Fairfax reports on a company, Serco, whose primary aim is to punish refugees in its care: The private company that runs immigration detention has been forced to back off an arbitrary ban on children using crayons and coloured pencils in their rooms. Serco Group’s officers in Darwin had decided on the ban, even though crayons…
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
Why Australian government fears hearing, seeing and feeling the reality of asylum seekers
Despite the “best” efforts of the Australian government and Serco, refugees are treated with a combination of suspicion and punishment. Here’s a good piece in yesterday’s Australian by Paige Taylor which outlines the reality of the attitude towards the media by the political and bureaucratic establishment: The Department of Immigration and Citizenship objects to the…
Evidence from the horse’s mouth; Australian immigration loves to punish most vulnerable
Late last year I visited Christmas Island and Curtin detention centre in the Kimberley to investigate the role of British multinational Serco in controlling and managing asylum seekers. The picture was grim; isolation and long spells inside maximum security prisons are how we treat refugees fleeing persecution. This front page today in today’s Australian newspaper…
Unaccountable companies assisting America’s drone wars
The future is here, corporations who know the US military (and other countries, too) love nothing better than finding new ways to kill “enemies” (via McClatchy Newspapers): After a U.S. airstrike mistakenly killed at least 15 Afghans in 2010, the Army officer investigating the accident was surprised to discover that an American civilian had played…
We have seen the future and it is polluted with drones
Tiny drones, massive drones and drones that can think like humans. This Washington Post feature explains how governments and private companies are set to make billions in the coming decades. Civilians suffering under drones? Ignored: In 1980, Abraham Karem, an engineer who had emigrated from Israel, retreated into his three-car garage in Hacienda Heights outside…
Vulture capitalism logic; kill and abuse and ensure more business
American mercenary company Blackwater (now known as Academi, to ensure even more lucrative contracts) has an appalling record of human rights abuses. Gawker recently obtained a massive cache of documents that highlight this cowboy firm: Blackwater, the private mercenary firm that became synonymous with Bush-era war profiteering and reckless combat-tourism,announced yesterday that it has changed…
Holding corporates to account for helping America torture
Centre for Constitutional Rights launches a necessary case: Last night, attorneys for Iraqi torture victims abused in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison and other detention centers in Iraq challenged two private military contractors’ claims to immunity from being sued on the grounds that their alleged torture occurred during wartime. Today, a coalition of groups, including…
Afghanistan should watch out; vulture capitalists on the prowl
Although it receives little media coverage, Afghanistan has vast energy reserves. This is perfect for foreign firms to exploit a very vulnerable country. This story on ABC highlights the Australian role in this sordid activity: Afghanistan wants more Australian help – not from the military, but from Australian mining companies – to kick-start a post-war…