The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Visit to Christmas Island condemns mandatory detention > Comments

Visit to Christmas Island condemns mandatory detention : Comments

By Catherine Branson, published 2/11/2010

For the third year in a row the Human Rights Commission has called for an end to mandatory detention on Christmas Island.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. Page 4
  6. 5
  7. All
Ok Irmin,
how about not giving them weaponry ? Ony give aid in the form of wheel barrows & shovels. The one & only reason that these troubled places can keep on causing trouble is because greedy westerners & greedy westernised others thrive on the weapon sales.
I still fail to see how the major forces can not go in & out in a few days & sort it all out. It would certainly cause less suffering & have far less impact on the environment. Look at all the oil burning ? Do we ever see any Greenies go in there & do their bit ? No ! Start creating enclaves in these places & in no time at all you'll see a positive change. It's only the lack of will by the alliance of the willing that nothing ever gets achieved. Ah, & get the silly westerners off all the drugs that come from these troubled lands.
Posted by individual, Thursday, 4 November 2010 8:08:51 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
"The UN Refugee Agency can help clear that up for you:
http://www.unhcr.org.au/basicdef.shtml"

Who cares really what the UN says or thinks, a bunch of finger waggers who are all quick to point how developed countries show do this or that.

Why doesn't the UN solve these issue?

Too busy telling people what they are doing wrong I imagine
Posted by Amicus, Thursday, 4 November 2010 9:54:47 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
[Deleted for abuse.]
Posted by Horus, Thursday, 4 November 2010 7:52:50 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
[Deleted for abuse.]
Posted by individual, Thursday, 4 November 2010 9:23:36 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
'The Hon. Catherine Branson was appointed President of the Australian Human Rights Commission on 7 August 2008....
At the time of her appointment, she was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, a position she had held since 1994. The jurisdiction of the Federal Court includes jurisdiction to hear and determine complaints alleging unlawful discrimination under Commonwealth anti-discrimination laws.
Justice Branson was the inaugural convenor of the Federal Court’s Equality and the Law Committee, which was created in 1997. She was also the inaugural convenor of the Court’s Human Rights Panel for New South Wales.
At the time of her appointment to the Federal Court, Ms Branson was a member of the Board of Examiners of the Supreme Court of South Australia, a council member of the University of South Australia and a Trustee of the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust. She had earlier been Deputy Chair of the Adelaide Medical Centre for Women and Children and a member of the National Women’s Advisory Council.
Ms Branson is a past President of the Australian Institute for Judicial Administration and a former member of the Board of Management of IDLO (a governmental organisation based in Rome enjoying observer status at the United Nations). She is a member of the International Association of Judges and the International Association of Refugee Law Judges (and was until recently convenor of the association’s Human Rights Nexus Working Party).
Prior to her appointment as a judge, she practised as a barrister at the Adelaide Bar in South Australia, principally in the areas of administrative law, including discrimination law, and commercial law. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1992.
Between 1984-89, she was Crown Solicitor of South Australia and the CEO of the South Australian Attorney-General’s Department.' From the AHRC website.

She deserves some respect. She knows what she writes about. And yes, the AHRC does publish material homeless people and other disadvantaged Australians.
Posted by ozbib, Sunday, 7 November 2010 8:50:13 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I don't know what it is about this issue which leads to such intemperate responses, and the persistence of so many myths. Many decent people have given up writing to OLO on the issue, I presume out of frustration.

The people we are writing about are referred to in legislation as 'unauthorised' rather than as 'illegal'. That is a better term.

The High Court ruled that immigration detention is not a punishment. Unauthorised arrivals are not given a trial; there is no sentence, in which degree of guilt and mitigating factors might be taken into account. We might ask 'why are they imprisoned when they have committed no crime?'

The term 'bleeding heart' originated in the US in an effort to arouse prejudice against people who are compassionate and merciful. It provides no reason for rejecting a view. Attacking the person rther than the argument is cheap and cowardly, and betrays a lack of ability or a lack of willingness to deal with the issues rationally.

IU have no idea what Catherine. Branson does about problems in other countries, apart from what is on her CV on the AHRC website. I do know that the many human rights and civil liberties activists I know are also involved in other organisations, including charities and NGOs within Australia and international organisations, endeavouring to improve the lives of those who need help. (In my case, as a member of Amnesty I have written to people in 47 countries over the past 6 years.)

We can detain people who have entered Australia with authorisation, and Australian citizens, and Australian born citizens--when no crime is even suspected. As for what we do, that is hidden--you can be jailed for revealing it.

'Cheats, liars and fraudsters'. The processes of testing asylum seekers is rigourous and lengthy. Those who fail the tests--the only ones 'rightly seen as cheats...' are deported.

The suggestion that refugees should carry personal identity documents is foolish. Many cannot obtain such documents before they flee; and some would be setting their relatives at risk if they were caught fleeing and were identified
Posted by ozbib, Sunday, 7 November 2010 9:44:15 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. Page 4
  6. 5
  7. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy