Villawood Immigration Detention Center
The Villawood Immigration Detention Center is a refugee camp in the Villawood suburb of Sydney , Australia , about 25 kilometers west of the city center. It is one of the largest refugee camps in Australia.
There were frequent riots, protests, suicides and self-harm in this refugee camp .
As of December 31, 2016, there were 426 people in the camp, including 40 women.
Camp site
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The camp site is divided into two complexes, the Villawood Immigration Detention Center and Sydney Immigration Residential Housing . It is managed on behalf of the Australian government by Serco , a publicly traded UK service company.
Villawood Immigration Detention Center
The Villawood Immigration Detention Center is surrounded on three sides by residential buildings; on the north side there is a built-up industrial area. It is mainly occupied by adult men and is divided into different security levels, which are fenced: Blaxland has the highest security level. The Hughes Sector is home to asylum seekers who have simply broken immigration rules, as well as those who arrive in Australia by air. This is followed by security level 3 with the Fowler sector , which is intended exclusively for boat people . Banksia is a separate area for women only, which is spatially connected to the Hughes area .
Sydney Immigration Residental Housing
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The Sydney Immigration Residential Housing is an area with the lowest level of security in the mainly families with children, unaccompanied minors have to stop and vulnerable people. The capacity limit of this area is 24 people. The Residential House is more comfortable than the internment camp. There is a garden, a few trees and a small vegetable garden. Four personal computers can be used in one room and gardening tools that can be used by the occupants are located in another room. There are also rooms with a table tennis table, seating furniture and children's toys.
history
Villawood Munitions Factory
Originally there was an ammunition factory on the current site of the refugee camp, the Villawood Munitions Factory , which operated from 1941 until the end of World War II . The ammunition factory extended over an area of 121.4 hectares with 232 buildings and two ammunition bunkers. After the war, the area was divided. The northern part was claimed by Ben Chifley of the Australian Labor Party for Asylum Seekers, who was then Prime Minister of Australia.
Villawood Migrant Hostel
Today's Villawood Immigration Detention Center was opened on December 29, 1949 as the Villawood Migrant Hostel . It was first occupied by displaced persons who came to Australia after the end of the Second World War. They were looking for work around and in Sydney. The refugee camp was run by Commonwealth Hostels Ltd , a not-for-profit company, and rent payments from hostel residents.
By 1964 there were 1,425 people in the refugee center, mostly from Great Britain and Europe. Around 1968 it was one of the largest hostels for refugees in Australia, housing different nations. Most of them came from Great Britain, Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, Lebanon, Indochina and East Timor.
Westbridge Migrant Hostel
In 1968 the refugee camp was divided and the Westbridge Migrant Hostel was rebuilt. It operated until 1984.
Villawood Immigration Detention Center
In 1976, a part of the building with a capacity of 48 people was separated, in which people who were to be deported were detained. This section was named Villawood Immigration Detention Center .
When in 1983 a report by the Australian Human Rights Commission criticized the camp conditions and the administration and declared it to be legally questionable, the hostel was closed and the camp was rededicated as the Villawood Immigration Detention Center .
Today the refugee camp is a complex with numerous buildings divided into several sectors that are fenced off.
Conditions in the camp
When 40 asylum seekers fled in 2001, the Villawood Immigration Detention Center received widespread public attention.
When the Australian Human Rights Commission inspected the refugee camp in February 2011, there were 386 asylum seekers in the camp with a total capacity of 450 people. Half of them were asylum seekers and the other half were people who had broken immigration rules. They came from 40 different countries, the largest groups from China, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, Fuji and Vietnam. 36 people declared themselves stateless. The Human Rights Commission found that there had been five suicides and one death of an asylum seeker in recent years. There have been numerous riots and outbursts, serious self-harm, including sewing together, and hunger strikes. These incidents resulted from a number of factors, most notably the long length of stay of the camp inmates. The Human Rights Commission also notes that the camp and the buildings have a prison character.
In April 2011, asylum seekers set the camp's buildings on fire.
In July 2016, two asylum seekers fled the camp.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lindy Kerin: Villawood a disgrace: HREOC , January 9, 2008, on ABC News. Retrieved March 17, 2017
- ^ Immigration Detention and Community Statistics Summary , December 31, 2017, on Department of Immigration and Border Protect. Retrieved March 17, 2017
- ↑ a b Immigration Detention Villawood , from 2011, on Australian Human Rights Commission . Retrieved March 17, 2017
- ^ Immigration detention report , 2008, on Australian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved May 12, 2017
- ↑ a b c d e Mark Dunn: Villawood detention center , from 2010, to dictionary of sydney. Retrieved March 17, 2017
- ^ "The Inside Story: An inside view of what is going on in detention centers" ( Memento of April 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), of August 13, 2001, on ABC . Retrieved March 17, 2017
- ↑ Nick Ralston: Villawood Detention Center: Riots, Fire & Protests , April 21, 2011, on The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved March 17, 2017
- ^ Sarah White: Villawood Detention Center escape: Man still on the run despite search, July 21, 2016, on ABC News. Retrieved March 17, 2017
Coordinates: 33 ° 52 ′ 27.9 ″ S , 150 ° 59 ′ 22.5 ″ E