More asylum seekers in Australian hospitals

Australian doctors are increasingly treating asylum-seekers being held in immigration detention in the country's north, many suffering mental illness.

Darwin's major hospital is struggling to treat the large number of asylum seekers who have been traumatized by immigration detention, many asylum seekers have attempted suicide and some have to be admitted to the psychiatric ward.

The Northern Territory branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) said three to five detainees from Australian immigration Centre’s were being brought to hospitals every day, many with mental or recurring issues. "They are all complicated cases, because virtually all of them will have some mental health issue," said Dr Paul Bauert, president of the AMA.

Dr Paul Bauert Said "They are not straightforward (cases), there is a fair degree of mental illness and chronic anxiety with their representations. They often need interpreters which are hard to find. So the whole process... becomes compounded."

Bauert said while some cases clearly involved psychiatric illness, other asylum-seekers came with chest or abdominal pain which needed to be examined despite the often firm suspicion it related to mental health.

Dr Bauert says immigration health services are not helping. "One of the ways that's used in an effort to decrease the amount of presentations to the health staff at the detention Centre’s is the use of anti-depressants," he said.

"One gets the feeling that both Minister [Chris] Bowen and the Health Minister, Plibersek, really don't understand the health conditions of the Northern Territory population and certainly has no understanding of the amount of psychological stress that they are putting on these unfortunate people in detention." He says long-term drug use is putting the detainees at further risk.

Rights groups have long criticized Australia's policy of mandatory detention for asylum-seekers arriving by boat, under which many are kept at remote and isolated detention Centre’s which have been beset by unrest.

A spokesman for Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the government was concerned about mental health in detention but noted that asylum-seekers had appropriate access to health facilities. "People in detention will be taken to Royal Darwin Hospital when they are medically assessed as requiring emergency or specialist health services for various health complaints," he added.

Asylum Seekers on their way to Australia in Indonesia

Indonesia has a strategic geographic location which makes it a desirable place of transit for Asylum seekers trying to reach Australia.

There are those who go straight to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Central Jakarta, and file a request to be recognized as an asylum seeker or refugee. Thousands of asylum seekers looking to be refugees are sheltering in Indonesia; the years of waiting for placement to a third country is a tortuous affair. With only their words to go by and scant paperwork to back them up, most of these people are trying to find their way out of the suffering they experienced in home countries wracked by violence and oppression.

An ethnic Arab, Amir Mazraeh 54 years old (not his real name) fled from Iran with his family to escape what he says is the oppression and discriminatory treatment by the government there.

Amir Says “We’ve been waiting for years, and it’s been stressful because we can’t do anything besides think about our families and friends that we’ve left behind,”

Amir’s story is similar to that of hundreds of others who in recent years have flooded into Indonesia from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East as they seek to make their way, legally or otherwise, to Australia.

The Indonesian immigration office says that as of December last year, there were 3,980 illegal immigrants in the country (about 4,000, according to the UNHCR), of whom 3,011 were classified as asylum seekers and 969 refugees. Less than half, or 1,284, are housed at the government’s immigration detention centers in 13 cities across the country.

As of this month, there are at least 567 immigrants living in 42 houses, apartments, villas and hotels in Cisarua, according to the Bogor Immigration Office. In June last year, that figure was just 326, with most of the immigrants coming from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan.

For those like Amir and fellow Iranian Yusuf (not his real name) and their families, who have been in Puncak since 2010, the wait has been anything but pleasant. Amir makes it clear what he wants after living in limbo here for the past year and a half: “I just can’t wait to leave.”

While some of the asylum seekers are luck to be supported by the government and are placed in communities until their status for refugee is determined. Other have to wait this long period in detention centres in Indonesia.

The conditions in Indonesian detention centres are not good, people are thrown together in small are without good health services. Recently an afghan asylum seeker was beaten to death at a detention centre in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The 28-year-old Afghan man was among a group of five which escaped from the Pontianak detention centre. The chief detective in Pontianak, Puji Prayitno, says the men were recaptured and were healthy when they were returned to the centre. One of them, however, died the the next day and Mr Puji says the cause of death was trauma caused by a blunt object. Asylum seekers say a guard beat one of the would-be escapees and killed him. The 10 suspects, from a staff of 30, were in police custody. As of yesterday afternoon, charges had not been laid.

Commission spokesman Andrej Mahecic said "UNHCR is seriously troubled by the unclear turn of events that followed,”

With the tide of asylum seekers continuing to grow, the government is establishing a special office within the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs to deal with the issues of illegal immigration and people smuggling.

The ministry hosted a high-level meeting at the end of January, attended by officials from the IOM, UNHCR, the Foreign Ministry, the Transportation Ministry, the military, the police and intelligence agencies.

The new office, which will help in monitoring, synchronizing and coordinating policy applications to prevent people smuggling and handle asylum seekers, will have its own intelligence unit.

The government has acknowledged the difficulty of the task ahead. “People smuggling and illegal migrants are complex issues,” says Maryoto, from the immigration directorate. “It’s not just about immigration. It’s also about human rights, international relations and national defense.”

Indonesia has still not ratified the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol. Indonesia also does not have a legal obligation to regulate standards on handling refugees. Thus the bad condition for refugees continues and there is no hop of any change in the future for asylum seekers.

Mental Health in Australian Detention Centres

Recently there have been many cases of mental health traumas in Australian detention centres.

There have been cases of many children’s and adults having chronic post-traumatic stress disorder during and after detention.

Recent wide-spread riots at detention centers across Australia are a reflection that mandatory detention has a negative impact on mental health of asylum seekers.

More than 6800 asylum seekers mostly from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq arrived in Australia in 2010 and hundreds more have arrived this year. As detention centres are become more overcrowded, stays are longer and there are reportedly a growing number of self-harm and suicide attempts.

Hundreds of detainees have burnt down buildings in Christmas Island detention center to express their anger over lengthy delays in processing and the rejection of asylum claims.

There were 79 recorded incidents of self-harm in detention centers, compared with 39 of the previous financial year.

Assessment of children and families in detention found that all of 10 children assessed aged between six and 17 fulfilled criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder and major depression with suicidal ideation.

The plight of children in detention is illustrated by the case of Shayan Badraie, who was five years old when first detained in 2000. He was in the Woomera and Villawood detention centres until 2002.While in detention, Shayan saw attempted suicides, self-harm and abuse. He was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was described as being in a catatonic state of distress.

There have been a couple rape claims in Australian Detention Centres. On March 23 a 23-year-old male Iranian asylum seeker claimed he was raped by other asylum seekers at a detention centre on Christmas Island. The man told detention centre medical staff that he had been raped by several men the previous day at the Phosphate Hill camp. It is understood he claimed some of the men warned him that they would kill him if he reported the attacks. The man is believed to have since been moved to a protective unit for his safety.

And in other case a 5-year-old boy has allegedly been raped by three men while they were detained in a refugee camp in Western Australia. The claims say that the boy was forced to look at a porn magazine, and then reenact what he saw in the magazine. The claims are being investigated.

Detainees in Australian immigration centres have poor mental and physical health, according to a study by the University of Wollongong, NSW. 40% of those held for 2 years or longer developed new mental health symptoms. A third of Australia's 7375 detainees are seeking asylum under the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Many are traumatized, with high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression, and about 20% have been tortured, imprisoned for political offences, or have witnessed murder of family or friends.

Long-term detention of asylum seekers is not only violation of their human rights, it is damaging to their health. Many experience depression, mental anguish, trauma and psychological damage in detention Centres. And yet at the end they might not get a visa, after all what they have been thru. If the governments don’t want any refuges then why attempt to go their thinking that they might get lucky. Why not try a legal and a safe way to migrate.