Australian Detention Centers and Immigration Policies
By Ellen Opsal, Ali Dorani and Linn Normand
Problem
Australia currently practices some of the most severe detention policies in the world. Through the policy of mandatory detention, individuals living in or arriving in the country without a valid visa are automatically detained. First established in 1992 in an attempt to deter the increasing number of refugees arriving by boat, mandatory detention is today a central component of Australia’s immigration policy. With no limitation on how long people can be detained for, the past decade has shown a steady increase in the average number of days people are held in detention facilities. As of September 2020, the average period of time for people held in detention facilities (approx. 1500 people) in Australia was 581 days. More than 25% have been detained for more than 730 days (ADHA). To remind us of the people behind these numbers, Ali Dorian, an Iranian cartoonist now living in Norway shares with us the story of his time in Australian detention centers.
Solutions
First, Australian detention facilities should operate with more transparency. This request calls for facilitating communication with detainees and more frequent third-party assessments. Second, to ensure that detention is lawful and proportionate under international law, a maximum time limit should be established in the national legislation. Above all, detention of asylum seekers must be considered a measure of last resort and should ultimately be abolished from immigration policy.
Observations
Ali was 20 years old when he had to leave his home in Iran to seek safety in another country. After weeks of searching, someone offered him space on a boat headed towards Australia- a country he knew he could be safe in. Alongside 150 other passengers, Ali crossed the choppy waters of the Indian Ocean in a small fishing boat. 52 hours later, the Australian Navy intercepted them. What follows is Ali’s story of four long years in detention on Christmas Island and Manus Island. Ali’s journey underscores the human cost of punitive politics; it also celebrates the resilience and strength of those forced into seemingly impossible situations and highlights the need for change.
Ali shares with us the cruel conditions of Australian detention centers through his struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), abuse, and isolation in these camps. With hundreds crowded into small spaces in the tropical heat, his depression and anxiety were stretched to the limits. His OCD worsened in the facility, “at one point, I tried to wash my dictionary in the shower because I felt it was dirty. I kept telling myself I was going crazy” he reported to the BBC (2019). Ali describes how the cramped tents, dirty toilets, and mosquitoes were comparable to somewhere people would usually keep farm animals, not humans.
Ali started drawing what it felt like searching for humanity within an inhumane system. As he explained in a 2016 interview with The Washington Post, while still held in Manus Island, “I am trapped in a political game and it will never get finished. I have no control of my life. Policy does not care about my life.”
With restricted access to the outside world, the detainees face increased securitization under constant surveillance. This environment of control and punishment renders those held in detention centers especially vulnerable to violations of their human rights. “Sexual harassment and sexual
assault were serious problems on Manus Island” Ali explains. In addition, detainees are heavily guarded with little to no communication with the outside world. Limited to a 45-minute per week slow connection to the world via the internet, Ali tried reaching out to people for over a year through social media with little response. It was his artwork that garnered the attention of fellow detainees, guards, and eventually the international press. With few supplies available, Ali collected what he could to continue to draw life in detention facilities. In his digital storytelling video, he tells us how with the help of a prison guard he was able to eventually smuggle out his drawings. Under his pen name, EatenFish, he chronicled a day to day life that was far removed from the reality of the outside world. “I chose EatenFish as my pen name, because I was caught from the sea like a fish, "eaten" (processed) at an Australian detention camp, and then "thrown away" on Manus Island, the same way you throw fish bones into a rubbish bin” (BBC). With scraps of paper and anything to draw with, his cartoons reached the corners of the world. Major publications started publishing his work and in 2016, Ali was given the Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award by the Cartoonist Rights Network International. Soon, well-known cartoonists from around the world began drawing in support of Ali’s release while condemning the Australian detention facilities.
When Ali’s complaints of abuse and his dangerous circumstances were not taken seriously, he went on a hunger strike. After 22 days without eating, Ali was moved to the hospital in PNG, weighing 43 kilos (95 lbs). After three months in the hospital Ali opened a message from the immigration department of Norway and read that he was being granted asylum in their country. “All my years in detention came up in front of my eyes- and I couldn’t believe it was the end” (BBC).
In 2017, Ali became the ICORN resident in Stavanger, Norway, an organization that helps persecuted artists. While in Norway, Ali has continued to produce artwork and inspire other artists and community members. He has since become involved in a University of Stavanger research project entitled “Our migration history” - where he encourages other immigrant communities to document their own lived
experiences of immigration. He has also been working on a documentary project, a biography comic book and a short film - in order to share his own story (#eatenfish). Through his art, Ali has created a platform that is valuable not only for political activism but also for healing. Ali openly talks about the impact detention has had on his own mental health in the many public events he has participated in since arriving to Norway, and now shares his lived experiences to highlight the importance of being open about mental-health issues in the community.
As he reflects on his own lived experiences of migration and detention, Ali recounts how the harrowing journey exposes the cruelty of Australia’s mandatory detention. When our survival depends on it, humans will always move towards safety. Criminalizing those seeking refuge does not stop the human drive of survival, it only punishes the vulnerable.