eX-detainees at RISE highly condemn the recommendations of non self-determined Human rights and Refugee/Asylum seeker support organisations and individuals in so-called Australia to the UN Subcommittee for the prevention of Torture.
Our take on these NGOs’ broken recommendations
- Community detention is a form of detention and it is arbitrary and “Alternative places of detention” (APOD) should not be the first or last resort. Single parents, eX-detainees with chronic physical and mental illness, disabled people, and survivors of rape and torture will spell out to you what community detention and APOD is.
- The Bridging visa system for asylum seekers and refugees, in itself has discriminatory, un-humanitarian policies built into it.No one seeking protection from persecution should be in the community living a life of limbo, with poor access to healthcare, legal support, employment and education with the constant threat of deportation hanging over their head. No-one should be coerced to self-deport by depriving them of basic rights as has been done through the bridging visa system for asylum seekers and refugees.
- Australia has been running detention centres for over 30 years now. Why does the UN have to continuously spoon feed Australia – can’t Australian media, politicians, public servants and Australian voters figure out for themselves that this is torture?
- We don’t need an improvement of detention centres, “independent” intervention or upgrading – Shut them all down!
This NGOs’ letter of recommendation (https://piac.asn.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/UN-SPT-recommendations-from-human-rights-advocates-1.pdf) is a great example of who is in charge of our lives. The UN has all the resources to meet eX-detainees and detainees (and those voices filtered by non-self determined organisations don’t count). We don’t need mouth pieces, or middle people to speak on behalf of us – you have done enough damage to our lives in the name of “advocates” or “human rights organisations” or “refugee/asylum seeker support organisations”.
The circus of NGOs and UN (un-united nations) is continuing. Chatting with one or two of your eX-detainee mascots or clients does not reflect that you have been doing the right thing or can determine what is good for us. Using some published data on injuries, torture and abuse we have been subjected to is inadequate. What we eX-detainees experienced and are continuously experiencing in and out of detention centres is not something that should be turned into such harmful and simplistic recommendations – it is more than that. Our requirement for compensation and reparations is beyond your crude academic findings or recommendations. You would have known this if you have been listening to eX-detainees who are on the ground, working on the abolition of detention, eX-detainee self-determination, creating eX-detainee content and campaigns for over 20 years now.
Note: We work at the coal face with and for our community, with minimal resources, and any entitled, privileged person who asks us to go through every one of these organisations’ gimmicky recommendations to the UN (un-united nations) – do your own research!
RISE eX-detainees