Up to 300 asylum seekers held in Western Australia’s remote Curtin detention centre ended a four-day hunger strike on January 21.
The protesting asylum seekers demanded the immigration department end the long delays in the processing of asylum claims. They agreed to end the hunger strike after the department agreed to speed up the claims process.
Many of the hunger strikers had fled from Afghanistan and fear they will be sent back to danger.
Advocacy group Refugees Survivors and Ex-Detainees (RISE) said on January 20 that Afghan refugees chanted: “We have danger in our country, we can’t go back.”
Refugee Action Coalition Sydney spokesperson Ian Rintoul blamed the federal government for provoking the hunger strike.
He said on January 21: “We need an end to the culture of lies and cover-up that dominates the Immigration Department. The promise to process claims quickly must be kept.
“It is shocking that asylum seekers have to resort to such desperate actions before the Immigration department would respond to their requests. Unless this issue is addressed, there will be more protests at Curtin — and other detention centres.”