One thousand march to Villawood for refugees

REFUGEES detained at Villawood have made the news again.  Prompted by a march on the centre on Sunday by 1000 people, Fowler MP Julia Irwin has repeated her call for a judicial inquiry.

The protesters marched peacefully for 2kms from Villawood train station to the detention centre, where they were met by 100 police.
Refugees watched the protesters from behind the detention centre's barbed wire fences.

The march included people from the Kurdish, Iranian, Iraqi, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Algerian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Somalian and Sudanese communities, as well as churches, unions and political groups.

Organiser Cyrus Sarang, from the Refugee Action Collective, said there were now 245 people in the centre, and about 8500 in detention centres throughout Australia.

"According to our view, none of them are illegal or queue-jumpers. They are escaping oppression," he said.
Statistics show that about 90 per cent of detained asylum seekers are eventually successful in their application.

This contrasts with only about 10 per cent who arrive in Australia with valid visas.

"What is happening is a gross violation of human rights where women, children and men are treated as criminals," said April Pham, president of the Vietnamese Women's Association and spokeswoman for the Immigrant Women's Speakout Association.

Fairfield councillor Thang Ngo, who took part in the march, said the issue was of particular interest to the local Vietnamese community.
Mrs Irwin has visited the centre as a member of the joint standing committee on migration.

"We weren't allowed to speak to the detainees but I can say that the conditions were appalling," she said.

Jim Gainsford, Fairfield Champion 6 June 2001