: Refugee rights protesters rally in Melbourne

Socialist Alternative Press ReleaseA protest action in support of refugee rights has been called in the Melbourne CBD for tonight (April 29th) at 5 pm. The protest is to begin in the Bourke Street Mall before marching to the Department of Immigration offices in the city.

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Testimonial of the physical and mental abuse of unaccompanied minors at Broadmeadows and Maribyrnong Detention Centre

Press Release 29.4.11 New laws further persecute refugees "The new laws against detainees who commit an "offense" will potentially block their permanent protection, while the crimes committed against detainees by SERCO, the Immigration Department and the Police go unchecked and the mental anguish of indefinite detention fuels the fire that pushes them to desperation point," says refugee advocate Izzy Brown.

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Detention becomes a death sentence, anger grows at Curtin

Refugee Action Coalition Media Release March 29, 2011 Refugee supporters are appalled at the news that mandatory detention has taken another asylum seeker’s life, this time in the remote Curtin detention centre. The 20 year-old Afghan asylum seeker, Mohammad, committed suicide late yesterday (Monday) afternoon. He was found hanging in his room by others who returned to the accommodation block and found his room locked.

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Detention uprising

Ramesh Fernandez a former immigration detainee gives his view of the Detention Centre protests via the R.I.S.E. website
On Thursday 11 March, after waiting many months for a decision regarding their visas, several asylum seekers received rejection letters from DIAC. In the early hours of the next day, between 50 and 150 asylum seekers broke through iron gates and escaped the Christmas Island detention centre. Though the SERCO guards immediately tried to catch the escaped detainees, they were largely unsuccessful.

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End mandatory detention - rally and march 7 November 2010

Several hundred people took part in a rally and march organised by the Refugee Advocacy Network (http://refugeeadvocacynetwork.org)to demand an end to the policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers arriving by boat.

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