BY SARAH STEPHEN
A Tunisian asylum seeker held in Woomera detention centre faces "voluntary" deportation to Syria in late December, along with two Palestinian men.
They are the latest victims of the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs' (DIMIA) attempts to empty the detention centres. Green Left Weekly spoke to the 31-year-old man, Rashad (not his real name), who has been in detention for more than two years.
Rashad explained that a group of DIMIA representatives from Canberra visited the detention centre in late November. They told the 120 remaining detainees that arrangements were being made to get travel documents for all of them. All 120 asylum seekers have had their applications for refugee status rejected and are awaiting deportation. Most are from Iran, but the Iranian government refuses to accept anyone who is forcibly returned.
Detainees were told by DIMIA that if they decide to go home, "we will arrange it quickly". Many people are scared, Rashad explained, yet some of those who do want to leave are blocked from doing so. Rashad referred to the case of Marwan, a Syrian asylum seeker in Baxter detention centre, whose friend in Norway sent him an invitation to go there three months ago, yet DIMIA would not allow him to go. In desperation, he has been on hunger strike a number of times.
"In Baxter", Rashad explained, "they put a lot of pressure on people to leave Australia. Many people have signed a consent form and gone back." Rashad suspects that this is because their experiences in Baxter are far worse than in Woomera.
Rashad is waiting for specialist surgery for a neck problem, which has been exacerbated by a beating he suffered at the hands of detention centre guards. DIMIA has refused to allow him to have the operation he needs. As a result, Rashad feels he has no choice but to leave Australia. He has asked DIMIA for financial assistance similar to the $2000 offered to Afghan asylum seekers, but officials have promised only $500.
Rashad is scared about what the future holds for him. "I have nothing in Syria — no home, no family, no job. The economy in Syria is very bad."
From Green Left Weekly, December 11, 2002.
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