A Riot in an Australia’s Offshore Detention Center

A peaceful protest escalated into a “major disturbance” at an immigrant detention center on Christmas Island, one of the four offshore locations where the Australian government sends asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. Although the situation was calmed shortly after, many immigrant rights activists cite this event as one of the downsides of Australia’s immigration policy. Several Iranian detainees started a peaceful demonstration when Fazel Chegeni, an Iranian asylum seeker, was found dead outside the detention center. Chegeni had escaped the facility the night before, and other inmates are suspicious of the circumstances surrounding his death.

The protest quickly became violent, and the detention center’s staff had to be evacuated. According to the witnesses, many facilities were set on fire and damaged. However, the Australian authorities call this event a “major disturbance” rather than a riot.

The Australian government has been increasingly criticized for sending asylum seekers, refugees, and illegal immigrants to the offshore detention centers in Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, Christmas Island, and Nauru while they wait for their status to be processed. This process can last indefinitely; the asylum seekers can even be sent to other countries such as Cambodia, which signed a contract to accept refugees in Australia.

Chegeni, the deceased inmate, was one of the asylum seekers who had been sent to several  detention centers since his arrival in Australia in 2010. Like many inmates, Chegeni was suffering mental illness potentially exacerbated by his lengthy detention. According to the Refugee Action Coalition group, Chegeni had attempted suicides three times.

Despite the the number of incidents happening at the detention centers, there are only a handful of reports on this issue because journalists are generally not allowed access to the detention centers. The Australian government also bans the workers at the detention center from disclosing information about their work.

At the UN human rights review in Geneva, delegates of many countries expressed concerns about Australia’s immigrant detention system, and suggested that Australia remove children and families from these facilities. The representatives also demanded Australia’s ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, an international agreement aimed at preventing mistreatment of people in detention, which would expose offshore asylum seeker detention centers to new international oversight and review.

However, some Australians do not agree with all the criticism of the immigration policy. According to Tony Abbott, the former Prime Minister of Australia, the Australian government decided to resettle 12,000 Syrian refugees, which is the largest resettlement contribution than any other countries in per capita terms. Furthermore, Abbott believes that the offshore processing procedures, such as turning boats away, will save people’s lives in the long run. He claimed that only one illegal boat made it to Australia in the past 18 months.

Professor Alan Tidwell of the Center for Australian, New Zealand, and Pacific Studies explains that many asylum seekers who have tried to reach Australia through the smugglers have drowned at sea. The offshore detention centers and refugee processing disincentivize the asylum seekers from risking their lives on smugglers’ boats, thus reducing the risk of drowning at sea.