Christmas Island .

[Aardvark]

Although we are not responsible for this Travesty, apparently we are to blame. Now the Goodies want to Crucify our Armed Forces for not acting fast enough......http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/ne ... est/..F.kc them

[jackspratt]

Sorry Aa.....where in your link does it mention blame, or the Armed Forces?

[Bandung_Dero]

The bloody 'full of ---- Social Engineers' and 'Hand Wringing Do Gooders' need to take a look at THEMSELVES the crap boats and crews who are transporting these people. These old Indonesian fishing boats are expendable, the organizers know that the Australian authorities destroy them and prosecute the crews (many times --- effin slow learners we have in our justice system).

The whole think is an unfortunate joke that has been ongoing for 15 years and will continue to do so.

[Texpat]

Indonesia told Oz the boat was coming. How many people, what heading, what time it left, estimated time of arrival.
In very high seas.
Oz sat on its hands while 50 asylum-seekers drowned -- dozens watching from shore.

Perhaps the plight of the asylum-seekers is not so lamentable considering they would be imprisoned in Christmas Island Super Max (Gitmo south) for the next several years. Their horrific crime? Seeking asylum.

By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: November 4, 2009

CHRISTMAS ISLAND, Australia — Deep in the jungle on this small island lost in the Indian Ocean, Australia’s new $370 million refugee detention center reaches its full power after its lights come on at dusk. Bracketed by rain forest, steep cliffs and the sea, it rises from the enveloping darkness and becomes visible from the island’s only inhabited corner, about 10 miles away.

The center — opened a few days before Christmas but now nearly full with refugees from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka — has come to symbolize what many call one of Australia’s defining fears: the arrival of boat people from Asia.

All boat people seeking asylum in Australia are first brought here to Christmas Island, just 220 miles south of Indonesia but nearly 1,000 miles from the Australian mainland, and most are now held at enormous cost within the center’s electrified, 13-foot-high razor-wire fences.

But even as boats arrive every few days, advocates for refugees and even the government’s own human rights commission are urging the government to close the place down and sort the asylum-seekers on the mainland. They compare Christmas Island to Guantánamo Bay or describe it as a reincarnation of the many notorious prison islands in Australia’s convict history.

“They put this center way out here on this remote island, and then they built it way, way, way out on the island in the jungle,” said Charlene Thompson, a social worker who counsels asylum-seekers here. She equated the new center to Port Arthur, a 19th-century penal colony in Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost island. “It’s a jail, a high-security jail, and it feels like the asylum-seekers are being treated as criminals.”

According to a recent report by the Australian Human Rights Commission, a government organization, the new center “looks and feels like a prison.” It called the security measures “excessive and inappropriate for accommodating asylum seekers.” Inside the main fence, the report said, each compound is enclosed in a separate fence, and walkways are “enclosed within cagelike structures.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/wo.../05island.html

Shocking...

[jackspratt]

The NY Times article is almost as full of ---- as you tex - and most on UM would find that hard to believe.

If you are not happy with the comparison, say so - and I will be happy to dissect and expose the article. You, of course, have been dissected and exposed many times already.

[Texpat]

The NY Times article is almost as full of ---- as you tex

Not a very nice thing to say to a fellow UM poster.
Aren't their rules against such language?

[jackspratt]

Truth is a defence in any defamation suit Tex.

[Texpat]

Asylum seekers in Australia sew lips together in protest at indefinite detainment

At least ten asylum seekers at an Australian detention centre have sewed their lips together in protest at the amount of time their visa applications are taking to be processed.

By Leah Hyslop 12:48PM GMT 23 Nov 2010

The asylum seekers, who are all male, sewed their lips together last week at a remote detention centre on Christmas Island in the Indian ocean.

Though they initially rejected medical assistance, some have now had the stitches removed, and peace is gradually being restored to the centre.

Nearly 200 asylum seekers at the facility engaged in some form of protest last week, mainly to voice their anger against delays in the visa application system, and the rejection of some asylum applications.

This year, an increasingly high number of immigrants attempting to enter the country by boat has pushed the Christmas Island centre beyond its maximum capacity for the first time. It currently houses 2,971 illegal immigrants, around half of the total number of immigration detainees in the entire country.

Last week, an Iraqi detainee facing deportation hanged himself in a Sydney detention centre after his appeals to stay were rejected. Anger at his death is believed to have been a factor in the Christmas Island strike.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/exp...etainment.html

Golly -- sewing their lips together. Sounds pretty severe -- but so too is indefinite detainment.

And if that doesn't make you feel sorry for these detainees, read this!

Amnesty International charged that a three-year old boy was put in leg restraints and later kept in a suicide-proof cell without windows, toilet or shower for 13 days.

http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=2291_0_5_0

Imagine a three-year old boy in leg irons for almost two weeks. A relatively fast death by drowning almost seems preferable by comparison.

Shocking. Inexcusable. Jaw dropping.

[DermotC]

Ok the 3 year old boy is extreame and sounds awful. Having said that I love the way an asylum seeker, once he gets to the west (Aus and NZ Included) start demanding their rights and do things like sew their lips together. I think that should be seen as a sign of complete madness and they should be sent back to where they came from!

[trekkertony]

Texpat, the tragedy of the Christmas Island boat wreck has affected a lot of people with opportunists taking advantage of the situation to place blame. With risk comes consequences. People who are prepared to place their own and their family members lives in the hands of mother nature and unscrupulous people smugglers using unseaworthy vessels to gain access to a country as a refugee is a very big risk with any adverse outcome lying squarely at their own feet. The increasing number of unsubstantiated refugees attempting to gain back door entry to Australia whilst others wait patiently in their country of origin or neighbouring country until their immigration application is vetted is a real concern. Can you explain why the back door refugee doesn't seek refuge in a country near his own to which there are numerous options. There are many people in Australia who view their actions as selective refugees. As a sovereign country surely we are entitled to determine the immigration policy and process of our country.

[Aardvark]

If they wanted Help from the UN, they should have gone to one of their Camps in the first place ! Don't think they provide Air Con though........http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa ... -breakout/

[Bandung_Dero]

The NY Times article is almost as full of ---- as you tex

Not a very nice thing to say to a fellow UM poster.
Aren't their rules against such language?

Not as far as your concerned. You and your lot need to concentrate on your own fuc#ed up country and leave us to hows.

If you had any sense of geography you'd know that Christmas Islands coast line is 90% inaccessible from the sea. Those so called onlookers were doing everything in their power to aide the victims. We are a country of some 22 million people and thus do not have any where near the resources of the Worlds Police, for that I apologise!

[barryp]

Not as far as your concerned. You and your lot need to concentrate on your own fuc#ed up country and leave us to hows.

If you had any sense of geography you'd know that Christmas Islands coast line is 90% inaccessible from the sea. Those so called onlookers were doing everything in their power to aide the victims. We are a country of some 22 million people and thus do not have any where near the resources of the Worlds Police, for that I apologise!

Bandung Dero; please be honoured that Texpat has joined in the debate here. Normally he sits at home drooling and gloating over the bodycount of MY LAI, NO GUN RI and other atrocities.

[drillpig]

"Christmas island the Gitmo of the south". obviously just trying to stir s##t, where did the NY times get their info from, maybe a leak from the Indo side who by the way are the people who allow these refugees to make the trip in the first place, easier then having to deal with the problem themselves I suppose. If warmongering yanks hadnt let their greed for oil and world supremacy get out of control then these idiots wouldnt have an excuse to claim asylum.Hang your head in shame America.

[DermotC]

If you had any sense of geography you'd know that Christmas Islands coast line is 90% inaccessible from the sea. Those so called onlookers were doing everything in their power to aide the victims. We are a country of some 22 million people and thus do not have any where near the resources of the Worlds Police, for that I apologise!

I must be missing something, maybe the Australian Military would be better served protecting their borders than sending troops to the likes of Iraq and Afganistan then! Australia are a US ally and have been in pretty much every conflict the US have including Vietnam. I met a load of them in Tallil in Southern Iraq!

[Bandung_Dero]

I must be missing something, maybe the Australian Military would be better served protecting their borders than sending troops to the likes of Iraq and Afganistan then! Australia are a US ally and have been in pretty much every conflict the US have including Vietnam. I met a load of them in Tallil in Southern Iraq!

We do the best we can with what we've got! Do you have a problem with that?

[Aardvark]

If you had any sense of geography you'd know that Christmas Islands coast line is 90% inaccessible from the sea. Those so called onlookers were doing everything in their power to aide the victims. We are a country of some 22 million people and thus do not have any where near the resources of the Worlds Police, for that I apologise!

I must be missing something, maybe the Australian Military would be better served protecting their borders than sending troops to the likes of Iraq and Afganistan then! Australia are a US ally and have been in pretty much every conflict the US have including Vietnam. I met a load of them in Tallil in Southern Iraq!

Problem is Dermot, we're not allowed to Protect our Borders cause the UN says so. Instead we Run a Ferry Service with very expensive Patrol Boats bringing unwanted Cue Jumpers into the Country. We do have one Secret Weapon though !! The Australian Passport makes you Bullet proof. How do I know that ?? Well it must do cause these Persecuted People return Home time and again to Visit Family and quite miraculously do not meet with any harm. Amazing don't you think ??

[jackspratt]

Nice fairy tale Aa.

[Aardvark]

Some Comments from the Locals.....http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western ... 5972531804

[Texpat]

Some other tidbits about Christmas Island (the name alone makes me laugh):

*The detention camp on Christmas island has CCTV linked to RCR- (Remote Control Room Canberra).
*The detainees will wear electronic ID tags or cards which identify them wherever they are in the complex by locator beacons.
*There are cameras and microphones in every room, wall mounted behind heavy metal grilles.
*The doors to the rooms are electric and centrally controlled. There are RTE (Request to Exit) buttons.
*Microwave probes surround every building as well as the layers of perimeter fences encircling the centre.
*Access by car goes through airlock systems and electric doors.
*Between the multi-layered fence system there are checkpoints for human guards on patrol and outdoor security cubicles for them to sit, sited at short intervals all around the perimeter of the centre. Each of these security cubicles is wired with duress buttons and microwave probes.

http://stream.adamdodson.org/items/view/3298
Shocking how Oz treats untried asylum-seekers worse than the US treats untried terrorists.

For all the hand wringing and braying and gnashing of teeth displayed by some Aussies over Gitmo, you'd not tend to believe they were doing far worse in their own back yard -- not to terrorists, but people seeking help.

Evidently, hypocrisy doesn't seem to phase them. Car access through airlock system -- but it's not a jail, it's a detention center... lol.