Media Release October 22, 2010<\/p>\n
The parents of ten families at the Leonora detention centre are on hunger strike.<\/p>\n
The families are believed to be Kurdish, Iranian an Iraqi family. All have been rejected at their first refugee assessment hearing. They have all been in detention between six and ten months. It is unclear whether they have any result from the Merits Review hearing.<\/p>\n
The Iranian family began their hunger strike five days ago. The other families have joined the hunger strike over the past three days.<\/p>\n
The main demand of all the families is for their cases to be reviewed. But some have raised general concerns that the health of their families is deteriorating in detention.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are suffering in this place,\u201d one detainee said from inside the Leonora detention centre.<\/p>\n
The detainees have been told that an immigration representative is coming from Canberra to see them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hunger strike at Leonora throws Julia Gillard\u2019s announcement into some perspective. Three of the families began the hunger strike after Gillard\u2019s announcement,\u201d said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition.<\/p>\n
\u201cJulia Gillard says that she will take until June 2011 to release minors and families into community-based detention. These families cannot wait that long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Departmental Head of Immigration, Andrew Metcalfe, told the Senate Estimate hearings, \u201cOne of the things the minister made clear, though, was that they would be individual assessments based on particular needs and risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is even unclear that such families would even fit the criteria for families that would be released under Gillard\u2019s proposal. These families are not just victims of mandatory detention, they are also victims of the offshore refugee determination process.<\/p>\n
\u201cOffshore refugee determination process is discriminatory and subject to political interference. These families should be immediately released,\u201d said Rintoul.<\/p>\n
Stand up for Refugee rallies are being held in Perth and Sydney on Saturday 23 October, and in Melbourne on 7 November.<\/p>\n
For more information contact Refugee Action Coalition, Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Media Release October 22, 2010 The parents of ten families at the Leonora detention centre are on hunger strike. The families are believed to be Kurdish, Iranian an Iraqi family. All have been rejected at their first refugee assessment hearing. They have all been in detention between six and ten months. It is unclear whether […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-press-releases"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t