Sarah Stephen, Sydney
On March 14, Huang Hao, a Chinese detainee at the Villawood detention centre, attempted suicide by swallowing four razor blades. Immediately after the incident, immigration department (DIMA) and Global Solutions Ltd authorities at Villawood cut all communication with the outside world in a bid to stop the news from spreading.
Huang, 35 and a Falun Gong practitioner, has developed severe depression in his two-and-a-half months of incarceration. In February he went on a hunger strike, prompting the Chinese Welfare Society to lobby DIMA for his release into the community on a bridging visa.
DIMA instead tried to send him to a psychological hospital, against his will, a move interpreted by Huang as a means of punishment and humiliation. His suicide attempt took place just before he was due to be taken to hospital.
Jamal Daoud, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition and a regular visitor to Villawood said, "It's not detainees such as Mr Huang who are crazy. Rather, it's the insane system of mandatory detention which drives ordinarily stable people to undertake such drastic acts."
"Just before attempting to end his life, Mr Huang sent a letter to an Australian-Chinese newspaper explaining he'd lost any hope of gaining freedom in Australia, and that he feared for his life if sent back to China. He wondered why he was treated like a criminal in jail when he'd committed no crime", Daoud stated on March 15.
This is not the first protest by Chinese detainees in Villawood. Last October, a group of Chinese men went on a hunger strike for more than three weeks. One man, Zhang Jen Wen, remained on hunger strike for 54 days, almost dying, in protest at his detention and at the lack of a fair hearing before the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT).
Villawood detention centre now holds the largest number of detainees in Australia: as of March 3, there were 256 and half were Chinese. A significant number are awaiting the outcome of claims for refugee status.
Three of the Chinese asylum seekers on hunger strike last year were Falun Gong practitioners in China, one was a democracy activist who was part of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and another was from a persecuted religious sect.
The Howard government, via the RRT, has rejected many Chinese asylum seekers' refugee claims — in 2004-05, 89% were rejected. It was also very reluctant to grant former Chinese diplomat and high-profile dissident Chen Yong Lin a protection visa. For Canberra, economic and trade considerations rate considerably higher than human rights.
From Green Left Weekly, March 22, 2006.
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