Guess who runs this privatised detention centre in Britain? Serco: A pregnant woman detained at Yarl’s Wood immigration centre who was told by a midwife she could not find her baby’s heartbeat was refused a scan for four days despite repeated requests and a high court order. Theresa Diedericks, 26, a South African who has…
Showing all posts tagged Serco
Outsourcing detention centres open to mental and physical abuse
The following article is in this week’s Green Left Weekly newspaper: During recent protests in Villawood Detention Centre that followed the September 20 suicide of detained Fijian exile Josefa Rauluni, detainees who tried to help rooftop protesters with water and blankets were stopped by security. One man was bashed. Hunger strikers were kept quiet in…
Disaster capitalism envelops us all
My following article appears in the Sydney Morning Herald today: Last year’s cessation of hostilities between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers, after up to 40,000 Tamil civilians were murdered in the last months of the conflict, has heralded a Beijing-led invasion of the island. The authoritarian Rajapaksa regime was assisted by Chinese…
Opposition to Serco isn’t solely by refugees
An ongoing theme at this site is the privatisation of detention centres in Australia. Eminent Australians are increasingly vocal against the practice but it’s so much easier for neo-liberal governments to pay a foreign company to do their dirty work, isn’t it? Privatisation of detention centres and particularly the health services associated with the current…
The real cost of outsourcing asylum seeker care is more pain
How unsurprising. Shocking cases of mistreatment in Britain’s detention system, most of which are run by private companies, such as Serco. But let’s not have a robust debate about whether multinationals should be managing people coming from torture and trauma: Millions of pounds in compensation is being paid to migrants who have been traumatised after…
Finally, some light on Serco but so much more needed
At last, some coverage in the Australian media about Serco, the British multinational running the country’s detention centres. It doesn’t offer much new – and there is a desperate need for a thorough examination of the real relationship between Serco and the government – so more, please: On Monday before the 36-year-old Fijian Josefa Rauluni…
So this is why we pay Serco so much
Need more evidence how dysfunctional and undemocratic is the relationship between Serco and the Australian government? Detainees who protested on the roof of a Sydney detention centre this week have been put in maximum security isolation as punishment, a refugee advocate says. Nine Chinese nationals, including five men and four women, one of whom is…
International SOS just here to help refugees
Villawood detention centre in Sydney, run by Serco, remains deeply on edge. Much is outsourced, including the provision of health services, by International SOS. And here’s a job description from the company: Mental Health Nurse – Villawood Location: Sydney Job Code: JRMHNV # of openings: 1 Description THE COMPANY International Health & Medical Services is…
Serco love and respect everybody, says Australian government
Here’s Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O’Connor, defending the reputation of the firm running Australia’s detention centres: Serco has a long-standing interest in this area. It manages other centres and indeed it employs dedicated staff that have the skills to deal with these situations.
Private contractor Serco escapes scrutiny in the detention debate
My following piece appears today in Crikey: I visited Villawood on Sunday”‰—”‰alongside a delegation of union leaders and Greens Senator-elect Lee Rhiannon”‰—”‰and met several asylum seekers subsequently involved in the protest that ended peacefully last night with the arrival of UNHCR officials. We spent hours conversing with men in their 20s and up from Iraq,…