Somali refugees to be deported

Somali refugees to be deported

By Sean Healy

Three Somali asylum seekers announced on March 25 that they will ask the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs to deport them because they are so exhausted by the three years they have spent in a detention camp and fruitless legal appeals.

After two appeals to the Refugee Review Tribunal and one to the Federal Court, and with the threat of deportation hanging over their heads, the three are suffering extreme anxiety and constant headaches. Their hair is falling out and one has suffered sporadic paralysis on one side of his body.

If they return to Somalia, they face immediate detention and possible torture and death. However, they are tired of the constant psychological strain they suffer in Australia and would rather have their deportations over and done with.

The three arrived with around 19 other Somalis in 1997, fleeing violence and persecution. They have been held at the Port Hedland Detention Centre in far north Western Australia since then.

The other Somalis were deported to South Africa in 1998. According to Amnesty International's national refugee spokesperson, Des Hogan, they were then deported to Kenya, and from there to southern Somalia. Their fate is unknown.

Federal immigration minister Philip Ruddock met one of the men at the detention centre to "assure" him that it was safe to return home. The government plans to send them to Puntland, rather than the capital Mogadishu.

According to Hogan, while this area may be less dangerous for the three, they do not know any one there and are from a different ethnic group. They could still face detention or worse.

From GLW issue 399