Fiona Alcock, Sydney
On July 20, two children — 12-year-old Ian Hwang and his six-year-old sister Janey — were released with their mother, Young Lee, from the Villawood immigration detention centre after the immigration department (DIMIA) admitted they had been wrongfully held for four months.
On March 8, the world of the two children was turned completely upside down. They were whisked away from Sydney's Stanmore Public School by DIMIA officials and placed in Villawood with their mother, a South Korean citizen who had been detained earlier in the day at Sydney Airport for allegedly having overstayed her visa.
At the time, immigration minister Amanda Vanstone claimed the children were in Australia unlawfully and that they were taken away from the school because she didn't want them to return home to an empty house. However, their mother had been overseas and Ian and Janey were staying with their aunt. Vanstone was unable to explain why Lee was prevented from accompanying DIMIA officers to the school.
Horrified parents of other children attending the Stanmore school mobilised to secure Ian and Janey's release. A petition was tabled in parliament and media coverage of their plight was arranged. Ian told ABC radio that he had witnessed a suicide attempt. The children were trapped in a harsh depressing environment. They missed their friends and yearned for freedom.
After some weeks they were allowed to attend a local school but this had little impact on their well-being. Ian started to talk about suicide.
On March 22, DIMIA attempted to deport the family but a Federal Court injunction kept them in Australia. Janey was born in Australia and Ian has spent all of his school life in Sydney. Had the department been successful in illegally deporting the family, none of these details would have been publicly revealed.
The children were released on July 20, after DIMIA acknowledged that at the time of their detention in March they were on bridging visas. Their mother was released into "community detention" under new detention rules announced by PM John Howard last month.
The next day, Vanstone claimed that the children were detained at the request of their mother and that "they were not themselves technically detained". However, Michela Byers, the children's lawyer told reporters that Lee had never asked for her children to be detained.
On the day after their release, Ian and Janey returned to their school. Their schoolmates were overjoyed to see them again.
Vanstone was in "damage control" mode, claiming the children's release was merely in line with new policies regarding the release of families from detention. If this is so, why are at least 40 children still behind razor wire?
From Green Left Weekly, July 27, 2005.
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