Calls to “scrap and replace” Villawood
16 January 2008, 02:45PM
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) released a report last week after an inspection of all immigration detention centres in Australia. Immigration Minister Chris Evans called for the department to improve the controversial Villawood Immigration Detention Centre (VIDC) after HREOC labelled the facility as a "disgrace". One recommendation has been that the facility be "scrapped and replaced" with another centre in elsewhere in Sydney.
Following this review, another incident has added to Villawood's negative report.
A 62-year-old Iranian immigration detainee died yesterday morning in St. Georges Hospital. He was taken to hospital for an appointment on Friday morning and suffered a heart-attack there. Fellow detainees in Villawood reported that Mr F had to use an umbrella to walk shortest distances and was often too exhausted to eat.
The sick man continued to be held in detention at Villawood Immigration Detention Centre even though the Department of Immigration was aware of his poor health condition. His condition was so serious that he could not fly, making deportation impossible.
Only last week detainees at Villawood sought improved medical care of sick detainees.
Mr F is not the first detainee who died in Villawood. In September 2001, a young Vietnamese woman died in Villawood. She had been trafficked to Australia at the age of 12 years. She was held in solitary confinement and died 72 hours after arriving in Villawood - despite the fact that she was vomiting consistently since she was detained, she was not taken to the VIDC clinic, or to a hospital.
The HREOC report and incidents such as these in Villawood merely highlights the negative impact of the Australian Government’s mandatory detention policy.
For more information, you can read the following articles:
*Villawood may be scrapped and replaced, The Age, 14 January 2008
*Puongtong Simaplee-The Death of a Trafficked Woman in Villawood, Project Respect, 12 March 2003
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