A new website has published the biggest set of immigration detention records in Australia to date. It will provide unprecedented verification of the endemic self-harm and psychiatric crises that refugee rights campaigners have independently reported for years.
was launched this month as an independent project 鈥渃ommitted to transparency and accountability in Australia鈥檚 immigration detention network鈥. The logs hold a searchable database of more than 7600 recorded incidents that took place in refugee detention facilities between October 2009 and May 2011.
Incidents include detainee self-harm, hunger strikes, 鈥渞iots鈥, assaults, use of restraints, deportations, and deaths.
The reports were obtained under Freedom of Information laws, used after the department of immigration previously refused to grant requests for documentation.
The producers of the site said on New Matilda on June 7: 鈥淏ecause the department won鈥檛 make this information accessible to the public we鈥檝e put it together ourselves. Detention Logs has compiled the most comprehensive dataset ever collected about the lives of men, women and children in Australia鈥檚 immigration detention centres.鈥
The project is partnered with New Matilda, the Global Mail and the Australian Guardian.
The Global Mail used the data to create 鈥淏ehind the Wire: A graphic portrait of life in detention鈥. A grid of boxes over the calendar period allows the audience to read all the individual incidents in mouse-over text, click for more detail and 鈥渇lag鈥 incidents they believe others should see. Incidents with the most flags grow brighter on the grid.
The Guardian Australia said Christmas Island, the only offshore detention centre at the time, had the highest number of self-harm incidents, Curtin detention centre in northern Western Australia had the most cases of 鈥渧oluntary starvation鈥 or hunger strikes, and Sydney鈥檚 Villawood detention centre had 鈥渢he highest use of force, restraints and observation rooms by staff in the network鈥 and was 鈥渢he highest for abusive and aggressive behaviour from detainees鈥.
The audience can also 鈥渁dopt an incident鈥 and help apply for more detailed reports of individual events through freedom of information. This is being run through RightToKnow.org.au, a freedom of information (FOI) clearinghouse that navigates the FOI request process for its users. More than 50 requests have already been lodged.
FOI has been used by refugee advocates previously to uncover shocking rates of self-harm among children and the immigration department鈥檚 habit of spin and denial.
The Darwin Asylum Seekers Support and Advocacy Network (DASSAN) has focused on applying for specific, detailed incident reports from the city鈥檚 three detention centres. In April the group obtained documents proving that their claim that in July 2011, which immigration denied at the time.
Ongoing claims of widespread self-harm among children, including cutting and overdosing, was also proven via FOI-obtained documentation.
The Detention Logs will continue to add to this growing body of evidence for refugee rights campaigners and advocates to expose and condemn the suffering and damage being done to refugees in Australia鈥檚 name.