Refugees Stuck in Australia Detention are Waiting for Security Clearances

There are more than 50 refugees in detention centres around Australia facing indefinite detention. The asylum seekers have been accepted as refugees but are still waiting for security clearances from the Australian security agency, ASIO.  Until they pass this security check, even recognized refugees are kept in immigration detention. If they fail this security check, they can be kept in detention forever.

Harun is one of these refugees. He has been in detention for more than two years after being told by ASIO that he was a “threat” to Australian security and could not be released from detention.

Harun fled Burma and lived in Malaysia for more than 15 years before he took a boat to Australia to try to get protection for his family. The Australian Department of Immigration recognised Harun as a refugee in April 2010 only a few months after he arrived in Australia. Like all asylum seekers who arrive by boat, the Immigration Department then referred Harun’s case to ASIO for a security assessment. In November 2010, ASIO returned negative assessment of Harun. As a result, the Immigration Department denied him a permanent protection visa. Without a protection visa Harun cannot be released from detention. But as a refugee the Australian government cannot send him back to Burma. Resettlement in a different country is also very difficult since ASIO has said he is a threat.

17-year-old Ali Abbas is another case. Abbas, a Kuwaiti, has been detained for more than a year and has attempted suicide a number of times. He was granted refugee status in April 2011 but is still in detention. The Darwin Asylum Seekers Advocacy and Support Network said Abbas tried to hang himself after hearing that ASIO had failed his security assessment. According to the Network, he had “scratched ‘freedom’ into his arm with a razor”.

ASIO does not have to give any information about its decisions or the security assessment process. Neither Harun nor Abbas have been told what information or sources were used in their assessments. And ASIO does not need to provide any proof to support its decision. Harun and Abbas were not allowed to give any evidence in their defence. Harun said he tried to submit a letter of recommendation from a lawyer he worked for in Malaysia, “but [ASIO] refused it.” As non-citizens refugees cannot challenge or appeal ASIO’s decision. Harun has considered taking his case to court to seek a judicial review. But this is another long process for refugees who can rely on only legal aid or pro bono support. He said it would take six to nine months just to have his application to go to court accepted.

The Refugee Action Collective (Victoria) is concerned about the growing number of refugees who remain in detention even after they receive their refugee status because they are waiting for security checks from ASIO. Daniella Olea, a high school teacher and Refugee Action Collective member said refugees were beginning to act out of “pure desperation”. They said the “so called security checks are taking too long. A lot of refugees have been granted refugee status and then are left to go mad in these concentration camps for months and months.”

Harun says that he does not want to stay in Australia any more. He is using sleeping pills and anti-depressants to help him with his loss of hope and feelings of isolation. He says that he feels “locked up, demonised and ignored” and wants to go back to Malaysia.