Dear readers

This blog will be unattended for a couple of weeks while I visit one of the world's hot spots for refugees, South Africa.

I will post some stories from that part of the world on return.

the remaining Nauru detainees cry for help

Monawir al-Jaber and Abuozar al-Salem remain in detention on Nauru

The Age is reporting concern about the mental health of the last 27 asylum seekers on Nauru has prompted the Howard Government to send three experts to the Pacific island.

One of the 27 is under 24-hour watch after serious acts of self-harm and many others are believed to be suffering depression and need drugs to sleep.

Teenagers raising awareness

(from left) Kate Arnold, Sara
Webster and Bridie Ritchie.

THREE teenage girls yesterday finished their 10-day bike ride to raise awareness of asylum seekers in Australia tired but with no plans of slowing down.

Hundreds attempt self-harm in detention

The ABC is reporting more than half of the 900 self-harm incidents over three years occurred in the Baxter detention centre.

Of course, Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has played down the level of self-harm in detention centres and accused some asylum seekers of resorting to "a very unattractive type of protest" simply to draw attention to themselves.

But desperate actions like these are in most instances cries for help and proof positive of the inhumane treatment meted out to vulnerable people seeking sanctuary on our shores.

Let them eat BBQ

There are media reports that asylum seekers held in detention will be offered taste testing of prospective menus and weekly barbecues in a further attempt by the Howard Government to soften its hardline image on asylum-seekers.

Methinks BBQs are a poor substitute for fair and humane treatment...

Labor accuses Govt of identity fraud in deportation case

Opposition spokesperson,Tony Burke, ... says Govt issued false ID documents to failed asylum-seekers.

Anti-terror laws raise 'police state' concerns

ABC is reporting Muslim and legal groups say the Federal Government's new counter-terrorism laws will unfairly target the Muslim community and could lead to Australia becoming a "police state".

Slowly but surely we see the protections that we once took for granted being eroded, just as they have been for asylum seekers. I've said previously that this erosion will follow just as night follows day if universal human rights are devalued under the nation's laws.


Wilcox in the SMH

Asylum seekers 'paid $1 an hour'

AAP is reporting Asylum seekers are allegedly being paid as little as $1 an hour for work in detention centres in what a lawyer says could be a breach of the Migration Act.