Refugee kids extend suicide deadline in Australia
Refugee kids extend suicide deadline in Australia
Reuters
Woomera, Australia
Eleven Afghan teenagers on Tuesday extended by 24 hours a
deadline for a suicide pact aimed at forcing the Australian
government to free them from a desert refugee camp.
Afghan and Middle Eastern detainees at the Woomera detention
center have tried to hang themselves, drunk disinfectant and sewn
up their lips to protest at the months, and sometimes years, it
takes to process asylum claims.
More than 200 detainees have been on hunger strike for the
past two weeks and the disturbances have spread to most of
Australia's controversial detention centers.
Lawyer Rob McDonald, representing the asylum seekers, said the
11 Afghan children, aged 12 to 17, had threatened to kill
themselves by 5 p.m. on Tuesday (1:30 p.m. in Jakarta) if they
were not taken out. They later agreed to hold off till the
following evening.
"I think the children understand how slowly our government is
moving despite the serious threat that they are facing," he told
reporters gathered outside the camp, behind a road block.
But McDonald said earlier that a 16-year-old Iraqi had tried
to hang himself on Monday night. Guards intervened.
A committee set up by the government to act as an intermediary
arrived at Woomera on Tuesday evening, along with a
representative of the national Human Rights Commission.
The first of two days of talks with asylum seekers on ending
the hunger strike went well, said committee member Ray Funnell.
"I don't think everything is going to be finished tomorrow but
I hope good progress will be made," he told reporters.
The United Nations refugee agency said in Geneva on Tuesday
that Afghan teenage asylum seekers who have threatened suicide at
a camp in Australia were being manipulated by their
"irresponsible" parents.
Kris Janowski, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), also reiterated the agency's opposition to
Australia's policy of detaining asylum seekers, but said it stood
ready to help if invited to by the government.