Wickham Point Immigration Detention Center

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wickham Point Immigration Detention Center near Darwin (2011)

As Wickham Point Immigration Detention Center (German: Wickham Point Immigration Detention Center ), an Australian camp for boat people called, the 35 kilometers south of Darwin in the Outback in Northern Territory was. In this camp, people who tried to reach Australia by sea to apply for asylum were detained in immigration detention . The capacity of the asylum camp was 1500 people

This camp was opened in December 2011 when the Australian Labor Party ruled, which, under Prime Minister Julia Gillard , adopted a rigid migration and asylum policy in Australia .

The warehouse was closed at the beginning of July 2016. In May 2016 , Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles spoke out in military terms against the closure of the camp , because the abandonment of the camp near Darwin would give up a "frontline of defense of northern Australia".

camp

The camp is surrounded by high and electric fences. It is located in an area with a harsh climate characterized by heat and drought. In addition, it is far from settlements as the closest settlement is Palmerston at a distance of 15 kilometers.

Inner courtyard in the warehouse complex (2011)
Spatial accommodation (2011)

The camp is divided into three areas by fences called Sand , Surf and Sun. Single adult women were housed in the Surf Camp Complex and single adult men in the Sun Complex. The complex sand were used by single women and families with children. On July 11, 2013, the building at the camp entrance was rededicated to accommodate parents with children, a so-called alternative place of detention . This complex is spatially separated from the other camps. The surveillance in this complex, unlike the others, was not total. However, these inmates were not allowed to leave the camp either, a slightly weakened immigration detention facility.

The Australian Human Rights Commission visited the camp from October 16-18, 2016 . At that time there were 607 asylum seekers in the camp, including 154 families with 64 children under the age of 18. The Australian Human Rights Commission considers the conditions of detention practiced and the long distance of rescue workers to be completely unsuitable for children in emergencies.

closure

Australian government poster Stop the Boats - Operation Sovereign Borders

Immigration Secretary Peter Dutton , who headed the Department of Immigration and Border Protection under both the Conservative governments of Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull , announced in February 2015 that this camp would be closed. The reason he cited was the successful “Stop the Boats” policy of the then ruling conservative government, which had led to a decline in the number of asylum seekers. The camp complex called Blaydin Point Center , which houses families with children, is also no longer needed. It should be closed in April 2015. When it became known in the camp on April 15, 2015 that inmates were to be moved to the Nauru Regional Processing Center , an infamous camp for boat people on the island state of Nauru , a riot broke out in the camp. Numerous camp inmates were deported from this camp to Australia and knew the poor conditions there. Most of the inmates were taken to the Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Center in Western Australia or to Melbourne , Victoria, to the Immigration Transit Accommodation located there.

See also

Australian camp for asylum seekers

Web links

Commons : Wickham Point Immigration Detention Center  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Detention Logs. Inside Australia's immigration detention , at detentionlogs.com.au. Retrieved May 4, 2019
  2. ↑ a b Katherine Gregory: NT Chief Minister disappointed with plan to close Darwin's Wickham Point Detention Center , dated May 4, 2016, on Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved May 4, 2019
  3. ↑ The health and well-being of children in immigration detention (English), from 2016, on Human Rights Commission Australia. Retrieved May 4, 2019
  4. ↑ Damien Murphy: Teenagers and young boys to be moved from Don Dale Detention Center to former immigration center, 50km away , from July 28, 2016, on Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved May 4, 2019
  5. ↑ Darwin immigration detention center closes due to 'success in stopping boats (English), February 21, 2015, on Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved May 4, 2019
  6. ^ Wickham Point Detention Center. Refugees resist transfer to Nauru (English), on Greenleft. Retrieved May 4, 2019
  7. ↑ Sylvia Varnham O'Regan: Last asylum seekers being moved from Darwin detention center (English), July 6, 2016, on sbs.com.au. Retrieved May 4, 2019